The White Spider
by Heinrich Harrer
|
|
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of The White Spider.
discuss this book
friend reviews (0)
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
lists with this book
This book is not in any lists. Go add it to a list.
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 47)
Read in February, 2008
This book was very well written for the topic. If you can imagine, the story is about the piles of people that have tried to climb the 6,000 foot vertical face of rock and ice. Unfortunately some of them ended up at the bottom in a pile. It was riveting at times, and bit redundant at others. It was over 300 pages of reading the same routes up the face, and while it was incredible to imagine some of the attempts done without crampons or gore-tex, it also has a lot of "after these message...more
Like this review?
yes
1 comments
Read in March, 2008
This is an amazing account of the first 13 ascents of the Eiger Nordwand. Further amazement at Harrer's experiences offers the most inspiration a climber's life could offer in text. The first successful completion of the Nordwand by Harrer, Fritz Kasperek, Ludwig Vörg, and Andreas Heckmair is documented excitingly in the book accompanied by many other exciting tales. I read the first translation and have several favorite quotes: "Yes, we had made and excursion into another world and we ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
climbers, fans of climbing stories
I have read this twice now, and I have to say this book was very interesting for a number of reasons. The tale of the first ascent of the Eiger was good, and the chronicles of other attempts were engaging. The photos and maps helped to paint a good picture of the different routes the various climbers took.
I thought another interesting aspect of the book was the dated prose (and translated to boot.) I thought it painted an interesting portrait of the European climbing spirit in the early-mid ...more
I thought another interesting aspect of the book was the dated prose (and translated to boot.) I thought it painted an interesting portrait of the European climbing spirit in the early-mid ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in February, 2008
This book is a great book full of extreme and epic adventure involving the ascent of the North Face of the Eiger. It was intense enough to keep me up reading until about 3am several nights this past week. I'm glad it's finished so i can get some sleep. I recommend this book to any outdoor enthusiast, or anyone who likes to push the physical,mental, and emotional limits of the body and life.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2005
More of a self-congratulatory tale than true history of the north face of the Eiger. Still, worth a read if you can find it and you care about mountaineering.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Other peoples accounts of this book put me off alpine climbing for years..........the story of Tony Kurtz is haunting.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in June, 2008
recommended to Jerry by:
jerry@balancelifework.com
