View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What trapped Primas and Gollackner on the mountain?

2. How many climbers were in Toni Kurz's group?

3. What aspect of climbing does Harrer want to focus on in his book?

4. What nationality was the second team to successfully climb the North Face?

5. Why did Fraissl and Brankowski turn back?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Describe the reaction to Harrer telling a doctor in Lhasa that he was among the first party to climb the North Face.

3. What is the author's position on the psychology of seeking danger?

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

5. On his ascent up the North Face, what did Harrer remember seeing while he was climbing a peak as a child?

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

7. What happened to Bartolo Sandri and Mario Menti, who attempted to climb the North Face early in the summer of 1938?

8. What are the hazards on the North Face when the ice is melted?

9. How did Fritz Kasparek and Harrer meet?

10. When Australian and Swiss teams both climbed the North Face at approximately the same time, how far apart did they reach the summit?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Death is an inevitable part of attempts to climb the North Face. Discuss death in Harrer's book.

1) How does Harrer justify the decision to participate in the potentially deadly attempts to climb the North Face? How does he view the risk of death inherent in climbing attempt?

2) How does Harrer view those who have died in attempts to climb the North Face? Does he in any way romanticize the dead or their deaths?

3) What is the role of skill and chance in death on the North Face? Is death something that can be avoided by preparedness and mental and physical acuity?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the nature of youth in Harrer's vision of climbing.

1) How does Harrer see extreme climbing as a youthful activity? What about the nature of youth makes extreme climbing attractive?

2) How does Harrer both admire and envy youth? Is his portrayal of youth idealized or realistic?

3) How does Harrer seem to change from his youth to his adult self? What aspects of youth does he exhibit as a young climber?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 935 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample