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Denali's Howl: The Deadliest Climbing Disaster On America's Wildest Peak (2014)

by Andy Hall(Favorite Author)

3.88 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0525954066 (ISBN13: 9780525954064)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Dutton Adult

review 1: This is a quick read that kept me fascinated throughout the book about a mountain climbing disaster that happened in 1967. Unlike today's mountain-climbing 'tourism' this group had no sherpas (well, it is Alaska)and no paying customers--just a group of basically young men who intended to climb Denali. Although young, they were trained. It's just that the weather went terribly wrong on their climb. The explanations are easy to understand. The author was a young boy who lived there when it happened so it's understandable that it's held a special fascination for him. He's done a stellar job providing a balanced narrative about the climb and what happened, at least as much can be known. To fully round out the tale, he also did a great follow up of what happened to those ... morediscussed in the book. In addition to those who participated in and perished in the 1967 climb, the book identifies that some of the 'rescuers' also met their ends in avalanches and mountains so it's not really a matter of lack of expertise because obviously the experts can have bad events befall them too. To me, this is the perfect summer read.
review 2: Definitely not "Into Thin Air" or "Shadow Diver" quality, but it was an okay man vs. nature read. I skipped the first chapter because it was so dry (normally I like a good background history, but it was just too bland). Much of the tenseness of the book was lost because I had a hard time remembering who was on what climbing party, who got along with who, who the rescuer/pilots were and who the rangers were- just a LOT of names to remember. Nice picture insert but I wish they had included better climbing maps! less

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