With its many spectacular incidents, the Eiger North Face – the legendary 1800-
meterhigh wall of stone and ice in the Berne Oberland – has been casting its spell for
decades, not only on climbers but also on mountain-climbing laymen. The general
public came to see the Eiger as the epitome of a dangerous, difficult and often death-
bringing mountain. The vividness and urgency with which this image has burned itself
into the collective mind may be surprising, but can be explained.

The myth of the “Eigerwand” came into being in the 1930s, when altogether nine
Alpinists lost their lives trying to scale the mountain before the first successful
ascent in July 1938 by the two Germans Anderl Heckmair and Ludwig Vörg, and the
two Austrians Heinrich Harrer and Fritz Kasparek. Ever since the summer of 1935 the
North Face had been seen among the top Alpinists as the “last problem of the
Western Alps.” This situation exerted an almost magical attraction on mountain
climbers, especially those from Germany, Austria and Italy, who then set the bar on
the level of proficiency required for the Eiger. The burning wish to be the first to
ascend the wall, which easily crumbled and was endangered by rockfall and subject to
sudden massive changes of weather, sometimes resulted in forced expeditions in
dubious conditions. And this led to tragedies, some of which are still shrouded in
mystery to this day. Others unfolded over the course of several days, before the eyes
of the press, who were able to describe the dramatic events on the Eiger from the
comfort and safety of the hotel terraces of the Kleine Scheidegg. The public also
benefited from the mountain’s location and touristic infrastructure. Nowhere else
could one experience Alpine history as genuinely and simply as at the Eiger: whether
on hiking paths below the North Face or, thanks to the Jungfraubahn, from the
impressive lookouts in the Eigerwand Station. The Eiger was a vertical amphitheater.

No other Alpine mountain was the scene of more reporting before World War II than
the Eiger. The newspaper and radio reports were swiftly followed by the first books,
which spread the fame of the idols—the successful and the fallen—of “heroic Alpinism”
throughout Europe.

This myth has experienced a renaissance since 1999, when an ascent of the classical
route was broadcast live on television and obtained excellent ratings. Although
mountain climbing at the Eiger has fundamentally changed—more and more new and
difficult routes are being opened up on the North Face—it is still generally the older,
dramatic stories that keep the Eiger at the center of the public’s interest.

(Written by Rainer Rettner, with kind permission by AS Verlag)

Additional Reading:

“The White Spider” by Heinrich Harrer
“The Beckoning Silence” by Joe Simpson
“Eiger Dreams” by Jon Krakauer