Man Falling and Then Climb Again Mountain Cartoom

The due north face up of the Eiger, where the disaster unfolded

In July 1936, v climbers died while attempting to ascend the north face of the Eiger mountain in Switzerland.

Background [edit]

Subsequently a mortiferous and unsuccessful German attempt^[1] in 1935, ten climbers from Austria and Germany travelled to the still-unclimbed northward face up of the Eiger in 1936, but, before serious summit attempts could go underway, one climber was killed during a training climb. The conditions was so bad that after waiting for a change and seeing none on the way, several climbers gave up. Only four remained: two Bavarians, Andreas Hinterstoisser and Toni Kurz, the youngest of the party, and two Austrians, Willy Angerer and Edi Rainer.

Ascent and retreat [edit]

The Hinterstoisser traverse

The weather improved and they made preliminary explorations of the lowest part of the confront. Hinterstoisser fell 37 metres (121 ft) simply was not injured. A few days subsequently the four men began ascending the north face up. They climbed quickly, merely on the second day, the weather changed; clouds came downwards and allowed observers on the basis only intermittent visibility to the climbers on the face. On the second twenty-four hour period the political party was bombarded by rockfall, a notorious trouble on the n face up route. Angerer was hit just below the shoulder blade and injured, though information technology is said that he tried to continue climbing. He certainly did not call for a retreat at the fourth dimension.

They did not resume climbing until the post-obit day, when, during a break in the clouds, the political party was observed descending. Later, it would be learned that the group had no choice but to retreat, since Angerer had suffered more than serious injuries from the falling rock than at beginning thought. The party became stuck on the face when they could not recross a difficult traverse – which became known equally the Hinterstoisser traverse – from which they had pulled the rope during their rise. Wearied on their third day of climbing, with two days of bad weather, it is said that Hinterstoisser still tried for hours to cross the traverse, but it was impossible in the poor conditions. Hinterstoisser had used a technique called a "tension traverse", where a rope is fixed and kept taut, allowing the lead climber to "lean" on it for balance. This technique was not possible descending though. The bad weather would have as well meant moisture and / or icy rock compared to dry atmospheric condition on the rise.

The grouping decided to abseil down the vertical face up (the not bad rock bulwark) to the base of the mountain.^[2] Contact was made with a railway guard at the Eigerwand railway station halfway down the descent. During their commutation the climbers amazingly said that everything was all right (perhaps out of pride and noesis that they were very close to safety). However, as Hinterstoisser set up the terminal abseil of the descent, an avalanche came down the mountain, taking Hinterstoisser, who had unclipped from the group, with it. He was found at the bottom of the mountain days later on. Willy Angerer fell and was killed by the impact of his torso against the rock face, and Edi Rainer quickly asphyxiated from the weight of the rope around his diaphragm. Only Kurz survived the avalanche, hanging on the rope with his dead comrades.^[three]

Rescue effort [edit]

Belatedly on the third 24-hour interval iii Swiss guides started a rescue attempt from the Eigerwand Station. They failed to reach Kurz but came inside shouting distance and learned what had happened. Kurz explained the fate of his companions: one had fallen down the face, another was frozen higher up him, and the 3rd had fractured his skull in falling and was hanging on the rope below him.^[4]

In the morning the three guides returned, traversing the confront once more from a hole near the Eigerwand Station despite avalanche-prone atmospheric condition. Toni Kurz was still alive merely almost helpless. Later on four nights exposed to the elements, i of his hands and his arm was completely frozen. Kurz hauled himself dorsum to the mountain face up later cutting loose Angerer beneath him. The guides were not able to pass an unclimbable overhang that separated them from Kurz, just they managed to get a rope long plenty to accomplish Kurz past tying 2 ropes together. While abseiling, however, Kurz could non get the knot that joined the two ropes to laissez passer through his carabiner. He tried for hours to reach his rescuers, who were just a few metres below him, desperately trying to move himself past the knot, but in vain. He then began to lose consciousness. One of the guides, climbing on another'southward shoulders, was able to affect the tip of Kurz's crampons with the head of his ice-axe but could non reach higher.^[4] Faced with the futility of his situation, he famously said only "Ich kann nicht mehr" ("I can't [continue] anymore") and then died.^{[5] [vi]}

His body was later on recovered past a German team.

See also [edit]

• The Beckoning Silence, a 2007 documentary almost the disaster
• North Confront, a 2008 German film on the subject

References [edit]

1. ^ Eiger#1935
2. ^ Gilbert, Dave (3 September 2001). "Eiger's grim reputation". BBC News. Archived from the original on four February 2008. Retrieved 23 December 2007.
3. ^ "The Hinterstoisser Traverse". The Northward Face up of the Eiger. Mountain Zone. Archived from the original on ii December 2008. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
4. ^ ^{a b} The n face of the Eiger mountainzone.com. Retrieved on 2010-03-04
5. ^ Gilbert, Dave (3 September 2001). "Eiger'due south grim reputation". BBC News. Retrieved 28 Oct 2019.
6. ^ Cooper, Kate (May 2008). "The Eiger Nordwand Revealed: Rainer Rettner Interview". UK Climbing . Retrieved eight January 2013.

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Eiger_climbing_disaster

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