Viewer's guide to IMAX 'Alps'

That was the life, death and legacy of John Harlin, American mountaineer — and it's the subject of a new IMAX movie called "The Alps."

The mega-format film, which is playing at the IMAX Theatre at Arizona Mills in Tempe, is a heart-in-your-throat excursion into the Alpine landscape, interwoven with a true story that has become a climbing legend.

Aerial IMAX footage captures the almost unbelievable verticality and beauty of the Swiss Alps. The sheer blade of the Matterhorn and the deadly north face of the Eiger play starring roles.

Amid the mountain majesty, viewers see a re-enactment of the 1966 Eiger fall that took Harlin's life — and then watch his son, John Harlin III, risk his own life to conquer the same peak.

Here's a guide to the action.

The back story

The steep, treacherous north face of the Eiger has long been a stage for deadly drama — and the elder John Harlin caught a case of what's known as the "Eiger obsession" in 1966.

A highly skilled climber, Air Force pilot and father of two young children, he projected an air of invincibility as he set out to climb the face with a team of expert mountaineers.

High on the mountain, poised for a grand summit success, Harlin plummeted 4,000 feet to his death when a rope broke. He was the 28th person to die on the Eiger wall.

He left behind a widow, his 9-year-old son, John, and 8-year-old daughter, Andréa.

The challenge

After years of questioning, and sometimes resenting, his father's fatal obsession with the Eiger, John Harlin III decided to attempt the peak. An experienced climber, writer and editor of the American Alpine Journal, he was 49 at the time of the 2005 climb.

In a new book, "The Eiger Obsession: Facing the Mountain That Killed My Father" (Simon & Schuster, $26), he acknowledges the irony of following in his father's fateful footsteps.

"I was in the grips of destiny," he wrote. "I knew I'd be here someday. I could have changed my fate, except that this is the fate I chose."

The younger Harlin stacked some odds in his favor. His climbing partners — Robert and Daniela Jasper — were highly skilled alpinists. And the fact that the climb was the subject of an IMAX film meant that there would be exacting efforts to ensure safety.

Still: It was the notorious Eiger. It was the mountain that killed Dad. Harlin's own daughter, Siena, was 9 — the same age as Harlin when his father plummeted to his death. The word "obsession" seemed entirely accurate.

The climb

Here is the thumbnail summary: Harlin reached the summit with his climbing partners and lived to tell about it.

But the mountain was no pushover. Crumbling rock, steep snowfields and glassy patches of ice called for focused attention and precise technique.

Throughout the ascent, the climbers were observed not only by the IMAX lens — but by Harlin's wife, Adele, and young Siena.

"My own 9-year-old daughter is watching me through the telescope as I climb past where Dad came down," Harlin wrote in his book. "I didn't want her to be watching; that's just how it worked out. I'm here, climbing the Eiger, headed toward the place where Dad's rope broke almost 40 years ago."

When he finally stepped onto the summit, Harlin was euphoric.

"Emotionally, I'm on another planet," he wrote. "It's the most spectacular place I've ever been. Every step is a gift, a dream being fulfilled, a new life revealed. . . . For the moment, I have arrived where I've always wanted to be."

See it

"The Alps," a production of MacGillivray Freeman Films, is showing at the IMAX Theatre at Arizona Mills in Tempe. Tickets are $9.75 with reduced rates for seniors and children. For information on showtimes and purchasing tickets, visit www.imax.com/tempe or call 1-480-897-4629.

To reach the theater from Tucson, take Interstate 10 to Tempe, exit at Baseline Road and follow signs to Arizona Mills.

Read it

"The Eiger Obsession: Facing the Mountain That Killed My Father" (Simon & Schuster, $26) by John Harlin III is available at major bookstores and at online sites such as www.amazon.com.