How Heavy is the Mountain [Paperback]

Tim Rundquist (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2000

How Heavy Is The Mountain, begins in 1986, as a young college graduate, Kris Westerberg, arrives in Ketchikan, Alaska for the first time. As a fresh recruit to an Alaskan touring company, he faces a summer of unknown adventure and, along with two of his companions from the Outside, gets to know southeast Alaska through his tour-guiding, excursions to sites of local color and the occasional fishing mishap. Kris returns for another summer of touring in 1987, this time to Skagway, Alaska, launching site of the Klondike Gold Rush. Here, Kris and his friends take up residence in a retired Gold Rush-era brothel and begin to dig deeply into the local experience, not only through touring but also via Slow-Bicycle Racing, sauna expeditions in the Dyea bush, Hot Red Onions and a backcountry trek over the historic Chilkoot Trail. In the summer of 1988, Kris is assigned as a guide out of Fairbanks, Alaska. He is quickly accepted into the fraternity of long-haul tour drivers as he begins to make the circuit among Fairbanks, Dawson City, Denali National Park and many other locales. Then, in the tiny hamlet of Tok, Alaska, he meets a very unlikely person: Genna, the woman of his dreams. Their ensuing romance takes them from midnight gardening to a Summer Solstice party, through a devastating forest fire and, ultimately, to a promise to spend an Alaskan winter together, in a remote cabin near Skagway. The winter of 1988-1989 tests Kris mettle in a wholly new way, as he and Genna explore the vagaries of living among the elements together. They manage to survive, and even thrive, despite indiscriminate icestorms, unheated Volkswagens and frosty outdoor privies with their relationship, and their sanity, more or less intact. And, as the springtime finally dawns, Kris begins to realize that, rather than being just a tour guide, he is becoming a true Alaskan, in every sense. How

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Tim Rundquist spent eight seasons as a professional tour guide in Alaska, covering territory from Ketchikan to Prudhoe Bay. He currently resides in rural Minnesota with his wife, Heather.

Product Details

• Paperback: 564 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (July 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595131204
• ISBN-13: 978-0595131204
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,321,362 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Former Davis resident writes tour guide/novel about Alaska, March 16, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: How Heavy is the Mountain (Paperback)

Tim Rundquist, formerly of Davis, has just published his first book, 'How Heavy is The Mountain,' which he describes as an 'Alaskan tour manual/novel.' He worked in Alaska and the Yukon Territory, Canada for eight seasons as a professional tour guide, covering territory from Ketchikan to Prudhoe Bay, and nearly everything in between. The time spent in Alaska affected him not just professionally but creatively: 'My time in Alaska made such a deep impression on me that I had to write about it,' he said. 'Alaska is truly a land like no other.' The trouble was, Rundquist had some difficulty deciding what kind of book to write. 'The educator in me wanted to give a tour of the places that I came to know so well,' he said. 'The environmentalist in me wanted to highlight the special and fragile nature of the land. And my inner artist was inspired to express itself, to experiment, to create. The words just flowed.' So the result is a book that's not easy to categorize, but is well-written, informative and alternately (sometimes simultaneously) touching and hilarious. Perhaps Rundquist doesn't want to be confined to one genre. But finally it didn't matter: 'My goal, above all, is simply to place the book in the hands of people who will read and enjoy it. I wish I could be like Richard Brautigan and build a readership by walking around San Francisco, giving away copies for free.'

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "Truer" North, October 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: How Heavy is the Mountain (Paperback)

I love the author's creative, eclectic writing style: the mixture of story and poetry is great. Mr. Rundquist did extremely well in capturing true-to-life Alaskan characters. Having read many, many books that are "supposedly" about Alaska, I found "Mountain" to be free from the stereotypes that all too often run through such efforts. This Alaskan's critique: he done good.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alaska Dreaming, July 3, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: How Heavy is the Mountain (Paperback)

Having just read this book I wanted to say that I found it to be a most engrossing and humorous tale of Alaska. The authors account of adventures in every part of that beautiful state was the perfect remedy to long, hot, smoggy California summer days. I highly recommend this book and have forwarded copies to friends as a highly entertaining novel from a talented new author.