From the Wikipedia, we find some interesting things about climbing the North Face of Mt Eiger:
The Eiger (3,970 m (13,025 ft)) is a mountain in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends across the Mönch to the Jungfrau at 4,158 m. The northern side of the mountain rises about 3,000 m (9,800 ft) above Grindelwald and other inhabited valleys of the Bernese Oberland, and the southern side faces the deeply glaciated region of the Jungfrau-Aletsch, covered by some of the largest glaciers in the Alps.
The first ascent of the Eiger was made by Swiss guides Christian Almer and Peter Bohren and Irishman Charles Barrington, who climbed the west flank on August 11, 1858. The north face, 1,800 m (5,900 ft) (German: Nordwand, "north wall"), was first climbed in 1938 by an Austrian-German expedition and is one of the six great north faces of the Alps[2]. Since 1935, at least sixty-four climbers have died attempting the north face, earning it the German nickname Mordwand, literally "death wall".[3]
Movie review
'North Face': a gripping climb up Eiger mountain in the Alps
"North Face," Philipp Stölzl's film about a 1936 pre-Olympic Games attempt by two German climbers (Benno Fürmann, Florian Lukas) to scale the forbidding Eiger in the Alps, is perfectly cast, well-written and almost excruciatingly realistic at times.
MOVIE REVIEW
While Leni Riefenstahl's "Olympia" dealt exhaustively with the 1936 Olympics competition in Berlin, Philipp Stölzl's "North Face" impressively dramatizes a lesser-known event that led up to the Games.
Germany was in the market for sports heroes in the months before the big event, and mountain-climbing looked like a promising route to fame.
Whether the outcome would be triumph or disaster, the climbers would have the world's attention when they scaled the difficult Eiger mountain in the Alps. Sometimes described as the Wall of Death, the North Face of the Eiger proves irresistible to a couple of German climbers, Toni Kurz (Benno Fürmann) and Andi Hinterstoisser (Florian Lukas). Their childhood friend, Luise Fellner (Johanna Wokalek), becomes a photojournalist assigned to cover the event.
What begins as a tourist's spectacle turns complicated when an Austrian team joins the Germans in their assault on the mountain. After a climber is seriously injured by falling rocks, the film's adventurous tone shifts drastically. "Come in a train," notes one observer, "leave in a coffin."
Perfectly cast, well-written and almost excruciatingly realistic at times, "North Face" gets especially high marks for its physical production. Kudos to cinematographer Kolja Brandt, editor Sven Budelmann and the rest of the technical team. This is simply one of the best mountain-climbing movies ever made.
John Hartl: johnhartl@yahoo.com
Germany was in the market for sports heroes in the months before the big event, and mountain-climbing looked like a promising route to fame.
Whether the outcome would be triumph or disaster, the climbers would have the world's attention when they scaled the difficult Eiger mountain in the Alps. Sometimes described as the Wall of Death, the North Face of the Eiger proves irresistible to a couple of German climbers, Toni Kurz (Benno Fürmann) and Andi Hinterstoisser (Florian Lukas). Their childhood friend, Luise Fellner (Johanna Wokalek), becomes a photojournalist assigned to cover the event.
What begins as a tourist's spectacle turns complicated when an Austrian team joins the Germans in their assault on the mountain. After a climber is seriously injured by falling rocks, the film's adventurous tone shifts drastically. "Come in a train," notes one observer, "leave in a coffin."
Perfectly cast, well-written and almost excruciatingly realistic at times, "North Face" gets especially high marks for its physical production. Kudos to cinematographer Kolja Brandt, editor Sven Budelmann and the rest of the technical team. This is simply one of the best mountain-climbing movies ever made.
John Hartl: johnhartl@yahoo.com
In Juan's Riboldi's book - The Path of Ascent - he recounts on page 54 an interesting story of the first successful team of climbers who in 1938 conquered this difficult feat. While I'm not a mountain climber, I plan on seeing this movie - North Face., I don't pretend to know all the rigors of the sport/adventure or what drives someone to risk life and limb to do it. But those who do must be in superb physical and emotional conditioning, trained climbers and well coached. Here are probably some of the things they must prepare for and what corresponding skills or principles apply to life's challenges and those of business success.
The first principle - Vision of Success: The climbers have to be well versed in alpine mountain climbing and have records of successful and not successful climbs to train against. They have to have a vision of what it feels like to be at the top and not one of the 64 persons who've died along the way. Reviewing tapes, records or video/movie clips can help in this preparation. One should have a successful and motivational coach.
The second principle or ingredient in one's path/journey will be to map out the route and prepare for the rigors of the trip with strategic clarity: e.g. special clothes, mountain climbing ropes, axes, food and equipment. Where one plans to stop for rest, for refreshment and if necessary to sleep. An escape route may be necessary for avalanches or unsuspected storms. Reviewing records of successful climbs would help in this mapping/planning step.
The third phase would be endurance/conditioning (capacity planning) stage. This should not be the first mountain climbing adventure. In this step, one must decide who will be included on your climbing team and who will lead out and who will follow with specific assignments. Aligning team members strengths with the challenges ahead is a must for the facilitator/coach. It is important to have a team leader and have other members empowered to follow and take over if a new leader is needed for any reason or exigency.
The next phase in planning would be to inspire cooperation/collaboration and teamwork. Five drivers of engagement might include: high achievement, exciting adventure, sense of belonging, individual freedom and noble purpose. Getting these team members engaged even before the event with training and visioning will help when challenges arise.
The last phase is one that must be part of all the prior steps: Having a results focus. Reviewing the path taken by others and what steps were successful. Finally one must celebrate intermediate steps or milestones along the path or climb. The first successful climb up the North Face of the Eiger in 1938 was very treacherous. Each successful climb thereafter can benefit from the records and tales of those who were successful before.
A good facilitator/coach knows what might lead to failure but focuses on what might lead to success. Some of the characteristics of a team in trouble include lack of trust; lack of a vision and positive stories of success; lack of a roadmap/strategic plan that is aligned to the vision; lack of a strong and trained/focused team; lack of cooperation/collaboration toward the vision/strategic plan; and lack of performance measurements to track progress and milestones.
Juan Riboldi portrays this first successful climb up the North Face as a metaphor for life and for coaching an organization's success. The 5 Es for improving personal performance on page 184 of his book include:
1. Envisioning - What do I want to see happen?
2. Evaluate: How can I/we make it happen?
3. Empower: How do I/we build on team strengths?
4. Engage: How do I inspire myself and others to act collaboratively?
5. Evolve: How do I/we track progress and record results?
In the next post, I will further blog on life on the road to job acquisition - see boxnet file for powerpoint presentation http://www.box.net/shared/rhgv1f13zf
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