Toni Kurz

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Toni Kurz (January 13, 1913 – July 22, 1936) was a German mountain climber of the early 20th century who died in tragic circumstances in 1936, as one of a four-man team that attempted the first ascent North Face of the Eiger.

In ascent his companion Willy Angerer was hurt from falling rocks. During the retreat from the wall, however, he and his comrades failed to reverse the Hinterstoisser Traverse, so they had to climb downwards. Andreas Hinterstoisser was disconnected when an avalanche hit the four climbers. He fell down the wall and died. The other three were connected to the mountain and fell. The one below Kurz (Willy Angerer) was smashed against the wall and died immediately and Edi Rainer, securing the other two, was pulled against the wall and died within a few minutes of asphyxiation. Kurz remained uninjured.

Later that day, rescuers came from below but could not reach him, so he had to hang for a whole night. The next day, the rescuers came again from below and Kurz attempted, with a frozen hand, to abseil down to them, i.e. down to the face to a window that connected to the railway tunnel through the mountain, the Jungfraubahn. First, he had to cut loose the dead body of his comrade hanging below him, climb up, cut loose the other dead comrade, unravel the rope and put it together to increase its length (which took him three hours). Then he let it down to the rescuers who mounted their rope. As it was too short, they extended it with a second rope, making a knot. Kurz pulled up their rope, fixed it and started abseiling. A few meters above the rescuers he could not manipulate his abseil gear over the knot. Kurz desperately tried to pass the knot for a few minutes, then he said "Ich kann nicht mehr" (I can do no more) and died.

The story is well-known from Heinrich Harrer's classic 1960 book "The White Spider", and has been more recently covered by Joe Simpson's book (and made-for-TV movie), "The Beckoning Silence".