Eiger Obsession: Facing The Mountain That Killed My Father - Softcover

Harlin III, John

3.7

187 ratings by Goodreads

9781599215006: Eiger Obsession: Facing The Mountain That Killed My Father

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1599215004 ISBN 13: 9781599215006

Publisher: Lyons Press, 2009

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

When the author was nine years old, his father, an experienced climber, tackled one of the world's most treacherous mountains, the Eiger, in the Swiss Alps. It was the first attempt to reach the summit via the "direct" route (Harlin senior had already climbed the North Face), and it ended in tragedy, with a 4,000-foot fall. Forty years after his father's death, at the age of 49, the author succeeded where his father failed: beating the mountain. Published to coincide with the release of the Imax film chronicling the climb, the book combines biography (memories of Harlin's father) with a you-are-there account of the climb ("The cold Eiger rock feels good against my bare hands"). Thankfully, Harlin avoids most of the climbing-as-life-metaphor cliches that mar so many mountaineering books. At once a tribute to a legendary climber and a celebration of a very personal triumph, this book will captivate the imagination of anyone who reads it.” - from Booklist

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From the Back Cover:

A Son’s Death-Defying Quest to Fulfill His Father’s Dream For years, John Harlin III honored a promise to his mother not to be an Alpine climber. But in 2005, he could resist no longer. With an IMAX film crew, Harlin set off on his quest to climb the mountain face that killed his father nearly forty years earlier. In The Eiger Obsession, he tells the story a story about fathers and sons, climbers and mountains, and dreamers who dare.

About the Author:

John Harlin III is the editor of the American Alpine Journal and a contributing editor for Backpacker magazine. A former host of PBS’s Anything Wild, he lives in Hood River, Oregon, with his wife and daughter.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.