London, 1976, reprint edition. 315 pp, ills. Harrer's first ascent of the Eiger Nordwand in 1938 with Heckmair, Vorg and Kasparek electrified the climbing world, and still arouses awe. One of the greatest mountaineering books of all time. DJ, Near Fine.
Heinrich Harrer became the most famous of the original four from the Eiger climb. He is now in his nineties. After the Eiger climb he joined a 1939 expedition to Nanga Parbat, a reconnaissance, but was arrested by the British in Pakistan once WWII started. His escape from the prison camp to Tibet and subsequent life with the young Dalai Lama led to his famous book, Seven Years In Tibet.
Harrer went on to become a consumate explorer and adventurer, much like Lowell Thomas, Eric Shipton and H.W. Tilman, but Harrer didn't limit his travels to mountains. Highly appreciative of native culture, Harrer travelled the world to remote mountains and jungles to experience the untouched civilizations. His adventures include trips to remote Amazon jungle tribes, Pacific Islands, remote Himalaya, and New Guinea where he and Philip Temple made the first ascent of Carstensz Pyramid, one of the Seven Summits [Denali, Everest, Vinson, Elbrus, Aconcagua, Kilimanjaro, Carstensz or Kosciusko].
Other notable mountaineering first ascents by Heinrich Harrer were Mount Hunter & Mount Deborah in Alaska with Fred Beckey in 1954 and Ausangate (6400m) in Peru's Cordillera Vilcanota in 1953.
Anderl Heckmair who died in 2005 at age 98, guided and climbed worldwide making ascents in the Cordillera Blanca, Canadian Rockies, Coast Range of BC, Hunza, Karakoram, Hoggar and Ruwenzori of Africa and the Alps. Among his best ascents were the first ascent of the Eiger Nordwand, early ascents of Matterhorn North Face, Grandes Jorasses Walker Spur, and Mount Waddington.
Heckmair was invited by Karl Herrligkoffer to join the 1953 Nanga Parbat expedition where Hermann Buhl made the first ascent. Due to personality clash with Karl Herrligkoffer, the leader of the expedition, Heckmair withdrew from the team before it left Europe. It would have been interesting to see Buhl teamed with Heckmair. Heckmair, a really tough and fit climber, may have been able to keep pace with Buhl to the summit.
