The Eiger Myth

Compiled by Marco Bomio

Compiled by Marco Bomio, 3818 Grindelwald

1 The Myth
If the wall can be done, then we will do it or stay there! This assertion by Edi Rainer and
Willy Angerer proved tragically true for them both they stayed there. The first attempt on
the Eiger North Face in 1936 went down in history as the most infamous drama surrounding
the North Face and those who tried to conquer it. Together with their German companions
Andreas Hinterstoisser and Toni Kurz, the two Austrians perished in this wall notorious for its
rockfalls and suddenly deteriorating weather. The gruesome image of Toni Kurz dangling in
the rope went around the world.
Two years later, Anderl Heckmair, Ludwig Vrg, Heinrich Harrer and Fritz Kasparek
managed the first ascent of the 1800-metre-high face. 70 years later, local professional
mountaineer Ueli Steck set a new record by climbing it in 2 hours and 47 minutes.

1.1

How the Eiger Myth was made

In the public perception, its exposed north wall made the Eiger the embodiment of a perilous,
difficult and unpredictable mountain. The persistence with which this image has been burnt
into the collective memory is surprising yet explainable.
The myth surrounding the Eiger North Face has its initial roots in the 1930s, a decade in
which nine alpinists were killed in various attempts leading up to the successful first ascent in
July 1938. From 1935 onwards, the climbing elite regarded the North Face as the last
problem in the Western Alps. This fact alone drew the best climbers mainly Germans,
Austrians and Italians at the time like a magnet to the Eiger. The unquenchable desire to
be the first to conquer this wall brittle, weather exposed and susceptible to rockfall led to
a number of unwise attempts in dubious climbing and weather conditions.
This resulted in tragedies some of which are unexplained to this day that unfolded over
several days in front of the eyes of the gathered press, with journalists reporting the dramatic
events extensively from their comfortable ringside vantage points on the hotel terraces of the
Kleine Scheidegg. The public too benefited from the mountains location and the touristic
infrastructure. Nowhere else could mountaineering history in the making be experienced as
up close and as tangibly as on the Eiger. On hiking trails beneath the North Face, for
instance. Nothing was easier than to take a ride on the Jungfrau Railway to the Eigerwand
station in order to peer out at the spine-curdling scene.
The Eiger became a perpendicular amphitheatre. No other mountain was as talked about
before the Second World War at least not in the Alps. The newspaper articles and radio
reports were soon followed by the first books, bringing posthumous fame to the fallen and
celebrity to the successful protagonists of the era of heroic alpinism. A detailed compilation
of this vivid period with many hitherto unseen images was recently published in the book
Eiger. Triumphe und Tragdien 1932-1938, AS Verlag, Zurich. (Eiger. Triumphs and
Tragedies 19321938).
The mountain reached the pinnacle of its publicity in the years between 1957 and 1966.
During this time, almost every attempt on the North Face made the headlines in the wake of
a series of spectacular disasters. The evolving media landscape nurtured the fascination
emerging tabloid or red-top newspapers were now successfully bringing their stories to the
masses. 1958 was the year in which The White Spider was published, a bestseller written by
first ascensionist Heinrich Harrer that evoked with much pathos the dramas of the pre-war
period. This hugely successful volume was reprinted several times and translated into
numerous languages. The Eiger had established itself as a global phenomenon.

16.05.2013

Since then, interest in the Eiger has never completely subsided in fact the myth has been
enjoying something of a renaissance since 1999, when an ascent of the classic North Face
route was broadcast live on television with excellent ratings. And even though climbing the
Eiger has fundamentally changed since the days of the pioneers new, even more
challenging routes are still being opened on the face it is often the old, dramatic tales of
yore that keep the Eiger in the public eye: in 2008, an elaborate production of the spectacular
tragedy of 1938 titled Nordwand came to Swiss, German and Austrian cinema screens.1

2 The mountain
The Eiger stands at a height of 3970 metres in the Bernese Alps. Together with the Mnch
and Jungfrau, it forms the world-famous and unparalleled triptych of the Eiger, Mnch and
Jungfrau.
The ascent of this mountain was long considered an impossible feat by the inhabitants of the
valley and even by mountaineering pioneers. Irishman Charles Barrington proved them
wrong by making the first ascent in 1858. He had been able to persuade the well-known
Grindelwald guides Christian Almer and Peter Bohren to attempt the climb.
Their climb started at Wengernalp, leading to the summit without notable difficulties and from
there back down to the Kleine Scheidegg. Their feat well and truly dismantled the Eigers
aura of invincibility. The first ascensionists route over the West Flank is still the regular route
in use today.
The Eiger has a lot to offer elite, amateur and non-climbers alike. Its appearance at different
times of day, in different seasons, the ever-changing moods elicited by the interplay of clouds
and fog never fails to captivate and will surely continue to do so.

2.1 Whats in a name?

So what does the mountains name mean? There is to date no convincing explanation. Name
researcher Professor J.U. Hubschmid is of the opinion that the place name under Eiger
derives from the name of the first settler: in Old High German Agiger, Aiger. He would have
also owned land further uphill, maybe grazing pasture for goats (Geisse). The mountain
towering above Wrgistal would have been named after him or his pastures, also formerly
known as Eigers Schneeberg, Eigers Geissberg or, in short, Geissberg.
Emanuel Friedli suggests another possible explanation in his Bernese German volume
Grindelwald: an etymological link between the word Eiger and the Latin acer and Greek
akros (pinnacle, peak, outermost), and also the Greek akd (peak, edge, sharp), acutus and
aigu etc. bringing it close to the old spelling Eger, Eeger.
The earlier spelling Heiger finally invites us to consider whether the name might be derived
from the dialect term dr hej Ger. The ger was a sharp, pointed weapon used by the Germanic
tribes. And does the Eiger not thrust from the valley high (hej) up towards the skies like a
spearhead of gigantic proportions?
It is highly unlikely though that the name Eiger has anything to do with the Ogre, the maneating giant of fairytale lore.2

1
2

Rainer Rettner
Der Eiger (The Eiger) by Rudolf Rubi, Verlag Paul Haupt Bern

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