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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. Where did Rebitch and Vörg end their third day?

2. How did newspapers react to plans to climb the North Face in 1937?

3. What year was the Eiger's North Face still climbed?

4. Where did Rebitch and Vörg end the fourth day of their climb?

5. How tall was the icy gully that Buhl climbed the day after climbing the Spider?

Short Essay Questions

1. After Buhl, Jöchler, the Maags, and the French traveled up the Spider, in what arrangement did they bivouac?

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

3. How does Harrer portray the climbers' relations with the newspapermen?

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

5. Describe the first climb up the Eiger.

6. Why did Heckmair and Vörg turn back from their climb on July 21?

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

8. What were Otto and Sepp Maag doing when they first encountered Buhl and Jöchler in July 1952?

9. What blocked the descent from Buhl and Jöchler's bivouac spot below the Rote Fluh?

10. What metaphor did the author use to describe the societal function of mountain climbing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Harrer sees the overuse of technology in climbing as a danger. Discuss technology and human achievement in Harrer's book.

1) In what ways is technology a necessary part of mountain climbing? Could the Eiger's North Face be successfully climbed without technological advancements?

2) What does Harrer see as the danger of the overuse of technology? When does the use of technology become overuse? What aspects of climbing does it diminish?

3) How does technology make the advances in climbing the North Face an accomplishment of humanity as a whole, and does this in any way diminish individual accomplishments in climbing the North Face?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the character of the mountain in the book.

1) How does the nature of the mountain change over the course of time in the book? In what ways is this change natural, and in what ways is mankind responsible for change in the mountain?

2) How does the mountain function as a character in the book? Is it ever personified? How so? What qualities does the mountain have?

3) How does the mountain affect the climbers, guides, and locals in the book?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the roles of skill and chance in climbing the North Face of the Eiger.

1) How does Harrer address luck or chance in success or failure of climbing the North Face? How big a role does luck or chance play in success or failure?

2) What skills are necessary to climb the North Face? How can skill mitigate bad luck or ill chance, if it can?

3) What role does skill play in a successful climb of the North Face? How essential is skill, and are there any substitutes for it?

(see the answer keys)

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