0:00:01 > 0:00:04The north face of the Eiger.
0:00:04 > 0:00:08It's the most notorious mountain face in the world.
0:00:08 > 0:00:12The Eiger will always be a dangerous mountain and I'm afraid therefore
0:00:12 > 0:00:15there will be people killed on it in the future.
0:00:15 > 0:00:21I was definitely seriously frightened before I set out on the Eiger.
0:00:21 > 0:00:27A vertical mile of brittle blasted limestone, hanging ice and howling winds.
0:00:27 > 0:00:32The Eiger kind of, you know, opens its little doors for you and you get higher and higher and higher...
0:00:32 > 0:00:35then it'll shut them and there's no easy way out.
0:00:36 > 0:00:43More than sixty people have died on the north face but it continues to fascinate like no other mountain.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46It's climbing's grand stage...
0:00:46 > 0:00:49a uniquely public arena where mountaineering becomes theatre.
0:00:51 > 0:00:57I think it's a bit like being an actor and suddenly being told you can do Hamlet now.
0:00:57 > 0:01:03Its history has reflected the national tensions of Europe in the 20th century.
0:01:03 > 0:01:08I think Harrer has the swastika flag in his backpack.
0:01:08 > 0:01:16It's a testing ground, a rite of passage, a place of innovation where new standards are set.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20This whole sense changed my mind for other mountains.
0:01:20 > 0:01:27I can go maybe to Himalaya with a completely different, different mind.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29This will change climbing.
0:01:30 > 0:01:35We set out to explore the reputation of the Eiger's north face,
0:01:35 > 0:01:39and to understand what has made it such an iconic mountain.
0:02:00 > 0:02:07It's March 2009 and mountain guides Kenton Cool and Neil Brodie are in Grindelwald, Switzerland,
0:02:07 > 0:02:10planning an attempt on the north face of the Eiger.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16Kenton is one of the world's leading mountain guides.
0:02:16 > 0:02:22He's guided clients to the top of Everest eight times, and Sir Ranulph Fiennes to the top of the Eiger.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26I've never seen so much snow here, this is outrageous.
0:02:26 > 0:02:31It'll probably be good for jumping over the train on skis, won't it, it would probably be quite easy!
0:02:33 > 0:02:36Neil is a professional mountain guide based in the Chamonix valley.
0:02:36 > 0:02:41They have both climbed the Eiger's north face before,
0:02:41 > 0:02:45but its unique combination of history and danger still draws them back.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49For any budding Alpinist climber these days,
0:02:49 > 0:02:51I think if you ask anyone
0:02:51 > 0:02:55"what would you like to climb?" you might get Everest or possibly
0:02:55 > 0:02:57the Grand Durras, but almost certainly,
0:02:57 > 0:02:59"I want to climb the north face of the Eiger."
0:02:59 > 0:03:02I mean certainly I did, I mean, I grew up reading all the books.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05It just catches the imagination.
0:03:05 > 0:03:10They want to be able to turn round and say to friends, "I climbed the north face of the Eiger."
0:03:10 > 0:03:13Climbers are not, you know, all
0:03:13 > 0:03:15level-headed or reasonable.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19You know, it's kind of, quite often, you know, it's quite the contrary...
0:03:19 > 0:03:25So, you know, they are attracted to the Eiger because of its reputation.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31Kleine Scheidegg.
0:03:31 > 0:03:36The traditional launch-off point for the Eiger epics.
0:03:36 > 0:03:41Last here in the summertime, just lovely green meadows, and now it's just all covered in snow.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44Quite foreboding actually.
0:03:44 > 0:03:49For most climbers the Eiger remains an elusive prize.
0:03:49 > 0:03:54It's a challenging Alpine route that demands a high level of skill and commitment.
0:03:54 > 0:03:59And the face must be in good condition before the climbers will even set foot on it.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05Conditions this winter are far from perfect.
0:04:05 > 0:04:11It's been snowing heavily for days and the Eiger is shrouded in heavy cloud.
0:04:12 > 0:04:17I mean, if it stopped snowing right now, tomorrow we could look across and we could see these
0:04:17 > 0:04:22like avalanches of snow and ice and sometimes rock cascading down the face.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25We call it shedding, that the Eiger will be shedding
0:04:25 > 0:04:26its winter cloak in a way.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29And it would just be complete death to go anywhere near it.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32And it'll probably take 48 hours of, you know, weather...
0:04:32 > 0:04:35doesn't need to be sort of blue sky or anything,
0:04:35 > 0:04:37it just needs to stop snowing and the wind needs to drop
0:04:37 > 0:04:40and it'll shed its winter coat.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44And then we will need good weather for the period that we will be climbing.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46Yeah, I mean, I'm kind of going to be optimistic and
0:04:46 > 0:04:51say we've got a 50/50 chance of giving it an attempt, you know.
0:04:51 > 0:04:57We're here for ten days and things can change very, very quickly so, um, yeah.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00I'm hopeful, yeah.
0:05:00 > 0:05:01Good skiing though.
0:05:04 > 0:05:10We've been trying to film an ascent of the north face for two seasons but the weather has been against us,
0:05:10 > 0:05:15and the Eiger's history has shown that this is a place that demands the utmost respect.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27When the cloud lifts the next morning, you can see why.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33The Eiger towers above the hamlet of Kleine Scheidegg.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36No other great mountain occupies such a public position.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40I mean, we'll be up to our armpits in snow basically.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44I don't know about you, Neil, but I don't think I've ever seen it quite...
0:05:44 > 0:05:48especially the upper reaches, it looks like it's been kind of blasted.
0:05:48 > 0:05:53It almost looks like a big line of ice on it, sort of like Patagonia-style at the top.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56Just such an immense face.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00Oooph, it's giving me chills just looking at it!
0:06:03 > 0:06:06The Eiger is unusual.
0:06:06 > 0:06:11Its summit can be reached relatively easily along the ridge lines up its flanks.
0:06:11 > 0:06:17But its sheer face is an altogether more serious mountaineering challenge.
0:06:17 > 0:06:22It faces north, so it's perpetually in deep shadow.
0:06:22 > 0:06:27It's concave, so it traps bad weather close to the face.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32One writer described it as being hollowed out like a sick man's chest.
0:06:32 > 0:06:37The key danger of the Eiger is probably stone fall.
0:06:37 > 0:06:44But it'll also, because it's right on the edge of the Alps, it can
0:06:44 > 0:06:47almost have its own private weather system.
0:06:47 > 0:06:53And any front that's coming in from the north-west is going to hit the Eiger first.
0:06:53 > 0:06:58Within minutes of a storm breaking over the summit, the face is just
0:06:58 > 0:07:03being strewn with rubble and water and snow cascading down it.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06And it becomes, it will become a horror show.
0:07:06 > 0:07:11To be caught on that face, in bad weather, in an exposed spot...
