Heinrich Harrer’s, The White Spider, was an extremely enjoyable and gripping read for myself. Perhaps because I had not yet heard of any of the attempts in detail, and was oblivious to the drama that has been faced on the Eiger, but I found myself not being able to put the book down at certain points. Harrer had a way of pulling me in, like I was actually there, opposed to simply just retelling stories with no emotion. While he recited many attempts in detail, both failures and successes, I found myself most drawn to the Tragedy of Tony Kurz. Maybe it was the way he described it that kept me on edge, perhaps more exciting to myself than others because I was yet to hear of this story, but this particular attempt seemed to stand out in my mind.

Many have criticized mountaineers who choose to take on these adventures fully aware of the risks involved. Throughout the beginning chapters, Harrer raises the issue of the constant skepticism and negativity about mountaineering that was felt by the public and expressed in the media. “The broad mass of the public is ever ready to express a glib opinion about events and matters that it does not and cannot understand,” Harrer explains, “It passes judgment and condemns, giving the descriptions of ‘folly’ and ‘a gamble for life’ to what are in truth ‘a love of adventure’ and ‘the preservation of life’ ” (p19). He even recalls how some reporters viewed mountaineers as ‘reckless’ and ‘mentally deranged’ (p13/14). One newspaper even described climbers who take on the Eiger’s Face as having nothing more to lose (p49). But for me, the story of Tony Kurz and his remarkable will to keep living a life he was so obviously in love with, contradicts the negativity stemming from the public and the media. Similarly to the others who faced the Eiger’s Face, Kurz wasn’t reckless or ill minded, nor someone who had nothing to lose. He in fact, did have something to lose: his life, which near the end, he gave absolutely everything he had to keep living it. His tremendous fight and resilience to keep holding on through yet another horrific night, and his incredible strength to untwist the strands of rope with one frozen arm dangling, is a prime example of the heroism and courage that exists in mountaineering.

I also appreciated Harrer’s own personal take on his experiences of mountaineering, not only giving insight into what a mountaineer feels/goes through during their climb, but how they are affected afterwards and how it changes ones attitude. “But after our safe return from the venture we felt more conscious of the privilege of having been allowed to live…maybe my memory of the Eiger’s Face has often given me the strength, the patience, and the confidence to cope with apparently hopeless and dangerous situations, and helped me to believe in life at times when all the circumstances seemed most hostile to life itself (p10)”. Maybe some mountaineers seek adventures, not because they have nothing else to lose, but because it teaches them something that they could never learn otherwise: strength, resilience, and a positive outlook in tougher times.