The Eiger Obsession

Facing the Mountain That Killed My Father

John Harlin III

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This is an unforgettable story about fathers and sons, climbers and mountains, and dreamers who dare to challenge the earth.

In the 1960s an American named John Harlin II changed the face of Alpine climbing. Harlin successfully summitted some of the most treacherous mountains in Europe. But it was the North Face of the Eiger that became Harlin's obsession.

John Harlin III was nine years old when his father put together a terrific team for an ill-fated direct ascent of the notorious Eiger. When Harlin's rope broke, 2,000 feet from the summit, he plummeted 4,000 feet to his death. In the shadow of tragedy, young John Harlin III came of age possessed with the very same passion for risk that drove his father.

For years he successfully denied the siren call of the mountain that killed his father. But in 2005, John Harlin could resist no longer. With his daughter, Siena - his very age at the time of his father's death - and with an IMAX Theatre filmmaking crew watching, he set off towards the Eiger. This is an unforgettable story about fathers and sons, climbers and mountains, and dreamers who dare to challenge the earth.

Published: 3 August 2009
ISBN: 9780099525141
Imprint: Arrow
Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
RRP: $32.99

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About the author

John Harlin III

John Harlin III is editor of the American Alpine Journal and contributing editor for Backpacker. A former cohost of PBS's Anyplace Wild, Harlin is a frequent contributor to numerous publications, including Outside magazine. He lives in Hood River, Oregon, and Oaxaca, Mexico, with his wife, Adele Hammond and their daughter, Siena.

Praise for The Eiger Obsession

At once a tribute to a legendary climber and a celebration of a very personal triumph, this book will captivate the imagination of anyone who reads it.
Booklist

In his gripping, graceful account of his own attempt on the Eiger some 40 years after his father's fall in 1966, Harlin elegantly combines a frank biography of his frequently absent parent, "the Blond God", as he was dubbed by the press, with a vivid memoir of his own childhood.
Sunday Times

Excellent ... Superbly written ... John Harlin III has shown a non-specialist public that he can write lucidly and beautifully about mountains and the men and women who live for them, die on them ... It deserves to be read
Independent