0:07:11 > 0:07:14it's the thing that nightmares are made out of.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19The bands of rock you have to progress through to make your way up the mountain
0:07:19 > 0:07:25have very little protection, very little places to place pegs or any other kind of protection.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28And very sharp kind of rock as well, very, very loose.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32So you may have no protection and the holes you're holding on to
0:07:32 > 0:07:34might snap off as well.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38But it's not just the physical challenges that intimidate.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42The Eiger north face has its own powerful mythology.
0:07:42 > 0:07:48The route by which the Eiger was first climbed is one of the most iconic in mountaineering.
0:07:48 > 0:07:54The names of each pitch evoke stories of extraordinary heroism and terrible tragedy.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58The Stollenloch, the Hinterstoisser Traverse,
0:07:58 > 0:08:02the Flatiron, Death Bivouac,
0:08:03 > 0:08:06the Traverse of the Gods,
0:08:06 > 0:08:08the White Spider.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11I think the fact that every ledge
0:08:11 > 0:08:17on the Eiger is covered in the sediment of history makes it very special.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19And it adds to that sense of awe.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22You know when you get to the Hinterstoisser Traverse,
0:08:22 > 0:08:26you know what terrible scenes unfolded there.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30And that's bound to instill an anxiety, a nervousness.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34You go past those spots, those spots of history, climbing history.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36You know, you clip a peg...
0:08:36 > 0:08:37who put that peg in?
0:08:37 > 0:08:39Maybe it was Heckmair himself.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43You know, maybe it was Tony Kurz, you know, on that epic descent.
0:08:43 > 0:08:44Maybe it was Chris Bonington.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48All these people and they, they've all had their moments on the face...
0:08:48 > 0:08:52Dougal Haston, John Harlin falling to his death, it's shrouded in history.
0:08:57 > 0:09:02The Eiger's story began back in 1858 when Irishman Charles Barrington
0:09:02 > 0:09:06and two local mountain guides reached the summit via the west flank.
0:09:06 > 0:09:11Apparently he really wanted to climb the Matterhorn but didn't have the money to get there.
0:09:13 > 0:09:18During the latter part of the 19th century the British had dominated the Alps.
0:09:18 > 0:09:24They had forged a golden age in mountaineering, pioneered great routes
0:09:24 > 0:09:27all over the Alps, and defined what the sport was to become.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31The Victorian way was to claim peak after peak.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35It was a romantic tradition where dying was simply bad form.
0:09:37 > 0:09:43The driving force was very much British middle class dons, lawyers,
0:09:43 > 0:09:48clergymen who almost invented this pastime of mountaineering.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51And most of the first descents of the big Alpine peaks were made by British
0:09:51 > 0:09:57climbers relying heavily on the skills of their local Swiss, French, Italian and German guides.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Particularly Swiss guides.
0:10:00 > 0:10:05By the early 1930s the British felt that everything in the Alps had been done.
0:10:05 > 0:10:10All that was left was the great north faces of mountains they had already climbed.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13The last great problems of the Alps.
0:10:13 > 0:10:18But they were turning their attentions to the Himalayas and the great prize of Everest.
0:10:20 > 0:10:27Young European climbers sensed an opportunity to reclaim the mountains they had grown up in,
0:10:27 > 0:10:32and their style of climbing could not have been more different to the aristocratic British.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36The Germans and Austrians and Italians were doing
0:10:36 > 0:10:41climbs of a technical standard way beyond anything we were doing.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44Particularly in the eastern Alps, in the Dolomites and Bavaria.
0:10:44 > 0:10:51They had a technical brilliance and a boldness and a whole new attitude to what was possible and what
0:10:51 > 0:10:58was desirable which, which a lot of the traditional British climbers actually rather disapproved of.
0:10:58 > 0:11:03And this, this was all sort of epitomised in the north face of the Eiger.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10These new Alpine climbers were poor, working class young men.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13Many were unemployed during the Depression.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17These German climbers, they had nothing to lose.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20They just had, they just were good climbers and they thought,
0:11:20 > 0:11:25"Yeah, if we do the Eiger north face we will be famous."
0:11:28 > 0:11:35In August 1935 two of these bold young men made the first serious attempt on the north face.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39Bavarians Max Sedlmeyer and Karl Mehringer had studied
0:11:39 > 0:11:44the face intently and believed they had found a direct line to the summit.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47No-one ever really tried to climb the north face.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51So when the two Munich mountaineers,
0:11:51 > 0:11:56Karl Mehringer and Max Sedlmeyer started up the wall
0:11:56 > 0:12:02in August of 1935, there weren't really any experiences
0:12:02 > 0:12:06about how dangerous it is, how difficult it is.
0:12:06 > 0:12:13The only thing one knew at the time was that it was a huge face.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22They set out at 2am on August the 21st.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25They made good progress and at the end of the second
0:12:25 > 0:12:28day they had reached the top of the first ice field.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30And still the weather held.
0:12:32 > 0:12:38Then, on the third night, the weather broke and a great thunderstorm engulfed the Eiger.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44The temperature in Kleine Scheidegg fell to minus eight.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52On the fifth day the clouds lifted briefly and the queues of people
0:12:52 > 0:12:56at the telescopes could see them high on the face,
0:12:56 > 0:12:59still battling upwards, nearly at the Flatiron.
0:12:59 > 0:13:07The curtain of cloud closed once more and Mehringer and Sedlmeyer were never seen alive again.
0:13:07 > 0:13:15Their bodies were later found on a small ledge at 3,300 metres that became known as Death Bivouac.
0:13:15 > 0:13:21That first accident in 1935, that really cemented the reputation of the Eiger as...
0:13:21 > 0:13:24well it became known as the Mort Wand, the Death Wall.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29And the press just flocked to Grindelwald.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33And of course, because it's so public, in full view of the cameras and the telescopes,
0:13:33 > 0:13:37these grisly dramas were played out to the cameras, to the world's press.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42The tragedy captured the public imagination like nothing before.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46For the first time, this was mountaineering as theatre.
0:13:46 > 0:13:52People could sit on a terrace and watch life and death drama unfold before them.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58The stage was set for the Eiger's second act.
0:14:03 > 0:14:09By the summer of 1936, the Eiger's terrible reputation was attracting the best and the
0:14:09 > 0:14:16boldest young climbers in Europe, eager to be the first up this dreadful wall or to die trying.
0:14:19 > 0:14:26That summer, there were twelve young men camped in the valley waiting for the face to come into condition.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30They were the most brilliant climbers of their generation.
0:14:31 > 0:14:36Among them were Germans Andreas Hinterstoisser and Tony Kurz,
0:14:36 > 0:14:40and Austrians Willy Angerer and Edi Rainer.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47They, too, had studied the face and had spotted an intricate,
0:14:47 > 0:14:50complex line that would demand huge commitment.
0:14:52 > 0:14:59The classic route up the Eiger Wand, which so many of us have now followed, was really discovered
0:14:59 > 0:15:06in 1936 by Rainer, Angerer, Kurz and Hinterstoisser.
