Charles Barrington (1834 - 20 April 1901), an Irishman from Fassaroe, Bray County Wicklow, was a merchant with little or no mountaineering experience who, on 11 August 1858, led the first team to successfully climb the Eiger.[2] Heinrich Harrer, in his book about the Eiger north face – The White Spider (1959) – noted that Barrington would have attempted the first ascent of the Matterhorn instead, but he did not have enough money to travel to Zermatt. With the support of two mountain guides, Christian Almer and Peter Bohren, he reached the summit of the Eiger via the west flank.[3]