The Eiger Sanction

[Rick]

I just caught The Eiger Sanction on AMC this evening.. It really brings back memories of when I first saw it as a young teeneager.

I am curious as to what others think - It came out when I was around 14 and I can remember watching it over and over again. Everything was absolutely fascinating - from the gear, the boots and clothing (think Holubar) and the musical score to the scenery and the intrigue.

Did anyone else find this movie as awestriking?
Any memories to share?

Thanks
Rick

 

[Oldsmores]

Of course anything with Clint Eastwood is great. I especially love the scene when Clint and George Kennedy make the first ascent of a great sandstone needle and George asks Clint if he'd like a beer. Clint says that he can't believe Geo hauled beer up there, to which Geo replies something like "I didn't, you did" and pulls a six-pack out of Clint's pack. When Clint complains that it's warm, George says "I thought you'd draw the line at hauling ice..."
If nothing else, the scenery was awesome!

 

[Jaytrek57]

I just caught The Eiger Sanction on AMC this evening..

I can not believe the AMC won't support snowmobiles, charge high prices at their establishments and so on....

But they endorse state sponsored assasinations!

Oh wait..that's probably a different AMC.

BTW 2-1 this thread gets sanctioned.

Peace.

 

[Weird_AL]

I couldn't seem to get over all the womanizing, chauvinistic attitudes portrayed in the movie...I had to stop it half way through

 

[Doc McPeak]

Yeah, I got sucked in for a while too. Gotta love the great climbing scenes coupled with the tripped out psychodelic agency stuff. Fun to see the gear, and just as fun to try to figure out where the close-ups were shot and how they got some of those old heavyweight cameras into position. The scenes were so much more realistic than the modern mountain films.

 

[Mike D.]

I had to watch it , its such a good film for all the reasons already stated, but did he actually sanction all 3 ? Oh ya , that scene on the needle reminds me of my freinds and I, you never know who gets a rock stashed in their pack during the morning privy run to be found usually at lunch on the summit. You can never trust someone else with your beer though.

 

[BobK]

Memories of Grindelwald and Eiger

Aside from the climbing & drama, this movie brings back memories of the natural beauty of the Alps and the Grindelwald area in particular. I lived in Eastern France for 1.5 years after college (1975-6) and spent many weekends hiking in the alps including several in Grindelwald.

The magnitude of the valleys, the shades of green (in spring & Summer) transitioning up to brown & white, the gray stream colors (from the glacial runoff) are part of what makes this place beautiful. There are in fact telescopes at the outdoor restaurants for viewing the mountains (and climbers). Hiking on the glacier just east of the Eiger and glisading down snow chutes in summer are other memories from these trips.

Nice break - now back to work.

 

[ChrisB]

Days to Remember

It still has some of the best (read "non-hoaky") climbing scenes ever filmed.

I was a young buck on a European climbing trip in the summer of 74 when they were filiming the movie on the Eiger. I remember running into some British guy high up on the West ridge who was operating a camera filming across the N face where most of the action took place.

A Swiss air chopper eventually arrive above us, he clipped into a static line dangling from it, and was lifted off the ridge for the daily commute back to the valley.

"Best part of the bloody job lads!" he said as he swung out over the N Face.

We watched him ride all the way down to the meadow at the base of the face.

Never did run into Clint unfortunately.

cb

 

[JohnL]

I too got drawn into watching a bit of the film last night on the tube. It brought back memories of 4 or 5 days in the summer of ’76 that I spent in Grindelwald and we even scrambled around up on the West side of the mountain for a ways. Lots of loose rock! I had read the book a couple years before the film was released so was keen to see the film when it first came out. Of course, it did not meet the expectations I had but the climbing scenes were nonetheless filmed well. However, in the scenes where they were climbing the needle, you’ll notice that as Clint stems his way up the chimney, his lead climbing suddenly turns into a top rope.

The book’s author, Trevanian, had a good sense of humor and also a sense of history for some of the character’s names. Mr Dragon (the albino) had a first name in the book and it was Yurasis. Yurasis Dragon. Your ass is draggin’. Mr Dragon’s secretary was Miss Cerberus. She carefully monitored anyone going in to see Mr Dragon. Cerberus in Greek mythology was the gatekeeper to Hades and kept the living from entering the world of the dead. Jean-Paul Montaigne (a French misspelling of mountain). Dr Hemlock (the drink of death). Jemimah Brown. Andrew Meyer (a play on the name of one of the climbers on the first successful ascent of the Eiger North Face, Anderl Heckmaier. And on and on.