0:15:06 > 0:15:12And it was Andel Hinterstoisser who led this critical passage, where you're...
0:15:12 > 0:15:15basically you're sneaking in from the right hand side of the face
0:15:15 > 0:15:19underneath a great red vertical cliff.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22And you're sort of sneaking your way into the centre of the face.
0:15:22 > 0:15:26And there's a critical passage where this very steep slab...
0:15:26 > 0:15:31it's at about 70 degrees... and it looks really smooth.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35And he did what was then a very modern technique, he did a
0:15:35 > 0:15:43sort of tension traverse using tension from the rope to edge his way across this smooth slab.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46For a long way, for about eighty feet or so.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50When you go on Hinterstoisser Traverse it, it's got a rope fixed in place now.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54But it still feels quite committing because you're on a traverse line
0:15:54 > 0:15:59and as soon as you start traversing the mountain it makes retreat a lot more difficult because
0:15:59 > 0:16:05retreating downwards is quite straightforward but as soon as you have to start retreating sideways,
0:16:05 > 0:16:07then it all gets a lot more complicated.
0:16:07 > 0:16:13Hinterstoisser's brilliant and bold traverse had unlocked the north face of the Eiger.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16The route upwards lay open to them.
0:16:16 > 0:16:21They got right up onto the Flatiron, almost to the point where
0:16:21 > 0:16:28Sedlmeyer and Mehringer had reached the year before, and it was then that they started to retreat.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32The reasons for their retreat are unclear, but it's likely that
0:16:32 > 0:16:35Angeler had been seriously injured by a falling rock.
0:16:35 > 0:16:40Their line of retreat put them in the path of the constant avalanches.
0:16:40 > 0:16:47All the time they were being bombarded by these lethal salvos of loose rocks falling from above
0:16:47 > 0:16:52and probably hailstorms coming down and, and even waterfalls when it gets warmer.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55It can be absolutely murderous.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59And intermittently during gaps in the clouds the people in the valley were able to see
0:16:59 > 0:17:05these tiny, tiny figures retreating, watching them through the telescopes.
0:17:05 > 0:17:10As they arrived back at the Traverse they realised that they had made a terrible mistake.
0:17:10 > 0:17:16Instead of leaving a rope in place, Hinterstoisser had taken it with him.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19He would have to reverse the move without the rope in place.
0:17:19 > 0:17:24And now, the weather had broken.
0:17:24 > 0:17:30To make matters worse, those smooth slabs of limestone were now covered
0:17:30 > 0:17:37in this glaze, this veneer of ice, and so the thing had become virtually impossible.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41He tried and tried, but eventually he had to give up in exhaustion.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45The only way off the mountain was straight down.
0:17:45 > 0:17:51The problem with that is, below the Hinterstoisser Traverse, you've got great overhangs, it's undercut.
0:17:51 > 0:17:56And so as they set off abseiling down, they were abseiling into unknown territory,
0:17:56 > 0:18:00with huge overhangs which were going to leave them dangling in space.
0:18:00 > 0:18:08And it was during that whole business with frozen ropes, four people, setting up anchors,
0:18:08 > 0:18:12desperation to get this injured man down, and at
0:18:12 > 0:18:17some point during all that confusion, we don't know exactly what happened, but basically someone fell...
0:18:23 > 0:18:26..pulled the others off, an anchor failed
0:18:26 > 0:18:30and there were bodies hurtling through the air,
0:18:30 > 0:18:33there were ropes whipping through the air,
0:18:33 > 0:18:37and it ended up with three men dead
0:18:37 > 0:18:41and one man, Tony Kurz, still alive.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45But hanging, literally hanging on the rope, in space,
0:18:45 > 0:18:50beneath the lip of one of those great overhangs.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54The Eiger Railway runs right through the mountain,
0:18:54 > 0:18:59and there are viewing windows high in the face for the railway guards and the public to look out of.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03That night, a guard heard a shout through the Stollenloch window.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07Realising that there were climbers in trouble, he alerted the mountain
0:19:07 > 0:19:12guides and a rescue party set out through the window into the storm.
0:19:12 > 0:19:17They come up in a special train, they climb out onto the face, and they shout up to Kurz,
0:19:17 > 0:19:22"We can't do anything tonight, just try and get through the night, we'll be back in the morning."
0:19:31 > 0:19:37The hotels of Kleine Scheidegg were packed with visitors eager to watch the drama high on the mountain.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49Early the next morning, the guides climbed out through
0:19:49 > 0:19:54the Stollenloch window and managed to get to 40 metres below Kurz.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57But they couldn't reach him because of the overhang above them.
0:19:57 > 0:20:03Kurz managed to haul up the two lengths of rope he would need to descend the last 40 metres.
0:20:03 > 0:20:08Somehow, he managed to tie the ropes together, but as he abseiled down,
0:20:08 > 0:20:12the knot joining the ropes jammed in his karabiner.
0:20:12 > 0:20:17Mountain guide Arnold Glatthard was one of the rescue party.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20I said, "Look, I give you a knife up,
0:20:20 > 0:20:23"and you have to cut the rope above you,
0:20:23 > 0:20:28"because I'm so good here, we are all good, we are 100%,
0:20:28 > 0:20:32"and you don't fall more than five metres to us, and we will hold you.
0:20:32 > 0:20:37"Cut the rope and then you will be safe."
0:20:37 > 0:20:42They were just down there, the people who could save his life, and he just couldn't get...
0:20:42 > 0:20:45His fingers were completely frost-bitten, they were just dead.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50He just couldn't get it through, and they were saying, "Go on, you can do it, you can do it."
0:20:50 > 0:20:54And he's desperately fumbling and fumbling, and then,
0:20:54 > 0:20:58this had been going on for over 24 hours now, and eventually he just
0:20:58 > 0:21:03said, "It's finished," and died.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14Eiger historian Rainer Rettner believes that Kurz could have been saved.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18There was one thing that happened that was really bad luck.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20One of the guides had a long rope
0:21:22 > 0:21:27just put between the back and the rucksack, but not into his rucksack.
0:21:29 > 0:21:35And when he made a sudden movement, the rope dropped and fell to the base of
0:21:35 > 0:21:37the north fall.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41And that was a thing where it was really tragic,
0:21:41 > 0:21:46because maybe this would have saved Tony Kurz' life.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52Kurz' body was later cut down.
0:21:52 > 0:21:57This recently-discovered footage shows mountain guides retrieving his body.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04The press and the public were enthralled by the exquisite horror of Tony Kurz' death.
0:22:08 > 0:22:13Tony Kurz, that was perfect. I mean, it's a little bit ironic, but it was
0:22:13 > 0:22:21life that was two days, three days, and people were there and radio was there and newspapers were there.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25The ghouls, the ghouls were all there, yeah.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27They flocked to the telescopes.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30It was really good for business, for tourism.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34It's like the reverse of the Roman circus, instead of looking
0:22:34 > 0:22:38down into the amphitheatre, they're looking up at it.
