On 18 July 1936 Eduard Rainer and his friend Willy Angerer commenced their attempt on the north face of the
Eiger, which was then one of the
last great Alpine north faces remaining to be conquered. At almost the same time the German mountaineers, Toni Kurz and Andreas Hinterstoisser, were making the same attempt. The German pair were the first to reach a difficult section that required a pendulum action, called a tension traverse, to get across the steep rock face. Hinterstoisser was the one to overcome the obstacle which is why it is now known as the
Hinterstoisser traverse. When the Austrian pair had come through they made a fatal mistake. They pulled the rope through leaving no possibility of reversing their route. The following day Kurz died almost within reach of a rescue team but for his inability to pass the knotted abseil rope, that had been dropped down by rescuers, through a
carabiner with his frozen fingers. == Legacy ==