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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What problem did Heckmair have during the night?

2. Why did Rebitsch and Vörg start up the northeast face of the mountain?

3. How many climbers were there in the first party to attempt to climb the North Face?

4. What happened on Reiss and Blach's attempt to climb the North Face in 1950?

5. What did the press call the North Face?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Allmen checked on the mountaineers he knew were climbing toward him, what did he find?

2. How were photos taken of the climbers traversing toward the Spider?

3. What seemed unexplainable about Primas and Gollackner's actions on their climb?

4. What did the author mean by "Come back safe, my friends"?

5. Where did rescuers start from to try to rescue Toni Kurz?

6. Who were the climbers forced out of Switzerland in 1937?

7. Describe the first climb up the Eiger.

8. Describe the ascent of Buhl, Jöchler, the Maags, and the French through the Ramp.

9. Describe the White Spider.

10. How did Fritz Kasparek and Harrer meet?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss teamwork and friendship in Harrer's book.

1) How is teamwork important to climbers? How do climbers help each other?

2) How is a solo climb different from a climb by a team or group up the North Face?

3) What is the role of friendship or camaraderie between climbers? How is Harrer's relationship with Fritz an important part of his portrayal of his own climb up the North Face? What other friendships are important in the book?

Essay Topic 2

Harrer talks about the media and publicity often in his book. Discuss the relationship of the media to mountain climbing.

1) How does Harrer view the media's reporting on mountain climbing? What criticisms does he levy?

2) In what ways is Harrer's book similar to the media that he criticizes? in what ways is it different?

3) How does Harrer portray the film crews that film climbers going up the mountain? How does Harrer think about the films of mountain climbing?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss nationalism, rivalry, and prejudice in Harrer's book.

1) What is Harrer's viewpoint on international cooperation and on different nationalities in the book?

2) What role do national rivalries play in the race to climb the North Face and in the following attempts?

3) What is Harrer's opinion about Italian climbers, and how does it inform his presentation of Corti's ill-fated climb? Can Harrer's presentation be relied on? What other biases does he seem to hold?

(see the answer keys)

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