0:22:38 > 0:22:43I always said, if there would have been television,
0:22:43 > 0:22:47I think they would have filmed live
0:22:47 > 0:22:52how Tony Kurz is dying, because that was so dramatic.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55I mean, there were four climbers trapped in
0:22:55 > 0:23:01the north face and then two rescue teams fighting against all that.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05The weather was bad and stuff like that.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07You couldn't invent it better.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14The Eiger was front-page news all over Europe once again.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18The Swiss authorities banned climbing on the north face of
0:23:18 > 0:23:23the Eiger, and Colonel Strutt of the British Alpine Club was outraged.
0:23:23 > 0:23:30He wrote words to the effect that this was simply a pastime for the mentally deranged,
0:23:30 > 0:23:36and that whoever finally succeeded in climbing the north face of the Eiger could satisfy themselves
0:23:36 > 0:23:42by knowing that they'd pulled off the most imbecilic variance in the history of mountaineering.
0:23:44 > 0:23:51Imbecilic or not, for mountaineers the Eiger's north face had become an even bigger prize.
0:23:56 > 0:24:01I think it's the only mountain face where you can actually get a train and then just walk on
0:24:01 > 0:24:03to the north face, isn't it?
0:24:03 > 0:24:06Sort of halfway up.
0:24:06 > 0:24:12Kenton and Neil have special permission to visit one of the Eiger's most extraordinary features,
0:24:12 > 0:24:14the Stollenloch.
0:24:16 > 0:24:22When the Eiger Railway was built, the workmen used this window high on the face to throw rubble out.
0:24:22 > 0:24:28It's the same window that the mountain guides used to try and rescue Tony Kurz.
0:24:28 > 0:24:34The Stollenloch would allow Kenton and Neil to check conditions on the face.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36Cool.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39Wicked, eh?
0:24:39 > 0:24:44Awesome. This is amazing. Can we start digging?
0:24:44 > 0:24:47- Can we, can we?! - You can almost see light out of it. - You can almost see light.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52And this is the Stollenloch, this is well exciting.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54I've not popped out of this window before.
0:24:54 > 0:24:59I've actually climbed past this, within about 50, 60 metres, so it's going to be really exciting.
0:24:59 > 0:25:05This is just great, because you read all the books about it and you hear all the epics about people
0:25:05 > 0:25:09getting back in or some people unfortunately not getting back in, in storms.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13And then literally having to walk down a railway track to safety.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19I can't believe I'm so excited about going out of a door.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21It's like Escape To Victory.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24Yeah, it's like The Great Escape. You're kind of digging...
0:25:26 > 0:25:29Yeah, come on up, Kenton.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34Ah, awesome, check this out.
0:25:36 > 0:25:38Bugger me, this is awesome!
0:25:38 > 0:25:41- Look at the walls above.- Wow.
0:25:41 > 0:25:42Hey, look at the mushroom.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44That is amazing.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47That's where the base jumpers leap from.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50One slip, certain death.
0:25:50 > 0:25:55This is just amazing, absolutely amazing. We've just popped out
0:25:55 > 0:25:59and it's just... Like, we're on the north face.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01A spindrift's coming down
0:26:01 > 0:26:03and it's pretty cold.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09It's quite foreboding, actually.
0:26:09 > 0:26:14I mean, this is the scene of so many epics, so many almost horror-like stories
0:26:14 > 0:26:17about people battling for their lives to get up here and then in.
0:26:17 > 0:26:24And probably there's none quite as bad as the '36 epic of Tony Kurz
0:26:24 > 0:26:27and his really good climbing companions and friends.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31As a boy growing up, reading things like The White Spider,
0:26:31 > 0:26:37the book that tells you about the history of the Eiger, to be here, to be part of it
0:26:37 > 0:26:42and actually have time to think about it, that's what's so emotional today.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46We normally come up here as fast as we can, climbing really fast
0:26:46 > 0:26:48to try and get up as high on the face before we bivouac.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51But today I've got time to look around
0:26:51 > 0:26:53and just soak it all in.
0:26:54 > 0:26:59It's quite an emotional place to be and just to climb through the window...
0:26:59 > 0:27:03Who's pushed that door open and collapsed inside going, "Thank God, we're alive"?
0:27:03 > 0:27:06You know, "We've escaped!"
0:27:06 > 0:27:09Or conversely, who's shut the door knowing that somebody's left out here?
0:27:09 > 0:27:12It's a powerful place to be.
0:27:18 > 0:27:23The Kurz tragedy had made the Eiger irresistible to climbers.
0:27:23 > 0:27:30The Swiss ban lasted just four months, and in 1937 two young Italians died on the face.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37In 1938, the last summer of peace before World War II,
0:27:37 > 0:27:41four exceptional climbers arrived in Kleine Scheidegg.
0:27:41 > 0:27:47Germans Andreas Heckmair and Ludvig Vorg, and Austrians Fritz Kasparek and Heinrich Harrer.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56Their route has become one of the great classics of Alpine climbing.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59It's a big, complicated route.
0:27:59 > 0:28:04It's not going up, straight up and down. It works its way up a series of lines of weakness, and if you're
0:28:04 > 0:28:09in thick cloud, it's quite easy, particularly in the upper part, to actually lose your way.
0:28:09 > 0:28:15And it's technically not super-hard.
0:28:15 > 0:28:21But because of the complexity, the size and the length,
0:28:21 > 0:28:25it's a hugely-complex mountaineering challenge and problem.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29And I think it still is, it is one of the really great routes of the Alps.
0:28:31 > 0:28:34It's a classic route and it's a serious route.
0:28:34 > 0:28:39In '38 it was just an outstanding performance they did.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42You have two fast...
0:28:42 > 0:28:48A couple of sections there is not good protection, so it's still a serious climb.
0:28:50 > 0:28:56Vorg had a camera with him, and all the time he made pictures.
0:28:56 > 0:28:57And people could see how...
0:28:57 > 0:29:02Not only read it, but also see how they did it.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06And these pictures, I find these pictures, if you look at it,
0:29:06 > 0:29:12it's still, "Wow, that was bad conditions."
0:29:13 > 0:29:19Harrer and Kasparek set off first at 2am on the morning on July 21st.
0:29:19 > 0:29:20They climbed slowly.
0:29:20 > 0:29:26Harrer had left his crampons behind, and they were soon passed by Vorg and Kasparek.
0:29:26 > 0:29:33It was much worse than we ever thought and had anticipated.
0:29:33 > 0:29:40We underestimated the whole thing, the height, the difficulties, the snows, the storms,
0:29:40 > 0:29:44the difficulty to find the bivouac place, for instance.
0:29:44 > 0:29:50You know, we had given us a promise, Kasparek and myself, never to climb during the afternoon.
