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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 did Corti say happened to Günther Nothdurft and Franz Mayer as they started out to climb the North Face?

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

3. How many parties attempted to climb the North Face in 1954 and 1955?

4. How long did it take Hilti von Allmen and Ueli Hürlimann to ascend the North Face?

5. What did the friend Nothdurft and Mayer visited before leaving think of Nothdurft's behavior on the mountain?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe what was done to lower Alfred Hellepart down the mountain in a rescue attempt.

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

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

4. How were Albert Rabada and Ernesto Navarra's bodies recovered?

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

6. What is Harrer's opinion about Corti's story that the two other climbers went on to send back help, leaving Corti behind after he was injured?

7. At the end of the chapter "The International Rescue Team," what does Harrer suggest might happen in the future regarding Nothdurft and Mayer?

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

9. What happened to Erich Vanis, Hans Ratay, and Karl Lugmayer on the Ice Bulge?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Harrer sees taming the North Slope as expanding the domain of humanity. Discuss this aspect of the book.

1) Is humanity's intellectual and physical domain expanded by the successful attempts to climb the North Face? How does this expand human accomplishment?

2) How does Harrer ultimately feel about the affect of humans climbing the North Face? Once the North Face has been repeatedly climbed, has something been lost as well as gained?

3) Is the expansion of the human domain inherently good? Is it inevitable? How does the North Face fit into the bigger picture of human accomplishment?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Discuss danger and courage in Harrer's book.

1) What is Harrer's attitude toward danger? How does he feel about courage?

2) What outweighs the inherent danger of extreme mountain climbing for the climbers who attempt the North Face? In what ways are they courageous, and in what ways are they foolhardy?

3) What are the dangers of the North Face, and can they be mitigated by those who attempt the climb? How does the risk become worthwhile, and under what conditions?

(see the answer keys)

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