The full autobiography of one of the world's most well known adventurers. Heinrich Harrer, traveller, explorer and mountaineer led one of the most extraordinary lives of the twentieth century. He famously spent Seven Years in Tibet (published in 1953 and made into the film starring Brad Pitt in 1997) and was tutor, mentor and a lifelong friend of the Dalai Lama. He made the first ascent of the notorious North Face of the Eiger (told in his book The White Spider) and summited unclimbed peaks in Alaska, the Himalaya and South America. In this dramatic autobiography he brings to life all of his adventures, from growing up in a small mountain village in Carinthia, to the early days of climbing in the Alps, his success on the Eiger in 1938, through his time in Tibet, to his later expeditions. Looking back in his 90's on a long life full of adventures, Harrer candidly recounts his meeting with Adolf Hitler and his flirtation with the Nazi regime in the late 1930's. He reviews his time in Tibet and reveals many never before disclosed details.He chronicles his later expeditions that include the first ascent of Carstenz Pyramid in New Guinea, exploration of the Amazon with King Leopold III of Belgium and ethnological research and travels to remote parts of Asia, South America and Africa. This book brings to life his incredible life, much of which is little known outside his standout achievements.

In 1938 Anderl Heckmair made the first ascent of the North Face of the Eiger, a monumental climb that cemented his place in history. In My Life he tells the story of how he turned from a fragile child wrapped 'quite literally, in cotton bindings,' into one of the most important mountaineers in the world. Leaving school in 1920, Heckmair dedicated himself to climbing, becoming a full-time 'mountain vagabond'. Penniless, he lived in Alpine huts and cycled from climb to climb, even riding from Germany to the High Atlas mountains of Morocco. He rapidly developed as a mountaineer, making an ascent of the Walker Spur in awful weather, and a solo ascent of the Matterhorn in walking shoes, a feat that nobody believed. But his crowning achievement, climbed in full media glare, would always be his Eiger ascent. Events did not always run smoothly - arrested after a quarrel with a farmer, he escaped through a window ('never imprison mountain climbers in towers'). When arrested again, his ice axes mistaken for deadly weapons while he slept on a park bench, Heckmair chose to stay put, preferring the cell bunk to his bench. At times, the book ventures into darker territory. As one of the great German climbers of the 1930s, Heckmair inevitably attracted the attention of the Nazi party, he found his Eiger triumph twisted to suit their ends, and he himself seated next to Hitler at a party. At its heart this climbing tale is a celebration of adventure. Told in joyful, engaging and relaxed style, it is as full of life and passion for the mountains as Anderl Heckmair himself.