Identify Regarding Books The White Spider
| Title | : | The White Spider |
| Author | : | Heinrich Harrer |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 364 pages |
| Published | : | September 28th 1998 by TarcherPerigee (first published 1959) |
| Categories | : | Sports. Mountaineering. Nonfiction. Adventure. Climbing. Travel. Biography |
Heinrich Harrer
Paperback | Pages: 364 pages Rating: 4.12 | 3353 Users | 156 Reviews
Narration Concering Books The White Spider
The White Spider dramatically recreates not only the harrowing, successful ascent made by Harrer and his comrades in 1938, but also the previous, tragic attempts at a wall of rock that was recently enshrined in mountaineer Jon Krakauer's first work, Eiger Dreams. For a generation of American climbers, The White Spider has been a formative book--yet it has long been out-of-print in America. This edition awaits discovery by Harrer's new legion of readers.
Itemize Books Toward The White Spider
| Original Title: | Die Weiße Spinne |
| ISBN: | 0874779405 (ISBN13: 9780874779400) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Rating Regarding Books The White Spider
Ratings: 4.12 From 3353 Users | 156 ReviewsWrite-Up Regarding Books The White Spider
I first read this book as a high school kid a very long time ago, and have reread it once or twice since. It is a classic of mountaineering literature. Harrer also captures the atmosphere that motivated some German and Austrian climbers in the period just before World War II. This book is a must read for aficionados of mountaineering literature. But it should also be read by anyone contemplating a trip to Grindelwald in Switzerland, especially if you are planning to take the train from KleineFairly detailed account of attempts on the Eiger North Face in the twentieth century. Can't believe what people were climbing with only hemp ropes, hobnail boots and wool knickers.
There seems to be a lot of cronyism among Harrer and his fellow German climbers: Every climber who dies was the brightest young German mind to have ever graced the valley from which he came, only to fall at the face of the great Eiger, while every success is a testament to certain indefatigable greatness in the eyes of mankind immemorial. He waits until the end of the novel to finally accuse an Italian of being the first to mistake his ambitions and strength are adequate for the climbing, though
Great and comprehensive chronicle of mountaineering on Eiger. Tragedy, death, storm, avalanches, triumphs, mishaps all add to the poignancy of this book. I loved the first few chapters that dealt with the first ever attempt by Mehringer and Sedlmeyer, the gruesome account of Toni Kurz and his fellow climbers, and the breathtaking first successful ascent. Forever entrenched in my memory will be the Hinterstoisser episode.The mountaineering parts are suspenseful, dark, chilling, profound,
Heinrich Harrer talks about how he and a team of four were the first to ascend the notorious north face of the Eiger (in the Bernese Alps) in 1938, of the failed attempts before that, and attempts and successful climbs after that, all the way up to the early 1980s. I think this book would be very interesting to people involved in mountain climbing and rock climbing because it delves a lot into the practicalities and methods of what went on in these climbs. I got a little tired of the author's
It's more interesting as a historical artifact than as a read. Modern writers have learned from and eclipsed this for general mountaineering books.The pluses: Harrer writes climbing well. This is widely considered a seminal text on climbing.Other parts were less appealing:The lists of such-and-so famous climber who surmounted the East Wall of Mount Something or other were written for climbing fans who could use them to judge whether a given party had sufficient chops to take on the Eiger. Eighty
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