In the 1960s a handsome young American named John Harlin II changed the face of Alpine climbing, scaling some of Europe’s most treacherous peaks. But it was the vertical north face of the Eiger that became his obsession. Living with his wife and two children in Switzerland, he spent countless hours planning, waiting, and attempting to climb the notorious direttissima, the Eiger direct. He wanted to be the first, and everyone in the Alpine world knew it—including John Harlin III, who was nine years old when, in the attempt, his father plummeted 4,000 feet to his death.
In the shadow of tragedy, John Harlin III came of age possessed with the same passion for risk that drove his father. Although he reveled in downhill skiing and rock-climbing, for years he honored a promise to his mother not to be an Alpine climber. But in 2005, he could resist no longer. With his nine-year-old daughter and an IMAX Theatre film crew, Harlin set off on his quest. In The Eiger Obsession, he tells the unforgettable story—a story about fathers and sons, climbers and mountains, and dreamers who dare.
