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Forever on the Mountain: The Truth Behind One of Mountaineering's Most Controversial and Mysterious Disastersby James M. TaborIn July 1967, seven young men - members of Joe Wilcox's twelve-man expedition - died on Mt. McKinley, North America's highest peak. Ten days passed with no rescue attempt, while more than half an expedition was stranded and dying at 20,000 feet during a vicious Arctic storm. The bodies were never recovered. And, for reasons that have remained cloudy, there was no proper official investigation of the catastrophe.Forever on the Mountain begins as a classic tale of men against nature, gambling - and losing - on one of the world's starkest and stormiest peaks. Reckoning by lives lost, it was history's third-worst mountaineering disaster when it occurred, but elements of finger pointing, incompetence and cover-up make this disaster unlike any other. James M. Tabor draws on previously untapped sources: personal interviews with survivors and those involved in the aftermath, unpublished diaries and letters, and government documents. He consults not only mountaineers but also experts in disciplines including meteorology, forensics, and psychology. What results is the first full account of the tragedy that ended a golden age in mountaineering. Maps; 8 pages of illustrations.Winner, 2007 National Outdoor Book Award for History/BiographyWinner, 2007 Banff Mountain Festival Book Awards Grand PrizeA Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers SelectionShortlisted for the 2007 Boardman Tasker Award
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
67 of 70 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Survivor's Viewpoint,
By
This review is from: Forever on the Mountain: The Truth Behind One of Mountaineering's Most Controversial and Mysterious Disasters (Hardcover)
As one of the survivors of the climb described in Forever on the Mountain, I believe the book to be very well researched and well written-- of interest to almost all involved in climbing.
To me there is no great mystery. A vicious storm resulted in the deaths of seven climbers. Delays and bureaucratic bungling in declaring an emergency and in launching an all-out rescue may have frustrated all but changes would not have resulted in saving the seven lives. One weakness in the book results from the author "imagining" what occurred and by doing so leading readers to think the summit team dug snow caves and survuved for severeal days in those caves. I don't believe that happened. The book by Howard Snyder, The Hall of the Mountain King, about the same climb is a precise description of the climb although it highlights some biases against the Wilcox faction. Overall- well done but readers must separate fact from authors guesses as to what happened.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Who do we blame for a natural tragedy?,
By Carl of Mariemont (Mariemont, OH United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Forever on the Mountain: The Truth Behind One of Mountaineering's Most Controversial and Mysterious Disasters (Hardcover)
The seven who died on Denali were likely doomed at the moment the five on top decided to go for the summit. They couldn't have known that, because they had no idea about the weather headed their way. Neither did anyone else, apparently. (Even if someone had hinted at a storm, the storm that hit was extraordinary.)
I had a hard time understanding why Wilcox was the target of blame for the tragedy. Even if all of the criticisms of the expedition are accepted, they seem to have little causal relation to the deaths on the mountain. His decisionmaking should be judged based on the situation as it unfolded, not as we now know it ultimately would unfold. Only his failure to call for a full rescue effort at the first opportunity may have made a difference, yet that gets little play. The failure of Park Service officials to appreciate the emergency and act promptly is troubling, yet there remains a serious question as to whether that would have ultimately made a difference. I knew nothing about the 1967 disaster before I read this book, so all of my views are formed by its contents. My primary criticism is the effort to reconstruct conversations for which there is no living witness. Tabor would have been better to describe his conjectures without the level of false precision implicit in his faux dialogue or description of their actions during the storm. Even though a reasonably careful reader would not be misled, it puts the reader needlessly on guard, even during the eyewitness accounts.
19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Memories,
By Cheryl (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Forever on the Mountain: The Truth Behind One of Mountaineering's Most Controversial and Mysterious Disasters (Hardcover)
As a person who had close ties to the expedition, both in the planning and the aftermath, I found this book to be an accurate account of the tragic events that occurred. The book brought back 40 years worth of memories, just like they had happened yesterday.
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