Word: derfully
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Even in the summertime, the north wall of der Eiger is still one of the great climbs in the world-17 men have died there since 1935. But not until this month did any climbers dare tackle the north wall in the winter, when the storms that swirl down from the peaks can snuff out a party in one capricious attack...
Dark and forbidding, the great triangle of granite rises 13,040 ft. out of the Swiss Alps. Men were dying on its sheer sides as far back as the 12th century, when the monks named it der Eiger, or the Ogre...
Leader of the group was a German named Toni Hiebeler, 32. editor of an obscure Alpinist magazine in Munich called the Mountain Companion. Hiebeler was driven to conquer der Eiger by the Alpinist's special lust for revenge: his best friend had crashed to his death on the north wall...
...designed boots armored with three layers of outer leather; he bought special plastic helmets and tough, extra-thin ropes. Keeping their plans a tight secret, the men practiced all winter on rocky, ice-coated walls. A fortnight ago the four slipped out of their hotel before dawn and tackled der Eiger...
...climbers were still a long way from their goal. The next night, with temperatures down to 12° below zero, Hiebeler dozed with his feet dangling in space. As daylight came, skiers gathered far down below to stare through telescopes at the four specks crawling upwards on der Eiger. With surprising ease, the four surmounted "the spider," a notorious, four-pronged glacier that caused the death of Italy's Stefano Longhi...