"Triumph and Tragedy on the Eiger"

Of all the great challenges of the Alps, the North Wall of the Eiger stands supreme, both for the richness of its history and for the dramas, many of them all too tragic, that have taken place from the early attempts in the thirties to the present day.

Chris Bonington experienced this directly in his various attempts and final success in making the first British ascent and in his involvement in the dramatic story of extreme climbing and the extraordinary media circus that accompanied the first ascent of the Eiger Direct in the winter of 1966.