John Harlin (mountaineer)

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John Harlin (full name John Elvis Harlin II) (July 20, 1935-May 22, 1966) was an American mountaineer and US Air Force Pilot who was killed making an ascent of the north face of the Eiger. Harlin graduated from Sequoia High School and Stanford University, and after establishing himself as a mountaineer conceived the ambition of climbing the Eiger by the direttissima (Italian for "most direct") route. 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 nine 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.

Harlin's son, an accomplished climber himself and writer, recently climbed the Eiger by the "original" route. He has written a book about his experience entitled "The Eiger Obsession." A film of the son's climb to exorcise the ghosts left by his father's death came out in May 2007: "The Alps," by Steve Judson and his Academy Award-nominated film team, is an Imax movie with remarkable views of the north face of the Eiger as well as other Alpine peaks.

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[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.

[edit] First Ascents

  • 1965 American Direttissima, Aiguille du Dru, Mont Blanc Range, France. With Royal Robbins.[1]

[edit] Bibliography

  • James Ramsay Ullman: Straight Up: The Life and Death of John Harlin, Doubleday, 1968
  • James Salter: Solo Faces, Collins, 1980

[edit] References

  1. ^ Harlin, John (1966). "Petit Dru, West Face Direttissima". American Alpine Journal 1966: 81 - 89. New York City, New York, USA: The American Alpine Club. ISSN 0065-6925. 
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