BURSTOn July 7, 1912, Heinrich Harrer, an acclaimed Austrian mountaineer, was born. He’s best known for his participation in the first ascent of the north face of the Eiger in 1938 with Fritz Kasparek, Ludwig Vörg, and Anderl Heckmair, a milestone in mountaineering history.
In 1939, Harrer joined an expedition to Nanga Parbat in the Himalayas, but World War II interrupted his plans. Interned by British forces in India, he escaped in 1944 and trekked across the Himalaya to Tibet, where he spent seven years. His experiences in Lhasa, including his friendship with the young Dalai Lama, inspired his bestselling memoir, Seven Years in Tibet (1952), later adapted into a 1997 film starring Brad Pitt. The book offered a rare Western glimpse into Tibetan culture before China’s annexation.
In his book The White Spider: The Classic Account of the Ascent of the Eiger, Harrer wrote, “Yes, we had made and excursion into another world and we had come back, but we had brought the joy of life and of humanity back with us. In the rush and whirl of everyday things, we so often live alongside one another without making any mutual contact. We had learned on the North Fae of the Eiger that men are good, and the earth on which we were born is good.”
Harrer’s adventurous spirit extended beyond climbing. He explored remote regions like the Amazon and Borneo, authored over 20 books, and was an avid photographer. Despite controversy over his brief association with the Nazi Party in the 1930s, which he later expressed regret for, Harrer’s legacy endures through his contributions to mountaineering and cultural documentation. He died on January 7, 2006, in Friesach, Austria.
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