0:29:50 > 0:29:57And you English have a wonderful saying, "Have a plan and stick to it". And we did stick to that plan.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01We were at the beginning of the second ice field at two in the afternoon,
0:30:01 > 0:30:07but we started bivouacking because in the afternoon it's hell on the second ice field,
0:30:07 > 0:30:11and you hardly can avoid to get hit by a stone.
0:30:13 > 0:30:17At midday on the 22nd, they rested together at Death Bivouac,
0:30:17 > 0:30:20but continued to climb as separate teams.
0:30:20 > 0:30:26By now, they were higher on the north face than anyone had been before.
0:30:26 > 0:30:29They crossed the third ice field and onto the Ramp.
0:30:29 > 0:30:31As they reached the Traverse of the Gods,
0:30:31 > 0:30:34they decided to join forces and climb on together.
0:30:36 > 0:30:40As they reached the great hanging ice field of the White Spider,
0:30:40 > 0:30:42the inevitable Eiger storm hit.
0:30:43 > 0:30:44THUNDERCLAP
0:30:48 > 0:30:55Heckmair and Vorg shout to us, "We move into the Spider, there we find a safe place, you follow us."
0:30:55 > 0:30:59Heckmair, he went up an absolutely vertical crack.
0:30:59 > 0:31:06They disappeared above us, and it took hours and hours, and they didn't call for us to continue.
0:31:06 > 0:31:13And suddenly blood and snow came down, and they shouted above us, and Heckmair, he crashed down onto Vorg.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16And Vorg was vertically underneath him.
0:31:16 > 0:31:21Vorg put up his hands and he jumped with the crampons right into the hands of Vorg.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24So blood came out, some of the sinews were actually cut.
0:31:24 > 0:31:30Later on, I heard the story of course, and Vorg had a bottle
0:31:30 > 0:31:35given to him by a doctor, and this bottle said, "Take only ten drops,"
0:31:35 > 0:31:42but Vorg was absolutely pale in his face, so Heckmair poured half the bottle into his mouth,
0:31:42 > 0:31:47and then he said so nicely to me, "The other half, I drank myself, because I was so thirsty,"
0:31:47 > 0:31:48he said to me.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53The bottle is thought to have contained strong amphetamines.
0:31:53 > 0:31:55Kasparek was about
0:31:55 > 0:31:5730 feet above me,
0:31:57 > 0:32:02and then he shouted at me, "An avalanche is coming."
0:32:02 > 0:32:05And so I just pressed my body towards the ice slope,
0:32:05 > 0:32:11and I just had time to push my rucksack above my head, and that saved, really, my life.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14And now one avalanche after the other came...
0:32:16 > 0:32:19..across me, and I thought,
0:32:19 > 0:32:25"Well, I'm the only one who's survived now," because I couldn't imagine that anybody above me
0:32:25 > 0:32:28could have withstood that force of that avalanche.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33Four climbers, they made it to the top.
0:32:33 > 0:32:38And as Heckmair said to me, 60, 70 years later, when he was an old man, "I was actually pleased
0:32:38 > 0:32:43"there was that storm, because it wasn't a walkover, we had to fight, we had to struggle."
0:32:43 > 0:32:48And that struggle through the exit cracks was astounding.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52It was a brilliant, brilliant achievement by any standards.
0:32:52 > 0:32:53A brilliant achievement,
0:32:53 > 0:32:57and as they came down the west flank late in the afternoon,
0:32:57 > 0:32:59they got down to Kleine Scheidegg
0:32:59 > 0:33:03and the whole press of Europe was there to meet them,
0:33:03 > 0:33:05so instant fame for the four of them.
0:33:05 > 0:33:07There's that wonderful photo of the four of them,
0:33:07 > 0:33:11and you can just see that radiant glow of fulfilment
0:33:11 > 0:33:14and happiness on their faces.
0:33:14 > 0:33:15It's a wonderful picture.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22But not everyone was delighted.
0:33:22 > 0:33:28You couldn't read a lot about it in the English press.
0:33:28 > 0:33:32There was still sort of resentment, of course.
0:33:34 > 0:33:41Because of the political development in Germany.
0:33:41 > 0:33:48The German climbers were not really very popular, of course,
0:33:48 > 0:33:51because everyone thought that they had been
0:33:51 > 0:33:55directed to the wall through the Nazi party, which wasn't the case.
0:33:57 > 0:34:02I think Harrer had the swastika flag in his backpack,
0:34:02 > 0:34:06but he didn't take it out on the summit.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10I think they just were glad to be on the summit.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13No swastika, no picture, no nothing.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16Just, "Jesus, let's go down."
0:34:16 > 0:34:23It was instantly politicised, because no sooner had they got down to Grindelwald than they whisked off
0:34:23 > 0:34:28back to Germany, they were taken to the Olympic stadium in Breslau,
0:34:28 > 0:34:33and now they were paraded in front of the adoring crowds.
0:34:33 > 0:34:38The Fuhrer, no less, came to meet them, and they were national heroes.
0:34:38 > 0:34:43Here was this perfect example of the prime of Germanic manhood
0:34:43 > 0:34:47achieving glory on the ultimate Alpine climb.
0:34:47 > 0:34:51It was a spin doctor's dream, handed to him on a plate.
0:34:53 > 0:34:57The story of the '38 ascent has assumed the power of myth.
0:34:57 > 0:35:02Four young heroes taking on an evil ogre, overcoming huge odds
0:35:02 > 0:35:06taking a magic potion that gives them the power to defeat the monster.
0:35:06 > 0:35:13Heinrich Harrer went on to lead an extraordinary life as a climber, explorer, writer and film-maker.
0:35:13 > 0:35:19Allegations of Nazism followed him throughout his life, but his account of the climb, The White Spider,
0:35:19 > 0:35:23remains one of the most important pieces of mountain literature ever written.
0:35:25 > 0:35:30The very public success of Vorg, Kasparek, Harrer and Heckmair
0:35:30 > 0:35:32did little to diminish the power of the Eiger.
0:35:32 > 0:35:39It unlocked the door to a host of young, ambitious and highly-skilled guides, eager to prove their worth
0:35:39 > 0:35:43and claim the ultimate Alpine prize for their nation.
0:35:43 > 0:35:47The next two decades would see a further 30 successful ascents.
0:35:50 > 0:35:54But for every successful season, it seemed that the Eiger must exact a price.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00Death, disaster and controversy continued to dog the north face.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08By the end of the '50s, it was no longer enough to climb the Heckmair classic.
0:36:08 > 0:36:15The first solo attempt was made, and a remarkable winter ascent in 1961 in the most severe conditions.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21But there had still been no British ascent of the Eiger.
0:36:24 > 0:36:28Now, a new wave of highly-skilled British rock and ice climbers
0:36:28 > 0:36:31were turning their attentions back to the Alps.
0:36:33 > 0:36:38By the time a 20-year-old Chris Bonington arrived in Grindelwald in 1957,
0:36:38 > 0:36:44the north face had been climbed successfully 12 times, and claimed 14 lives.
