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

2. What area of the mountain is the Silver Trench on?

3. How far did Karl Blach initially say he would guide Jürgen Wallenkamp and Bernd Huber on their climb up the North Face?

4. In 1957, what traces of Nothdurft and Mayer did search parties find?

5. Was the filmed climb of Lothar Brandler, Jörg Lehne, and Sigfried Löw up the North Face successful?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. What was the weather like during Erich Vanis, Hans Ratay, and Karl Lugmayer's first night on the mountain in 1952?

5. What happened when Derungs and Albrecht threw their extra equipment over the edge of the mountain after their last bivouac?

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

7. What is Harrer's attitude toward Italians?

8. When did Mayr's climb seem to slow?

9. Describe Erich Friedli, Jr. and Arnold Heinen's climb in 1963.

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

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

Extreme mountain climbing pushes the limits of human ability. Discuss this aspect of climbing in Harrer's book.

1) What drives human being to push the limits of human ability, according to Harrer? Is this a worthwhile pursuit?

2) How do the limits of human accomplishment change over time? Does climbing the North Face become less of an accomplishment in any way over time?

3) What does it mean to say that a task is impossible? How does the impossible become achievable?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the structure of Harrer's book.

1) How does the chronological telling of attempts to climb the North Face affect the book? Why does Harrer choose a chronological structure?

2) How does the addition of a second section to a later edition of the book affect it?

3) What stories are central to the book and gone into in more detail? Why does Harrer choose these events to emphasize?

(see the answer keys)

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