Eiger Conquerer Dies

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.