0:36:44 > 0:36:48It was the start of a long association with the Eiger's north face.
0:36:54 > 0:37:00In July 1962, Bonington attempted the Eiger with legendary British climber Don Whillans.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06I wanted to climb the north wall of the Eiger, I was fascinated by it, as was Don.
0:37:06 > 0:37:12Probably, I would say in 1961, '62, Don was at the absolute height of his powers.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16I mean, he was one of the best climbers in the world at that time.
0:37:16 > 0:37:20But much more than that, he had the best kind of mountain judgment,
0:37:20 > 0:37:25feel for a mountain, of anyone that I've ever met.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27I mean, he was streets ahead of me.
0:37:27 > 0:37:29I mean, he was more experienced than I was anyway,
0:37:29 > 0:37:35but he was very thoughtful about his climbing,
0:37:35 > 0:37:38very focused about it.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42And he thought through absolutely everything.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45And on a mountain, you just couldn't have a better partner.
0:37:45 > 0:37:50I mean, you knew he would never, ever let anyone down.
0:37:50 > 0:37:58At the same time, there was another strong British team on the face, Brian Nally and Barry Brewster.
0:37:58 > 0:38:01It was a race amongst British climbers to be the first to get there.
0:38:01 > 0:38:05We'd gone up, the conditions were obviously wrong,
0:38:05 > 0:38:10it was much too warm and there's water pouring down, there's a huge amount of stone fall.
0:38:10 > 0:38:12And we went up to the...
0:38:12 > 0:38:15beginning of the second ice field just to have a look.
0:38:15 > 0:38:20We were only going to have a look, and we'd already planned to turn back.
0:38:20 > 0:38:24And just as we were about to turn back, these Swiss guides came up
0:38:24 > 0:38:27behind us and shouted up to us, saying,
0:38:27 > 0:38:33"Two of your comrades are in trouble at the end of the second ice fall, will you help us to rescue them?"
0:38:33 > 0:38:40And, you know, you don't think twice about it, we just turned around and started across the second ice field.
0:38:40 > 0:38:44It was very dangerous, I mean, there was stones just hurtling down around us.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47And then when we were about halfway across, we could see them.
0:38:47 > 0:38:53And then we saw this one little figure arching down the face, and it was Barry Brewster.
0:38:53 > 0:39:01And the previous day, he'd been hit on the head by a stone, and Brian Nally managed
0:39:01 > 0:39:07to secure him on this little ledge at the end of the second ice field.
0:39:08 > 0:39:12Brewster and Nally spent a night exposed on the north face.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16In this BBC documentary, a traumatised Brian Nally takes up the story.
0:39:16 > 0:39:18At first light
0:39:18 > 0:39:23I tried to really make this decision.
0:39:26 > 0:39:32And he seemed to stir a little, moved an arm,
0:39:32 > 0:39:37and he seemed to regain consciousness a bit, so I went back again up the slope
0:39:37 > 0:39:43and got a stove, thinking that I'd make a drink or some soup or something, if he could take it.
0:39:46 > 0:39:52And I'd started to make this, and he seemed to come to a bit.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57And he opened his eyes
0:39:57 > 0:40:02and he seemed to know where he was and who I was...
0:40:04 > 0:40:07..and he said, "I'm sorry, Brian."
0:40:09 > 0:40:10And he died.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18And...
0:40:18 > 0:40:21everything went dark and...
0:40:23 > 0:40:25..that really was the end of everything.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31First reaction was to
0:40:31 > 0:40:36go over the summit at any cost, because...
0:40:36 > 0:40:38that's what we'd come to do,
0:40:38 > 0:40:41and I couldn't bear the thought of going down.
0:40:43 > 0:40:48But time passed, and I rationalised a bit more and...
0:40:48 > 0:40:53came round to the proper decisions to make,
0:40:53 > 0:40:57and I took a rope and
0:40:57 > 0:40:59started the long haul back.
0:41:02 > 0:41:05There was a huge amount of media there, there were flashlights
0:41:05 > 0:41:09and then when you got back to Kleine Scheidegg, there were even more.
0:41:09 > 0:41:14It was big news, because it was a kind of an epic tragedy.
0:41:14 > 0:41:19And I think Don and I, we were both...
0:41:19 > 0:41:24we were kind of revolted by it.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27And that's why we were just very glad to escape.
0:41:30 > 0:41:34Whillans returned home, but Bonington stayed on in the Alps,
0:41:34 > 0:41:38and later that summer joined forces with British mountaineer Ian Clough.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45We were at the absolute peak of our form.
0:41:45 > 0:41:46Ian and I got on very well together.
0:41:46 > 0:41:51It was just a really good climbing partnership.
0:41:51 > 0:41:53It's like I woke him up about 5.00am once saying,
0:41:53 > 0:41:56"Look, I've had a brainwave, let's go for the Eiger!"
0:41:56 > 0:41:59And dear old Ian said, "Yeah, OK."
0:41:59 > 0:42:04And so three days later, we were going up the Eiger, and that time it was perfect.
0:42:09 > 0:42:14Bonington and Clough had claimed the first British ascent of the Eiger's north face.
0:42:16 > 0:42:20Success on the Eiger changed Bonington's life forever.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25Because of the Eiger, I was asked to write my first book.
0:42:25 > 0:42:29We had a lecture tour, and had more money.
0:42:32 > 0:42:36It is an extraordinary face and an extraordinary climb,
0:42:36 > 0:42:43and you've got to think of what it was like in 1962, when, yeah, it was very mysterious, very challenging.
0:42:54 > 0:43:00Kenton and Neil are out on the face, near the Stollenloch window, climbing part of the 1938 route.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06I feel quite small all of a sudden.
0:43:07 > 0:43:13It still has a real aura about it, and you set off on the Eiger
0:43:13 > 0:43:20quite nervously and quite anxious, and wondering, "Am I going to be up to it?
0:43:20 > 0:43:22"Am I going to live up to the challenge?"
0:43:24 > 0:43:27Look at all the spindrift coming down.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30Yeah, that spindrift is not looking good, is it?
0:43:30 > 0:43:32It's looking horrendous.
0:43:35 > 0:43:37- Agh, here comes the wind. - Straight down my neck.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43If you're up there and it's always dark,
0:43:43 > 0:43:46you can see out, the amazing Alpine meadows below you,
0:43:46 > 0:43:48with the sun shining on them.
0:43:48 > 0:43:53In the winter you see everybody skiing and sitting in tables eating and drinking and having a great time.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57But yet you're kind of in this kind of shadow land on the edge of the Eiger, really.
0:43:57 > 0:44:02So it isn't like a normal mountain at all, really.
0:44:02 > 0:44:05It's kind of, there's something there, there's something living there.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14Bloody hell.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18Yeah, this is not... This is not north face conditions at all.
0:44:24 > 0:44:28God, if my mother saw me now, she'd not be very happy.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31Being able to judge the conditions, judge your team, to decide
0:44:31 > 0:44:36whether to go on or retreat, it is really important on that climb.
