Andreas Hinterstoisser

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Andreas Hinterstoisser was a German mountain climber of the early 20th century.

In 1936, he formed part of a four-man team that attempted the first ascent on the north face of the Eiger. He was renowned as one of the best rock climbers of his time and is held in high esteem to this day. He cleverly traversed a slab of icy rock which made the rest of the attempt on the Eiger possible; by climbing up on it and belaying to the other side. It became known as the Hinterstoisser Traverse, named after him because of his successful traverse.^[1]

During a retreat from the wall, due to an injury suffered by one of his comrades and severe weather, Hinterstoisser could not recross the traverse to safety, because the group had removed the rope that had helped them across. The group decided to abseil down the vertical face (the great rock barrier) to the base of the mountain.^[1] Contact was made with a railway guard halfway down the descent; they called back that everything was alright (perhaps from pride and the knowledge that they were close to safety). However as Hinterstoisser set up the last stage of the descent an avalanche came down the mountain, wiping out Hinterstoisser, who had unclipped from the group. He fell to his death and was found at the bottom of the mountain days later. The rest of the group suffered the same fate: Willy Angerer was killed by the impact, Edi Rainer was asphyxiated from the weight of the rope holding his comrades and Toni Kurz died from exposure despite making some contact with rescuers.