Facing the Mountain That Killed My Father: The Eiger Obsession - John Harlin III

Man climbs mountain, rope breaks, falls to death.

Man's son climbs mountain, rope doesn't break, avenges father.

This is the story of two men, a father and son whose life dreams consisted of climbing this one particular mountain, the Eiger. This combination biography and autobiography is split into halves, the first telling of the father and the last telling of the son's life. It seems as if the home life of both men are relatively the same, the call of the Eiger being the number one goal of each other's lives that just seemed to be overshadowed by the day to day having-to-pay-the-bills lifestyle.

The stories are told quite plainly ranging from the descriptions of frostbite, how many toes or fingers were lost and of course of the sheer weather on the mountains that both men had challenged themselves to climb. It makes me all the more happy that I live on flat land that is almost always warm and the biggest hills we have are ant hills. It also gave me a sense of understanding that I did not have before about what these climbers do go through just to be able to have the prestige to say that yes, I climbed the Eiger. I still think them insane however, it is very encouraging to see a group of people so dedicated, so passionate that they would knowingly risk their lives to accomplish their goal and I commend them.

Every death is explained on what happened to cause it and the time of mourning, pain, anger and hate is shown in the writings. The happiness, joy of success, the backstabbing and almost lethal hatred between comrades turned competitors is all shown throughout the novel. The climbing world seems to be quite political determining on what nationality you are, your climbing style and what sort of gear that you bring with you. All of that topped off with your accomplishments, your goals and aspirations and of course, your failures.

The detail given to explaining the every day, the one-with-nature attitudes of both families is astonishing. It almost makes me want to search around for the opportunity to be able to go up an old winding snowy trail to look at the natural flora and fauna. What wasn't passion for climbing was turned to the education of the youth and the building of a place to call home if only for a short while. The time spent in higher education and the fight that had to be made to get the proper licenses and diplomas was in itself, uplifting.

The only drawback of the book that I did not enjoy was the plethora of climbing terms that I simply did not know. Now I do not claim to be a novice at climbing nor do I pretend to say that I enjoy climbing or books on it, but for the most part, I was able to figure out what was going on. What I was not able to understand, I just looked it up and the book continued to be read without problems.

All in all I would recommend this book to any climbing enthusiasts, to any naturalists and to anyone willing to spend a few hours to read of the journey that one man took upon himself that shaped not only his family and further generations, but the world as a whole. Further information can be found by watching the IMAX presentation of The Alps www.alpsfilm.com and by going to www.JohnHarlin.net. Here you will be able to see the challenge that was finally completed, on film, for the world to witness.

-------------------------------------
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (March 6, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0743296907
ISBN-13: 978-0743296908
Buy the Book