of controversy. He could not produce a coherent story about what happened on the Face, and this, coupled with a sensationalistic press campaign and the opinions expressed by Heinrich Harrer in The White Spider, created an atmosphere of deep suspicion around him. He was vilified for what Harrer described as incompetence, lack of preparedness, and an unfriendly climbing ethic, and was even accused by others of deliberately pushing Nothdurft and Mayer off the Face and stealing their gear. However, he was completely cleared when the dead Germans' bodies were found in 1961 on the opposite side of the mountain, on the normal route of descent along the West Flank, apparently the victims of an avalanche. The rescue operation itself is known as one of the greatest of all time. The operation crossed international boundaries and involved more than 50 people, all of whom were volunteers. The local Swiss guides received a lot of criticism for not responding, as it was their policy not to respond to parties trapped on the Face because they generally thought it foolish to climb the Face and that a rescue would risk the lives of the rescuers. The operation was also the first successful rescue on the Eiger from above, and one of the first uses of a steel-cable winch apparatus designed by Ludwig Gramminger. The winch was placed on the summit and German guide Alfred Hellepart was lowered on the cable to Corti's position, where Corti was then strapped to Hellepart's back and the pair was hoisted up. Though rescuers were able to communicate with Longhi, still stranded on the ledge, a break in the weather forced them to postpone his rescue until the next day, by which time he had died of exposure. Jack Olsen investigated the rescue and interviewed Corti in the early 1960s, using his research as the basis for The Climb up to Hell. In 2008, Italian writer Giorgio Spreafico released a book on the 1957 Eiger tragedy, Il prigioniero dell'Eiger (The Eiger Prisoner), which contains a long interview with Claudio Corti and a detailed historic reconstruction of the events. Other climbing The Eiger controversy in some way overshadowed the rest of Corti's mountaineering career. Corti climbed extensively in the Alps, becoming the first person to open two new routes on Piz Badile, and making early repeats of important routes. While not reaching the summit, he had an important role