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himself back to the mountain face after cutting loose
Angerer below him. The guides were not able to pass an unclimbable overhang that separated them from Kurz, but they managed to get a rope long enough to reach Kurz by tying two ropes together. While abseiling, however, Kurz could not get the knot that joined the two ropes to pass through his carabiner. He tried for hours to reach his rescuers, who were just a few metres below him, desperately trying to move himself past the knot, but in vain. He then began to lose consciousness. One of the guides, climbing on another's shoulders, was able to touch the tip of Kurz's crampons with the head of his ice-axe but could not reach higher. Faced with the futility of his situation, he famously said only "Ich kann nicht mehr" ("I can't anymore") and then died.
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clouds came down and allowed observers on the ground only intermittent visibility of the climbers on the face. On the second day, the party was bombarded by rockfall, a notorious problem on the north face route. Angerer was hit just below the shoulder blade and injured. It is said that he tried to continue climbing, but the expedition had to be stopped for the night.
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they could not recross a difficult traverse – which became known as the
Hinterstoisser traverse – from which they had pulled the rope during their ascent. Exhausted on their third day of climbing, with two days of bad weather, Hinterstoisser still tried for hours to cross the traverse, which was now covered in
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The climbing resumed on the following day, when, during a break in the clouds, the party was observed descending. Later, it would be learned that the group had no choice but to retreat, since
Angerer had suffered more serious injuries than initially assessed. The party became stuck on the face when
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In the morning, the three guides returned, traversing the face again from a hole near the
Eigerwand Station despite avalanche-prone conditions. Toni Kurz was still alive but almost helpless. After four nights exposed to the elements, one of his hands and his arm was completely frozen. Kurz hauled
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The weather improved and they made preliminary explorations of the lowest part of the face. Hinterstoisser accidentally fell 37 metres (121 ft) but was not injured. A few days later, the four men began ascending the north face. They climbed quickly, but on the second day the weather changed;
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After a deadly and unsuccessful German attempt in 1935, ten climbers from
Austria and Germany travelled to the still-unclimbed north face of the Eiger in 1936, but, before serious summit attempts could get underway, one climber was killed during a training climb. The weather was so bad that after
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from the lower lip of the First Ice Field down the vertical face (the great rock barrier). A ledge ran along the wall of rock, which, if they could get to it, would lead them to the
Stollenloch, an entrance to the train tunnel. As belay devices had not yet been invented, they rappelled using the
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halfway down the descent. During their exchange, the climber claimed everything had been going all right (perhaps out of pride and knowledge that they were very close to safety). However, as
Hinterstoisser set up the last abseil of the descent, an
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came down the mountain, taking
Hinterstoisser, who had unclipped from the group, with it. He was found at the bottom of the mountain days later. Angerer also fell and was killed when his body hit the rock face, while Rainer quickly
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from the weight of the rope around his diaphragm. Only Kurz survived the avalanche, hanging on the rope with his dead comrades.
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waiting for a change and seeing none on the way, several climbers gave up. Only four remained: two
Bavarians,
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The weather worsened, and falling rocks, snow, and water could be seen from the town. The group decided to
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In July 1936, five climbers died while attempting to ascend the north face of the
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Late on the third day, three Swiss guides started a rescue attempt from the
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The north face of the Eiger, where the disaster unfolded
350:"The Eiger Nordwand Revealed: Rainer Rettner Interview"
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method. Contact was made with a railway guard at the
169:His body was later recovered by a German team.
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312:mountainzone.com. Retrieved on 2010-03-04
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213:, a 2007 documentary about the disaster
18:1936 Eiger north face climbing disaster
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288:from the original on 2 December 2008
258:from the original on 4 February 2008
221:, a 2008 German film on the subject
322:Gilbert, Dave (3 September 2001).
250:Gilbert, Dave (3 September 2001).
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396:1936 disasters in Switzerland
391:Mountaineering in Switzerland
278:"The Hinterstoisser Traverse"
310:The north face of the Eiger
282:The North Face of the Eiger
111:The Hinterstoisser traverse
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348:Cooper, Kate (May 2008).
324:"Eiger's grim reputation"
252:"Eiger's grim reputation"
138:Eigerwand railway station
74:mountain in Switzerland.
411:Disasters in Switzerland
381:Mountaineering disasters
48:46.5843675°N 7.9217514°E
27:Mountaineering disaster
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85:Andreas Hinterstoisser
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210:The Beckoning Silence
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91:, and two Austrians,
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53:46.5843675; 7.9217514
406:1936 in Switzerland
401:History of the Alps
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103:Ascent and retreat
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284:. Mountain Zone.
160:Eigerwand Station
16:(Redirected from
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354:UK Climbing
292:14 November
262:23 December
187:Alps portal
148:asphyxiated
51: /
375:Categories
333:28 October
239:Eiger#1935
226:References
218:North Face
134:Dülfersitz
97:Edi Rainer
78:Background
36:46°35′04″N
359:8 January
143:avalanche
89:Toni Kurz
39:7°55′18″E
328:BBC News
286:Archived
256:Archived
173:See also
122:verglas
129:abseil
386:Eiger
72:Eiger
361:2013
335:2019
294:2008
264:2007
95:and
87:and
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302:^
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