The recorded history of climbing of the Eiger mountain in Switzerland starts in the 1800s. It is split between the Eiger pre-north face era, when the main summits and easier ridges and faces were climbed, and the post-north face era, when it became one of the greatest prizes in mountaineering. At least sixty-four climbers have died while attempting the ascent (mainly via the north face).
First ascents (pre-north face era)
1857: First attempt by Christian Almer, Christian Kaufmann, Ulrich Kaufmann guiding the Viennese alpinist Sigismund Porges. They did manage the first ascent of neighboring Mönch. 1858 (11 August): First ascent, by the west flank (Christian Almer and Peter Bohren guiding Charles Barrington). According to Harrer's "The White Spider," Barrington would have attempted the first Matterhorn ascent instead, but his finances did not allow him to travel there as he was already staying in the Eiger region. 1861 (27 July): Second ascent, by Sigismund Porges with the guides Christian Michel, Hans, and Peter Baumann. 1864 (27 July): Fourth ascent, and first ascent by a woman, Lucy Walker, who was part of a group of six guides (including Christian Almer and Melchior Anderegg) and five clients, including her brother Horace Walker 1871: First ascent by the southwest ridge, 14 July (Christian Almer, Christian Bohren, and Ulrich Almer guiding W. A. B. Coolidge and Meta Brevoort). 1890: First ascent in winter, Ulrich Kaufmann and Christian Jossi guiding C. W. Mead and G. F. Woodroffe. 1921 (10 September): First ascent via the Mittellegi ridge by Fritz Amatter, Samuel Brawand, Yuko Maki and Fritz Steuri. 1924: First ski ascent and descent via the Eiger glacier by Englishman Arnold Lunn and the Swiss Fritz Amacher, Walter Amstutz, and Willy Richardet. 1932: First ascent of the northeast face ("Lauper route") by Hans Lauper, Alfred Zürcher, Alexander Graven, and Josef Knubel
1930s and 1940s (north face era)
1934: First attempt on the face, by Willy Beck, Kurt Löwinger, and Georg Löwinger, reaching 2,900 m. 1935: Attempt by the Germans Karl Mehringer and Max Sedlmeyer. They froze to death at 3,300 m, a place now known as "Death Bivouac." 1936: (July) Four Austrian and German climbers, Andreas Hinterstoisser, Toni Kurz, Willy Angerer and Edi Rainer, died on the face during severe weather conditions on a retreat from Death Bivouac. 1938: First ascent of the north face by Anderl Heckmair, Heinrich Harrer, Fritz Kasparek and Ludwig Vörg, achieved in three days. 1947 (July 14–16): Second ascent of the face by the Frenchmen Lionel Terray and Louis Lachenal. 1947 (August 4–5): Third ascent by the Swiss climbers Hans Schlunegger, Karl Schlunegger and Gottfried Jermann
1950s 1950 (July 26): Fourth ascent in one very long day with a bivouac on the summit by Leo Forstenlechner and Erich Wascak. They overtake Swiss climbers Jean Fuchs, Marcel Hamel, Raymond Monney, and Robert Seiler, who achieve the fifth ascent on 27 July. 1957: Two Italian (Claudio Corti and Stefano Longhi) and two German climbers (Franz Meyer and Gunther Nothdurft) encounter extreme difficulties in the higher part of the route, as Nothdurft becomes ill and Longhi, who is suffering from severe frostbite, falls near "the Spider" and cannot be lifted by his companions. Corti (who has been in turn hit by a falling stone) becomes the first man rescued from the face from above in a famous 54-man rescue action (first undertaken by volunteer climbers and non-Swiss guides) when German guide Alfred Hellepart is lowered from the summit on a steel cable by Ludwig Gramminger's rescue system. Longhi is not so lucky and dies of exposure before he can be rescued. Meyer and Nothdurft died in an avalanche on their descent of the Eiger's west face after completing the 14th ascent of the north face (they had left the injured Corti with all their provisions—including a small tent—and were trying to descend from the mountain and call rescue). The body of Longhi remained on the face for more than two years before being recovered. Claudio Corti, being the sole survivor, was quite wrongly castigated by some quarters of the international press and was held responsible for the disappearance of the two German climbers Northdurft and Mayer (Northdurft had already soloed to the Swallows Nest and back). He was accused of various dark deeds, even of pushing the Germans off the face. Corti actually thought he had done the first Italian ascent of the face until it was pointed out that he had finished the climb tied to the back of another climber. 1958: Kurt Diemberger and Wolfgang Stefan make the thirteenth ascent. As the bodies of Nothdurft and Meyer were found later on the descent route from the Eiger—both had been killed by an avalanche—Diemberger and Stefan were finally awarded the 14th ascent of the face. 1959: Adolf Derungs and Lucas Albrecht, two Swiss masons, climb the face with very primitive equipment. Derungs wore four shirts one on top of another and Albrecht carried an old overcoat as far as the Spider. Both students, brave to the point of rashness and very tough, descend by night by the west flank. Three years later, in 1962, Derungs disappears while attempting a solo ascent of the north face.
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