When people define what they have done in their lives, what accounts as impressive or a real achievement? Raising a successful family and being an active member of the community? How about being wealthy and making an impact in business? In an era of autobiography overload, what separates people from being interesting to having led interesting lives? No one gets to write their own epitaph but what makes people more memorable than others? The most tangible achievements are those painted across history, through books and the media: the breaking of the four-minute mile, the Apollo landings, the explosion of the Atomic bomb. All have harnessed the pursuit for man to progress and conquer milestones. Perhaps it is the British trait to succeed and place our flag on the unknown and the most remote. It is nearly sixty years since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first reached the summit of Everest, the Earth’s tallest peak, but is it the most impressive mountaineering feat? Why is it that the sullen, deadly cliff of the Northern face of the Eiger represents a bigger, more threatening challenge to mountaineers?
Not that I am any mountain expert, but the sheer scale and challenge of the North face is visible from the picture below. Sitting in the North-Western Alps of Switzerland, it nestles in perpetual darkness and often in the smoky mist of the Alpine bleakness. Concave cliffs that scale over 3000 metres that have lead to the deaths of dozens of climbers. An interesting aspect of the ascent is that if the clouds disperse then it can be viewed from the small skiing community below. When the competition to find a route up to the top became frantic, around the 1930s, it took a decade before a safe climb was finally documented. Yet, it still claimed the lives of many more men looking for another route to the top. Why would people push themselves to the edge of death?
The main challengers were from Europe and there may have been a political aspect to see who came first but there perhaps there is something more abstract to it. There is a preoccupation for men to challenge and conquer, particularly if the odds are set against them. There is a real quixotic sense to the story. It is not about the kudos of being first; it is the romance and adventure. For some of these men, there is a glory in succeeding and even dying. It is similar to Scott’s polar expedition in 1912, even though their return proved fatal. The poetic and almost evangelical hope and then decline in Scott’s diary will preserve the lives of him and his men forever.
Nowadays, even younger people are climbing Everest and sailing around the world. In 2009, Swiss climber Ueli Steck scaled the Northern face of the Eiger in just two hours and twenty-one minutes. He was assisted by greater technology from weather forecasting to climbing equipment, not to mention the knowledge of previous ascents. It is very impressive and laudable but does it besmirch those who died in their attempts? I think some of the raw beauty and danger can be lost when attempts are run at speed but it certainly does not deflect on how formidable it is. Even climbers today require the physical and mental toughness to make it to the top. The souls of those who fell to their deaths do not dissipate at increasing successes; modern technology does not create better climbers it is part of the human journey to move to the next challenge. The Eiger will still haunt those lingering below on their way up.
Not that I am any mountain expert, but the sheer scale and challenge of the North face is visible from the picture below. Sitting in the North-Western Alps of Switzerland, it nestles in perpetual darkness and often in the smoky mist of the Alpine bleakness. Concave cliffs that scale over 3000 metres that have lead to the deaths of dozens of climbers. An interesting aspect of the ascent is that if the clouds disperse then it can be viewed from the small skiing community below. When the competition to find a route up to the top became frantic, around the 1930s, it took a decade before a safe climb was finally documented. Yet, it still claimed the lives of many more men looking for another route to the top. Why would people push themselves to the edge of death?
The main challengers were from Europe and there may have been a political aspect to see who came first but there perhaps there is something more abstract to it. There is a preoccupation for men to challenge and conquer, particularly if the odds are set against them. There is a real quixotic sense to the story. It is not about the kudos of being first; it is the romance and adventure. For some of these men, there is a glory in succeeding and even dying. It is similar to Scott’s polar expedition in 1912, even though their return proved fatal. The poetic and almost evangelical hope and then decline in Scott’s diary will preserve the lives of him and his men forever.
Nowadays, even younger people are climbing Everest and sailing around the world. In 2009, Swiss climber Ueli Steck scaled the Northern face of the Eiger in just two hours and twenty-one minutes. He was assisted by greater technology from weather forecasting to climbing equipment, not to mention the knowledge of previous ascents. It is very impressive and laudable but does it besmirch those who died in their attempts? I think some of the raw beauty and danger can be lost when attempts are run at speed but it certainly does not deflect on how formidable it is. Even climbers today require the physical and mental toughness to make it to the top. The souls of those who fell to their deaths do not dissipate at increasing successes; modern technology does not create better climbers it is part of the human journey to move to the next challenge. The Eiger will still haunt those lingering below on their way up.
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