The white spider : the story of the north face of the Eiger /

• Κύριος συγγραφέας: Harrer, Heinrich 1912-2006 (συγγραφέας.)
• Άλλοι συγγραφείς: Maix, Kurt (συγγραφέας.), Merrick, Hugh (μεταφραστής.)
• Μορφή: Βιβλίο
• Γλώσσα: English
• Έκδοση: London : Granada, c1959.
• Θέματα: Ορειβασία; Eiger (Ελβετία) > Περιγραφή και ταξίδι.
• Περιγραφή τεκμηρίου: Περιλαμβάνει ευρετήριο.; Τίτλος πρωτοτύπου: Die Weisse Spinne.
• Φυσική περιγραφή: 315 σ. : εικ. ; 24 εκ.
• ISBN: 0246120622

Harrer recounts in detail all of the first attempts and successes on the Face through the first 25 years of its climbing history, beginning with Max Sedlmayr's and Karl Mehringer's disastrous try in 1935, through the first successful ascent by a German-Austrian party in 1938, of which Harrer himself was a member, and continuing to the successful ascent by Kurt Diemberger and Wolfgang Stefan in July 1958.[1] After his successful summit of the mountain, Harrer endeavored to write a history of the early years of climbing on the Face, and received many letters from fellow climbers, which he sifted through with climber and author Kurt Maix to become the contents of The White Spider. Harrer describes in particular the tragedy of the 1936 attempt by Edi Rainer, Willy Angerer, Andreas Hinterstoisser, and Toni Kurz, all of whom died during the climb; Harrer's own climb, which was the first successful ascent of the North Face; the strenuous but successful climb of Hermann Buhl, Gaston Rébuffat, and their seven companions in 1952; and the catastrophe of 1957, when two Italians, Stefano Longhi and Claudio Corti, joined two Germans, Günther Nothdurft and Franz Mayer – which resulted in eight bivouac nights on the wall of the mountain for the Italians and the death of all but Corti. Harrer's account of the 1957 tragedy was the subject of much controversy when published and is no longer considered historically accurate.[2] In the book, Harrer also describes the media frenzy that ensued after each of the tragedies because the whole of the mountain's Nordwand can be watched by telescope from nearby Kleine Scheidegg.