Claudio Corti (1928 – 3 February 2010) was a mountain climber from Olginate, Italy. He is most famous for his 1957 effort to climb the 1938 route on the North Face of the Eiger, during which his party was stranded and a massive rescue operation was organized. Corti became the first person to be successfully rescued from the Face from above, but his partner, Stefano Longhi, died on the Face before rescuers could reach him. 1957 Eiger attempt and rescue In early August 1957, Corti, 29 years old, and Longhi, 44, both Italians from Lecco, began an attempt to climb the North Face of the Eiger by the standard Heckmair route. A German team consisting of Günther Nothdurft and Franz Mayer, starting after the Italians, caught up with Corti and Longhi on the Face and climbed alongside them for multiple days, even briefly joining them on a common rope. Despite generally suitable weather conditions, and though Nothdurft had previously set several speed records in the Alps, both parties climbed unusually slowly, spending at least five bivouacs together on the Face. According to Corti, the Germans had lost a rucksack containing critical equipment near the beginning of their climb but had nevertheless elected to continue, and Nothdurft later became weak with illness and had to be cared for by Mayer, which severely hampered both teams' progress. The situation took a fatal turn when, on or near the "White Spider", about below the summit, Longhi fell more than down the Face, though he remained roped to Corti and ended up dangling off an overhang above a small ledge. Corti severely burned his hands trying to arrest the rope as it slid through them, and was also disoriented from having earlier been hit in the head by a falling stone. The other three climbers were unable to hoist Longhi back up the overhang, and he was forced to bivouac on the ledge. Corti, too, was no longer fit to climb, so the Germans reportedly left him all of their gear and then continued to the summit, from which they intended to descend to get help. Corti bivouacked for several more nights at his own stance near the top of the "Spider" while Longhi remained far below him. Nothdurft and Mayer apparently successfully summited, but then mysteriously disappeared. Corti, who spent over a week on the Face, became the centre of a great deal