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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 happened to Lugmayer during the climb?

2. What put the claims of two Swiss climbers who said they climbed the North Face in one day in doubt?

3. What day did the innkeeper in Grindelwald say that Nothdurft and Mayer left for the climb?

4. According to Corti's report, what happened to him at the Spider?

5. What year was the final section of the book added?

Short Essay Questions

1. What information does Harrer offer in the later appended chapters about his treatment of Corti's story and the facts about Nothdurft's death?

2. What is the controversy about the photograph of the German climbers on the mountain?

3. What were Nothdurft and Mayers' families reactions to the tragedy?

4. What does Harrer say about Corti's knowledge of the North Face of the Eiger?

5. Why does Harrer call the climb by Radovan KuchaÅ™ and Zdeno Zibrin cautious?

6. Why does Harrer include a route guide at the end of the book?

7. After bivouacking above the Spider, how did Helmuth Drachsler and Walter Gstrein reach the summit?

8. Describe the attempt to climb the North Face by Brian Nally and Barry Brewster in 1962.

9. What happened in the attempts to climb the North Face in 1953?

10. Why were Kurt Diemberger and Wolfgang Stephan criticized, and how does Harrer answer that criticism?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the idea of rescue in Harrer's book.

1) Why are rescue attempts not guaranteed for climbers? How does climbing affect the local guides and governments who participate in rescue attempts?

2) How does Harrer view rescuers and rescue attempts? Are his portrayals of rescuers romanticized?

3) Should climbers expect rescue? What aspects of human nature make rescue attempts inevitable? What happens when rescue attempts are impossible? Discuss specific rescue attempts in the book.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the relationship of money and climbing in the book.

1) How does Harrer portray climbers who have financial backing versus those who have little money and equipment?

2) How does poverty affect the ability of climbers to be successful?

3) Is Harrer's portrayal of impoverished young climbers romanticized?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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