Harlin Climbs Eiger For IMAX Film

Almost 40 years ago, American climber John Harlin died when a fixed rope snapped during the first direct ascent of the Eiger Nordwand, a climb which also involved the likes of Dougal Haston and Chris Bonington.

Harlin left behind a nine-year-old son, also called John, and now he's successfully climbed the Nordwand himself with Swiss partners Robert and Daniela Jasper. The climb was filmed by the team behind the IMAX Everest project and will be released in the staggeringly realistic big screen format in spring 2007 under the title 'The Alps: Giants of Nature'.

There's British involvement too, with the script written by Stephen Venables, the first Brit to summit Everest without oxygen. The Eiger Nordwand is a notoriously dangerous undertaking and has been rendered even more hazardous by the ongoing melting of the ice which binds many alpine faces together and has made summer ascents increasingly deadly.

The IMAX climb took three days between 22 and 24 September and, according to Robert Jasper's web site, Harlin 'says he made the climb to face down this mountain, that has shadowed him for forty years and to reconnect with his father's memory.'

"This climb is something I've known I needed to do for a long time," said Harlin, aged 49 on the site. "For decades I've felt the pull of the Eiger and I've avoided it for just as long. But now it was time for me to face this monster from my past and put it truly behind me. The Jaspers are some of the finest climbers I know, and I felt very comfortable and secure with them during the climb."

Apparently the IMAX film team captured all the crucial moments of the climb using a special cold-weather adapted camera while suspended from ropes or using specially-built platforms built on the face.

More at www.robert-jasper.de Scroll down for the English language version :-)