The Eiger Obsession: Facing the Mountain that Killed My Father

John Harlin III grew up in the long shadow of a mountain. His father, John Harlin II, was an American climber known in Alpine circles as Eiger John. He was determined to be the first to climb the north face of the Eiger by its most direct line, and he died on it in 1966 when a rope gave way far below the summit. Decades later, his son, a skier and rock climber who had long kept clear of the high peaks, felt the pull of the same wall. In 2005, with his nine-year-old daughter at his side and a film crew documenting the attempt, he prepared to take on the mountain that had claimed his father. This memoir traces the family history, a childhood without a climbing father, and the decision to go back to the Eiger.