Legendary German climber Anderl Heckmair has died at the age of 98
leaving a big mark in the history of mountaineering by dint of his
first ascent of the Eiger Nordwand, an event brilliantly described in
Harrer's account of the ascent, The White Spider. Harrer memorably
described Heckmair's near superhuman effort to lead virtually the
entire top section of the climb and movingly his near collapse on the
descent.
Anderl
Heckmair, died on Feb 1st 2005, aged 98. Born in the golden age of
the Munich Tigers, by 1938 aged 32 he was already a respected
climber, having succeeded previously on the North face of the
Charmoz, North West face of the Civetta, North face of the Grosse
Zinne and the Grandes Jorasses.
Over four days in the summer of 1938 Heckmair played a leading
part in one of the great events of alpine climbing history -
the first successful ascent of the Eiger's North Face. The Swiss had
recently banned all climbing on the infamous Nordwand, due to the
number of deaths and the impossibility of rescue. Heckmair, and his
fellow German Ludwig Vörg, caught up with the Austrians Fritz
Kasparek and Heinrich Harrer on the face and joined forces at the
Second Icefall. With Harrer leading most of the way, the team
succeeded in cracking what had long been thought impossible -
and one of the last remaining great problems of Alpine
mountaineering
After the Eiger ascent, Heckmair went on to a career in mountain
guiding, and was instrumental in setting up the German Professional
Mountain and Ski Guides' Association in 1968. He published The three
outstanding problems in the Alps in 1949 and My life as a
mountaineer in 1972. Reinhold Messner described Heckmair's route as
not just the one of the greatest climbs of all, but "even a work of
art". With his death in Oberstdorf the mountaineering world has lost
one of it's legends.
