Eiger-Nordwand

The Eiger-Nordwand is one of the great north faces of the Alps. The Eiger (3,967 m (13,015 ft)) is part of the Bernese Alps in Switzerland, and its north face rises over 1,800 meters (5,900 ft). With alpine climbing routes that are up to four kilometers long, the face hosts some of the Alps' longest and most demanding climbing routes, with significant risks from rockfall and avalanches. The wall gained fame through dramatic climbing attempts and ascents, heightened by its visibility from Grindelwald and, even more clearly, from the Wengernalp Railway-accessible Kleine Scheidegg.

In a 1935 climbing attempt, Max Sedlmayr and Karl Mehringer perished. In the 1936 attempt, all four climbers from two Austrian and German teams died: the first team consisted of Germans Toni Kurz and Andreas Hinterstoisser, and the second included Willy Angerer and Edi Rainer. In 1938, a four-man team of Anderl Heckmair, Heinrich Harrer, Ludwig Vörg, and Fritz Kasparek achieved the first ascent. Early ascents during the Nazi era faced criticism due to their political associations and the then-novel climbing style, which was not yet established in the Western Alps.

Today, over 30 interconnected routes traverse the face, some requiring mastery of the highly challenging UIAA X grade of difficulty. Leading alpinists can climb the face in a few hours under favorable weather conditions. Since November 2015, the speed record for the Heckmair Route has been held by Swiss extreme alpinist Ueli Steck at 2 hours, 22 minutes, and 50 second, where as the first ascent in 1938 took over three days.