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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. Why did Giuseppe Piravano and Bruno Detassis climb partially up the northeast face?

2. Where did Allmen call to Toni Kurz and his party from?

3. After Buhl collapsed, who took the lead of the party?

4. What nationality was the second team to successfully climb the North Face?

5. What happened to Kasparek at the Ramp?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did the author characterize past writing about the Eiger?

2. How were photos taken of the climbers traversing toward the Spider?

3. Describe the ascent of Buhl, Jöchler, the Maags, and the French through the Ramp.

4. What did the climbers do on their last night on the mountain before reaching the summit?

5. How does Harrer portray the climbers' relations with the newspapermen?

6. Was there rivalry between the parties attempting to climb the North Face in 1937?

7. What is the author's position on the psychology of seeking danger?

8. On his ascent up the North Face, what did Harrer remember seeing while he was climbing a peak as a child?

9. What seemed unexplainable about Primas and Gollackner's actions on their climb?

10. Describe the White Spider.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

Harrer's book is partly autobiographical and partly a historical account of the North Face of the Eiger. Discuss the aspects of autobiography and history in the book.

1) In what ways is Harrer's book an autobiography? How well does the reader know and understand Harrer through the telling of his story?

2) In what ways is Harrer's book a history of the North Face of the Eiger? How successful is Harrer in writing a historical account?

3) Do the autobiographical and historical aspects of the book conflict with each other? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the character of the mountain in the book.

1) How does the nature of the mountain change over the course of time in the book? In what ways is this change natural, and in what ways is mankind responsible for change in the mountain?

2) How does the mountain function as a character in the book? Is it ever personified? How so? What qualities does the mountain have?

3) How does the mountain affect the climbers, guides, and locals in the book?

(see the answer keys)

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