 |
| Photo courtesy http://pdphoto.org/ Thanks, Jon! |
by Aron Ralston
©2004 I remember this news story when it happened eight years ago. Young man, canyoneering alone in Utah, becomes trapped when a huge boulder rolls onto his hand. After six days of trying to chip away the rock or devise a system of pulleys with his climbing gear to lift it, in an act of desperation, he cuts off his own hand with a dull pocket knife in order to escape.
I didn’t think I’d ever get through this book. Ralston tells the stories of what seems to be every mountain he’s ever climbed, every trail he’s ever hiked. Very goal-oriented, Ralston was on his way to being the first person to climb all 59 of Colorado’s mountains over 14,000 feet high, solo, during the winter season, when he had his accident.
At first, I was thinking that maybe he should have written a second book about his outdoor adventures, and just concentrate in this book on the one that almost killed him. But as I got farther along in the story, I decided that the slow pace of the book must approximate the slow and painful passing of endless hours that he was trapped and facing death by thirst and hypothermia. He had passed his time remembering the mountains he’d climbed and skied, and thinking of friends and loved ones.
This is an incredible story of courage and perseverance that will especially appeal to those who love the great outdoors and stories of survival.
INTO THIN AIR
by Jon Krakauer
©1997 In 1996, Outside magazine sent journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer to Mt. Everest to do a story on the commercialization of the mountain. Too many competing guide companies were taking marginally-qualified climbers to the summit for up to $65,000 each. The mountain was littered with empty oxygen tanks, other trash left by trekkers and climbers, and even the bodies of some of those who never made it back alive. It was a tragedy just waiting to happen. Krakauer, who reached the summit, came back with a story of the worst climbing disaster in the mountain’s history. He was one of the lucky ones who lived to tell the story.
All I can think after reading this gripping adventure tale is: WHY would anyone in their right mind want to climb Mt. Everest, with its trial of excruciating suffering and the very real danger of dying on the mountain? The only answer: “Because it’s there!” (attributed to George Mallory, a British mountaineer who died on the North Face of Everest in 1924 at the age of 37).
This book was intense. It starts slowly, with details of the expedition, but quickly builds like an avalanche to its disastrous conclusion. It was a real page-turner. I definitely felt I was there!
LEFT FOR DEAD: My Journey Home from Everest
by Beck Weathers
©2000 INTO THIN AIR by Jon Krakauer documented the ill-fated 1996 expedition to the summit of Mount Everest, which claimed the lives of eight climbers. One member of the team, Beck Weathers, a pathologist from Dallas, was found comatose and at the point of death, and so he had been left behind to die.
Beck didn’t die though. He somehow woke up and had a strange epiphany in which he saw the faces of his wife and two children, and realized he would never see them again unless he got up and made his way back to camp. His wife had already received word from Everest that Beck was dead, when unexpectedly he came stumbling into camp. But he was so far gone that the surviving climbers put him in a tent by himself and, for a second time, he was left to die. But again, he rallied and was eventually rescued in a daring helicopter pick-up.
What went on at Mount Everest was only a small part of the book, however. The story is told from the perspectives of Beck himself, his wife and children, and their family and friends. They piece together a portrait of a man so obsessed with mountain-climbing that it nearly destroyed his family.
I can certainly identify with the pain and loneliness his loving, patient wife went through because of his need to prove himself by attempting to climb the seven highest mountains on the seven continents. I myself was a motocross widow for seven years while my son pursued the elusive dream of becoming a professional motocross racer. I hated MX as fiercely as Peach Weathers hated mountaineering.
In a brutally honest way, Beck bared his soul and confessed to his failings as a husband and father in his pursuit of extreme adventure. After eleven surgeries to amputate his frozen right hand and all the fingers on his left, as well as facial reconstruction that included a new nose, he still had to deal with putting his family life back together. As much as I liked Krakauer’s account of the Everest tragedy, Beck Weather’s story was so much more personal and moving. It was a quick read, hard to put down, and an amazing “miracle” story that brought tears to my eyes in the end.
ANGELS IN THE WILDERNESS
by Amy Racina
©2009 I never get tired of reading true-life outdoor survival tales. In this one, the author is a physically-fit, middle-aged female hiker who enjoys backpacking solo in the wilderness. But on one fateful trip into a remote valley in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, she has an accident: a 60 foot fall into a ravine that breaks both her legs and leaves her praying for a miracle. The miracle comes, after 4 days, in the form of three backpackers. They are the “angels” in the title, who find her and are able to keep her alive until help can be summoned.
The first half of the book features her love of nature and the great outdoors, her hike, and her accident and rescue. The rest of the book is about her long, painful road to recovery and the friends who helped her through it. Her healing is both soul-searching and spiritually uplifting. I'm glad she lived to tell her story.
No comments:
Post a Comment