Heinrich Harrer

Heinrich Harrer (born July 6 1912) is an Austrian mountaineer. Harrer made the first ascent of the North Face of the Eiger, Switzerland with Anderl Heckmair, Fritz Kasparek and Ludwig Vorg in July 1938. Interned in 1939 by the British while climbing the Nanga Parbat in India, he escaped in 1939 with a companion into Tibet, where he spent seven years and became a friend of the Dalai Lama. Author of Seven Years in Tibet, The White Spider, Lost Lhasa.