All in all, though a bit contrived, a good watch as far as Hollywood mountaineering movies go.

JohnL

 

[ChrisB]

Who was...

So JohnL,

Who WAS Trevanian?

I remember there was much speculation about the "real" author at the time the book was released.


cb

 

[JohnL]

Chris,

I had no idea at the time I read his/her books who the author was. I always assumed it was a pen name. I just googled Trevanian and I came across a web site which shows Trevanian was one of two pen names of Rodney Whitaker. Apparently, Whitaker, like JD Salinger is a bit reclusive. I read Trevanian's The Eiger Sanction, The Loo Sanction and Shibumi back when they came out. All are good reads.

JohnL

 

[mavs00]

I couldn't seem to get over all the womanizing, chauvinistic attitudes portrayed in the movie...I had to stop it half way through

Funny, those were my favorite parts.

Seriously, while it didn't bring any fond memories of "mountains past" or the "youthful wanderings" of my better days, my eyes did mist over a bit as I recalled sneaking a few bootleg homemade beers from my pops collection and jammin them into my brothers pack so he'd get in trouble if we got caught with em while walking together in the woods near our home .

Scenery was great, and as for the flick in general, It was a generally pleasant waste of a few hours watching it.

 

[Barbarossa]

The book’s author, Trevanian, had a good sense of humor and also a sense of history for some of the character’s names. Mr Dragon (the albino) had a first name in the book and it was Yurasis. Yurasis Dragon. Your ass is draggin’. Mr Dragon’s secretary was Miss Cerberus. She carefully monitored anyone going in to see Mr Dragon. Cerberus in Greek mythology was the gatekeeper to Hades and kept the living from entering the world of the dead. Jean-Paul Montaigne (a French misspelling of mountain). Dr Hemlock (the drink of death). Jemimah Brown. Andrew Meyer (a play on the name of one of the climbers on the first successful ascent of the Eiger North Face, Anderl Heckmaier. And on and on.

JohnL

Karl Freytag was played by Raynor Scheine. One of my all time favorite bits of movie trivia.

Cut the rope, JohnL

 

[Gremlin]

I have what I call the 'trio' - 'K2', 'The Eiger Sanction' (on VHS) and 'Touching the Void' (DVD). Sanction is very 70's - chauvinism, training in denim shorts, et c. But if you notice thye women are still real as it was made before science began to construct actresses. It seems slow to-day because characters were developped.

The climbing is dated now, but was cutting edge at the time and the technical work was done at/by Dougal Haston's climbing school.

Great movie.

Great story, ChrisB.

BTW, at last year's Best of the Banff Mountain Film Festival the had two (or was it 3?) climbers that re-did 'die Nordwand des Eigers' with the same gear that Heinrich Harer and the others used in the 1938 first successful climb. It was fascinating and I'll never forget the look on their faces at the UIAA rope test. The weight never even twitched when the rope broke.

 

[Papa Bear]

BTW, at last year's Best of the Banff Mountain Film Festival the had two (or was it 3?) climbers that re-did 'die Nordwand des Eigers' with the same gear that Heinrich Harer and the others used in the 1938 first successful climb. It was fascinating and I'll never forget the look on their faces at the UIAA rope test. The weight never even twitched when the rope broke.

Yeah that was good, but they were klutzes and the fact that the camera angles showed the camera crew's modern rigging and protection right beside them was pathetic. The real eye-opener was the other film that showed the shots of the classic K2 attempt narated by what-his-name (died last month) where they used tha same old equipmen and looked 10 times better than those modern-day pretenders.

 

[sierra]

k2

I love the Eiger Sanction a classic. Another movie I really dig is K2, came out a few years ago, alot of climbers hated it because it wasnt realistic enough. To me it was about 2 friends loving the mountains and one willing to die to save his friend, maybe Im just sentimantal, reminded me of someone though.

 

[professor]

I saw the Eiger Sanction in for the first time (on TV, in 1977) the night before heading out to my much anticipated summer job in Yellowstone Park. I was so inspired by the movie that I took climbing lessons that summer at the Exum School in the Tetons and did a guided climb of the Grand Teton. Quite a rush for a 19 year old kid from suburban NY. I've been playing in the mountains ever since. *sigh*