John Harlin (mountaineer)

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John Harlin (full name John Elvis Harlin II) (1934-1966) was an American mountaineer who was killed making an ascent of the north face of the Eiger. Harlin graduated from Sequoia High School (Redwood City, CA) and Stanford University, and after establishing himself as a mountaineer conceived the ambition of climbing the Eiger by the direttissima (Italian for "most direct"). However, 2,000 feet from the summit his rope broke and he fell to his death. The Scottish mountaineer Dougal Haston, who was climbing with Harlin, successfully reached the summit with a German party following the same route, which was renamed the "Harlin route" in Harlin's honor. His son, John Harlin III, who was ten at the time of his father's death, is also a mountaineer.

Possibly, Harlin was one of the climbers - the other likely being Gary Hemming - who served as model for the character Rand in James Salter's novel Solo Faces.

[edit] Quotes about Harlin

"Harlin was a man of action, and when he was killed, life just wasn't the same. For me, and for several others, his spirit was irreplaceable." — Layton Kor, one of his companions on the Eiger attempt.

"Full of bullshit and a right poser" — Don Whillans