0:44:36 > 0:44:42Because the judgment at the bottom when you decide, "Yeah, we're going for this," it's huge on the Eiger.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46Whereas with another climb, it might be that you try it
0:44:46 > 0:44:51and you think, "Ah, actually, it's not on today, I don't feel right." Or, "We can come back down."
0:44:51 > 0:44:56But actually, even if you just climb half the Eiger, you're then very committed.
0:45:01 > 0:45:03With the bad weather coming in tomorrow,
0:45:03 > 0:45:06it's just not realistically going to happen.
0:45:06 > 0:45:09No, I don't think so.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12Well, I think we've both reached a point today where I've seen enough,
0:45:12 > 0:45:17the conditions aren't perfect, we've got a bad weather forecast coming in.
0:45:17 > 0:45:21I think it's time to retreat back down to the window down there
0:45:21 > 0:45:25and then we can come back and fight the face another day.
0:45:25 > 0:45:28But as far as I'm concerned, from the perspective of a guide
0:45:28 > 0:45:31and a climber, this is wrong, this isn't going to happen.
0:45:33 > 0:45:35Yeah, get your head down, mate.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39Yeah, these aren't great conditions on the face.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49Terrifying, mesmeric.
0:45:49 > 0:45:51The Eiger stands there,
0:45:51 > 0:45:54beckoning young men to enter the list and try their courage.
0:45:54 > 0:46:00Graveyard though it is, the elite of the climbing world still look
0:46:00 > 0:46:04and wonder whether there isn't another route, a direct route perhaps,
0:46:04 > 0:46:07with no diversions for the Hinterstoisser Traverse,
0:46:07 > 0:46:10or for the Ramp, or for the Traverse of the Gods.
0:46:10 > 0:46:12A new line, straight for the summit,
0:46:12 > 0:46:15over every overhang, up every ice field.
0:46:18 > 0:46:20By the early '60s, climbers all over Europe
0:46:20 > 0:46:25were looking for the next great prize on the Eiger's north face -
0:46:25 > 0:46:30the direttissimo, or direct route, straight up the face from the bottom to the top.
0:46:32 > 0:46:34It became quite obsessive.
0:46:34 > 0:46:36It originated with a famous Italian climber who said,
0:46:36 > 0:46:40"Where a drop of water will fall, there I will make my route."
0:46:40 > 0:46:44And regardless of whether it's actually the natural way to go up.
0:46:46 > 0:46:47In the summer of 1965,
0:46:47 > 0:46:50Chris Bonington was one of many climbers
0:46:50 > 0:46:53planning an attempt on the direct route.
0:46:53 > 0:46:56Once again, the press and public struggled to understand
0:46:56 > 0:47:00why these young men would risk their lives on such a dangerous mountain,
0:47:00 > 0:47:03especially one that had already been climbed.
0:47:03 > 0:47:06Chris, you've done the ordinary route up the north face,
0:47:06 > 0:47:08why on earth are you going on it again, risking your neck?
0:47:08 > 0:47:12Well, for a start, Mac, I don't like that term "risking your neck".
0:47:12 > 0:47:14We've taken a lot of trouble and time thinking out
0:47:14 > 0:47:18going on this route, and we've planned the route for a long time.
0:47:18 > 0:47:20We'd also be prepared always to turn back.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23We're certainly not taking unjustified risks.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26Going on from that, for why we're going on the route anyway,
0:47:26 > 0:47:31the direttissimo line is a completely separate line up the north face of the Eiger,
0:47:31 > 0:47:33and a very worthwhile one, and it's also new.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36This is the reason why I want to go on it, because it is a new route.
0:47:36 > 0:47:4025 people have already been killed on the face who didn't think they were taking any risk.
0:47:40 > 0:47:45I think the risk is unjustifiable and wouldn't set foot on it, particularly the direct route.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50Also planning an attempt was John Harling,
0:47:50 > 0:47:56a charismatic American based in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he ran a mountaineering school.
0:47:56 > 0:48:02Initially, Bonington agreed to join forces with him, but as the winter drew on he changed his mind.
0:48:04 > 0:48:06I just got increasingly worried about the whole thing.
0:48:06 > 0:48:11John Harling was an incredibly powerful personality.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14And I was just worried by it.
0:48:15 > 0:48:19Instead, Bonington agreed to photograph the climb for the Daily Telegraph,
0:48:19 > 0:48:23working out on the face as the teams climbed.
0:48:23 > 0:48:29The Harling Direct was this big media hyped-up circus thing.
0:48:29 > 0:48:33Climbers are always split when media gets involved in mountaineering,
0:48:33 > 0:48:36because they like it to be something a little bit private.
0:48:36 > 0:48:42Which is why it's not very well understood, generally, because climbers don't open up about it.
0:48:42 > 0:48:49And some people really were very anti that, it being filmed,
0:48:49 > 0:48:53having newspaper reporters and all this sort of razzamatazz.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59By February 1966, the pressure was on.
0:48:59 > 0:49:03A strong German team was also planning an attempt on the direct route.
0:49:05 > 0:49:10Harling had invited brilliant young British climber Dougal Haston to replace Bonington.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15The world's press gathered in Kleine Scheidegg to watch the show.
0:49:17 > 0:49:22The Germans set off first, an eight-man team using siege tactics pioneered in the Himalayas.
0:49:22 > 0:49:27Fixed ropes, ladders, high camps stocked with supplies.
0:49:29 > 0:49:34Dedicated climbing teams supplied from below would mean that they could push on through bad weather.
0:49:34 > 0:49:37They would continue till they reached the top.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40The Eiger Direct would be climbed.
0:49:41 > 0:49:48John Harling, Dougal Haston and an American rock specialist Layton Kor set off alongside.
0:49:50 > 0:49:54It turned into a race, and it wasn't a race of the climbers' devising, but it developed into a race,
0:49:54 > 0:50:02with the German team, very fine German climbers, climbing parallel to a British-American team.
0:50:04 > 0:50:08They had chosen the worst winter for decades.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11They inched up the face in appalling conditions.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16After 18 days, they had reached Death Bivouac, the place where
0:50:16 > 0:50:20Sedlmeyer and Mehringer had frozen to death 31 years before.
0:50:23 > 0:50:28Back in the '60s, the idea of climbing this great wall in winter was almost outrageous.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31It just seemed so forbidding.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34And to do that kind of technical climbing
0:50:34 > 0:50:40with very, very cold fingers, with everything deep in powdered snow, seemed almost impossible.
0:50:45 > 0:50:46The weather was horrific.
0:50:46 > 0:50:50Storm after storm thundered in as the teams battled up the face.
0:50:52 > 0:50:57This footage of Dougal Haston approaching the White Spider was shot by John Harling.
0:50:57 > 0:51:00It was the last footage he would ever shoot.
