Eiger north face

thumb|Lake Thun with [[Eiger (left), Mönch and Jungfrau]] The Eiger-Nordwand is one of the great north faces of the Alps. The Eiger () is part of the Bernese Alps in Switzerland, and its north face rises over 1,800 meters (5,900 ft). With alpine climbing routes that are up to four kilometers long, the face hosts some of the Alps' longest and most demanding climbing routes, with significant risks from rockfall and avalanches. The wall gained fame through dramatic climbing attempts and ascents, heightened by its visibility from Grindelwald and, even more clearly, from the Wengernalp Railway-accessible Kleine Scheidegg.

In a 1935 climbing attempt, Max Sedlmayr and Karl Mehringer perished. In the 1936 attempt, all four climbers from two Austrian and German teams died: the first team consisted of Germans Toni Kurz and Andreas Hinterstoisser, and the second included Willy Angerer and Edi Rainer. In 1938, a four-man team of Anderl Heckmair, Heinrich Harrer, Ludwig Vörg, and Fritz Kasparek achieved the first ascent. Early ascents during the Nazi era faced criticism due to their political associations and the then-novel climbing style, which was not yet established in the Western Alps.