John Harlin

John Elvis Harlin II (June 30, 1935 – March 22, 1966) was an American alpinist and US Air Force pilot who was killed while making an ascent of the north face of the Eiger at age 30.

The story of the climb was recounted in the book Direttissima: The Eiger Assault by the British author (and ground team member) Peter Gillman and Dougal Haston.

Harlin had previously worked as sports director at the Leysin American School.

Harlin III, himself a climber and author of five books, recently climbed the Eiger by the original Heckmair route.

A film of the son's climb to exorcise the ghosts left by his father's death came out in May 2007: The Alps, an Imax with footage of the north face of the Eiger as well as other Alpine peaks.

John Harlin, Tom Frost , Gary Hemming , and Stewart Fulton at the L’Envers des Aiguille Hut in 1963.
North face of the Eiger : The original 1938 Heckmair Route (blue-line #2), contrasts with the 1966 Harlin Direttissima (pink-line #3), and the 1969 Japanese Direttissima (pink-line #6). Not shown is the 2006 Russian Direttissima which is an almost straight vertical line between the Harlin and Japanese routes.