0:51:05 > 0:51:09On March 22nd, one month after his team first set foot on the wall,
0:51:09 > 0:51:13a fixed rope snapped and John Harling fell to his death.
0:51:15 > 0:51:17There was just an accident waiting to happen.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20We were using fixed ropes that were miles too thin,
0:51:20 > 0:51:22and I think it was inevitable
0:51:22 > 0:51:24that one was going to break sooner or later,
0:51:24 > 0:51:27and it could have happened to any of us.
0:51:27 > 0:51:29Tragically, it happened to John.
0:51:29 > 0:51:33And so he fell to his death, the others were in the White Spider,
0:51:33 > 0:51:37and there, I think absolutely rightly, decided, you know,
0:51:37 > 0:51:40they abandoned the trip then and there.
0:51:40 > 0:51:44It would be throwing John's life away.
0:51:48 > 0:51:52Dougal Haston, the Scottish member of the team, was above the snapped rope,
0:51:52 > 0:51:58and he joined forces with the Germans to complete the climb in John Harling's memory.
0:52:00 > 0:52:05It was a stunning line with some very, very hard climbing,
0:52:05 > 0:52:10taking an almost straight line directly up the centre of this immense triangle.
0:52:10 > 0:52:12So it was a huge achievement.
0:52:13 > 0:52:15The press had a field day.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19The story had all the elements of the perfect Eiger tragedy.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24That was like exactly, I guess, what the Eiger's about.
0:52:24 > 0:52:28Journalism, film, razzamatazz, people looking through telescopes,
0:52:28 > 0:52:30somebody died, all this sort of stuff.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33Climbers falling out, drama.
0:52:33 > 0:52:36It is wonderful, wonderful theatre.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39And it was very, very exciting.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42I mean, the whole thing actually was exciting.
0:52:42 > 0:52:46Because the climbers were doing what they really wanted to do.
0:52:46 > 0:52:51And I think one of the aspects in which I think my generation
0:52:51 > 0:52:54of climbers has been fortunate
0:52:54 > 0:53:01is that the kind of climbs that we wanted to do for their own sake,
0:53:01 > 0:53:04be it the north wall of the Eiger by the ordinary route,
0:53:04 > 0:53:06or the Eiger Direct,
0:53:06 > 0:53:12they were real, genuine, mainstream climbing challenges
0:53:12 > 0:53:17which the media could get their heads around and could follow.
0:53:17 > 0:53:22Whereas today, I don't think the media can any longer
0:53:22 > 0:53:25get their heads around hard climbing.
0:53:25 > 0:53:31In the 1930s, the Eiger was considered unclimbable,
0:53:31 > 0:53:34the preserve of imbeciles and the mentally deranged.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37In 2009, Swiss phenomenon Ueli Steck
0:53:37 > 0:53:40completed an ascent of the north face
0:53:40 > 0:53:42in just two hours and 47 minutes.
0:53:45 > 0:53:48For me, it was completely different.
0:53:48 > 0:53:52You go there and it's like you go running.
0:53:52 > 0:53:54You take the first train, you have a coffee,
0:53:54 > 0:53:56then 9.00 in the morning you start climbing,
0:53:56 > 0:54:01and you know exactly for lunchtime you will be latest on summit.
0:54:04 > 0:54:07It changes completely in your head,
0:54:07 > 0:54:10just three hours exposed in the face.
0:54:10 > 0:54:16It's not the same mountaineering like serious mountaineering anymore.
0:54:19 > 0:54:26And I spend, like, one year training specially for this speed ascent.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29It's like training like a marathon.
0:54:39 > 0:54:45The Eiger's role as grand stage for the most brilliant climbers of a generation remains undiminished.
0:54:45 > 0:54:50But while headline-grabbing speed ascents provide useful column inches,
0:54:50 > 0:54:54for professional climbers and their sponsors, this is not a publicity stunt.
0:54:56 > 0:55:00This whole ascent's changed my mind for all mountains.
0:55:00 > 0:55:04I think there is a lot possible in a different way on climbing.
0:55:04 > 0:55:11I can go maybe to Himalaya with a completely different mind, and this will change climbing.
0:55:13 > 0:55:18I'm not a better climber than Heckmair was in his time.
0:55:18 > 0:55:21It's just another time, so this is what's changing.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24But the mountain's still the same.
0:55:30 > 0:55:35The Eiger is the great-grandfather of Alpine north faces.
0:55:36 > 0:55:44Once considered an invincible, evil ogre, it has now been climbed up every conceivable route.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48It's a playground for the world's extreme elite.
0:55:48 > 0:55:52I'm standing on the Eiger, 3,186 metres off the ground.
0:56:04 > 0:56:09People have run up it, jumped off it and skied down its great face.
0:56:13 > 0:56:16But despite all this, the Eiger's north face
0:56:16 > 0:56:19still commands the respect of the world's best Alpinists.
0:56:24 > 0:56:31I've often wondered whether with the Eiger it's a purely human construct.
0:56:31 > 0:56:35Whether it really is just this story we've created around it,
0:56:35 > 0:56:40and the very public position, all the kitsch down at Kleine Scheidegg,
0:56:40 > 0:56:45the people with the telescopes, the terrible stories of the accidents and the grim tragedies.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49I wonder whether that's all it is, or whether...
0:56:49 > 0:56:53the wall itself is intrinsically interesting.
0:56:53 > 0:56:58And actually, when you go there, it is the biggest wall in the Alps, it is colossal, it's unique.
0:57:00 > 0:57:03A lot of people, they will never climb the Eiger,
0:57:03 > 0:57:07not because they couldn't do the moves on it,
0:57:07 > 0:57:09if they had the safety of a rope all the way above them,
0:57:09 > 0:57:16but really because it's so committing, the risks and the test of your self-belief.
0:57:18 > 0:57:21You would quite like it if it probably fell down,
0:57:21 > 0:57:24you didn't have to do it, but you aren't really complete,
0:57:24 > 0:57:30you have to have climbed it or at least had some big epic on it!
0:57:30 > 0:57:35Advances in weather forecasting and rescue techniques
0:57:35 > 0:57:39have made the Eiger a much safer place than it was 50 years ago.
0:57:39 > 0:57:43And while other great mountains have been diminished through commercialism,
0:57:43 > 0:57:46the Eiger still retains something special.
0:57:46 > 0:57:50It has been the stage on which some of the most iconic stories
0:57:50 > 0:57:53in mountain history have been played out to an eager audience.
0:57:53 > 0:57:57And for that reason alone, it remains unique.
0:58:02 > 0:58:04We personally think the rewards are worth the risk,
0:58:04 > 0:58:08yet to the non-climber it would just seem insane.
0:58:08 > 0:58:12We do it for those moments which are totally priceless.
0:58:12 > 0:58:16So, you know, why we pit ourselves against the north face...
0:58:16 > 0:58:18I don't know... weird really.
0:58:18 > 0:58:22And especially this one. You know, this is the biggest, baddest, nastiest one of them all.
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