A classic of mountaineering literature, The White Spider tells the story of the harrowing first ascent of the Eiger’s North Face, one of the most legendary and terrifying climbs in recorded history.Heinrich Harrer, author of Seven Years in Tibet and one of the twentieth century’s greatest mountaineers, was part of the team that finally conquered the fearsome North Face of the Eiger in 1938. It was a landmark expedition that pitted the explorers against treacherous conditions and the limits of...
A landmark in travel writing, this is the incredible true story of Heinrich Harrer’s escape across the Himalayas to Tibet, set against the backdrop of the Second World War.Heinrich Harrer, already one of the greatest mountaineers of his time, was climbing in the Himalayas when war broke out in Europe. He was imprisoned by the British in India but succeeded in escaping and fled to Tibet. Settling in Lhasa, the Forbidden City, where he became a friend and tutor to the Dalai Lama, Heinrich Harrer...