The Measure of a Mountain: Beauty and Terror on Mount Rainier [Hardcover]

Bruce Barcott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1997

What happens when the most potent icon of the Pacific Northwest--Mount Rainier--is explored, explained, and observed by one of the region's most promising literary talents? A mythic mountainis uncovered that is both beautiful and terrifying.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Mount Rainier, North America's biggest volcano, looms over Seattle like an invitation to... adventure? Disaster? Discovery? It's all of the above for Bruce Barcott, a Seattle writer who captures the mountain from multiple angles in this luminous biography that defines Rainier's landscape to be like none other on the continent. By turns witty and introspective, Barcott's trip to the top of the glacier-clad peak is filled with history, scientific observation, and a divided personal attachment that struggles to make sense of the mountain and its effect on the surrounding land and people. The Measure of a Mountain is a literate, entertaining view of a totemic Northwest landmark.

From Library Journal

A Seattle journalist sets out to write a natural history of Mt. Rainier in Washington State but finds that it is a truth universally acknowledged that a man interested in mountains must want to climb to the top. While researching the mountain, Barcott happened to interview Scott Fischer, a climbing guide who shortly afterward perished in a sensationalized accident on Mt. Everest (see Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, LJ 4/1/97). Trying to make sense of Fischer's death turns the story from a standard natural history into a distinctly anti-macho example of mountaineering literature, as a bookish, gregarious man without any natural daredevil impulses contemplates climbing (or possibly not climbing) the 14,410'. peak. A darkly humorous review of mountaineering memoirs notes that "once an author is on the mountain, there's no limit to what he'll suffer for his reader," but that "unlike any other sport, mountaineering demands that its players die." Although the anecdotes about Mt. Rainier will be of regional interest, this appealing adventure story about a reluctant adventurer will please many readers.?Amy Brunvand, Univ. of Utah Lib., Salt Lake City
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Sasquatch Books; First Edition edition (October 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570610746
• ISBN-13: 978-1570610745
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,433,779 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a book for anyone who appreciates nature, January 23, 2001

By 

Thomas Breit (Shoreline, WA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Measure of a Mountain: Beauty and Terror on Mount Rainier (Hardcover)

I'm a climber, and I enjoyed the book. There were some bits that weren't terribly interesting, but much of it was. The chapter on meadow restoration was fascinating. Another chapter illuminates something I've long wondered about: why you so often see insects and spiders on the snow thousands of feet above their apparent habitat. It'll be a while before I scoop up a handful of snow to suck on while climbing!

The history is well done; the story the early history of the park were very interesting. And his is the most complete account of the Army airplane crash into the Tacoma Glacier that I've ever read.

He mentioned a couple of other books that I've been grateful to learn about: "The unpublished journals of John Muir" (published now, of course) and "Mountain Fever", an account of the early ascents of Mt. Rainier, both of which I've got now, and one of which I've read.

I feel I've learned something fairly profound from this book. He climbed to the summit and still doesn't appreciate the urge that drives people to do that sort of thing. He felt nothing at the summit, or at Camp Muir, except an emptiness. When I climb, it's always a deeply meaningful experience: last time I was on the summit, I called my wife on the cell phone, and was actually in tears. Each time I climb Mt. Rainier, even if it's just a hike up to Camp Muir, I feel on the descent a tremendous reluctance to leave, and keep looking back for one last look of the icefalls, the massive, serene, intricately shaped rock formations. For me, climbing Mt. Rainer is like visiting a lover, and each time I leave, to return to my life, my job, my wife, the question "but when will I get to see you again?" looms largest.

So I might be expected to reject his experience, or his interpretation. But what he's finally helped me to understand is that different people appreciate different things. It's as futile for me to try to convince someone else to love mountaineering they way I do as it is to try and convince someone to enjoy a particular sort of food that they find distasteful. "How can you not like sushi? Here, just try some flying fish roe!"

So I'll take what he's taught me about the mountain and its history, and be grateful to him for the work and craft that went into it. I'll admire his clear and concise writing style. And, I'll be grateful that there are people who don't enjoy climbing, since it lowers the traffic on the glaciers and the summits.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Reading, June 25, 2000

By 

Eric Franklin (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Measure of a Mountain: Beauty and Terror on Mount Rainier (Paperback)

For anybody that is infatuated with Mt. Rainier, this is the book for you. Living in the Pacific Northwest, Rainier is a fact of life for all of us. On sunny, clear days when it towers over the downtown seattle skyline, we say that the "mountain is out" and cannot help but steal glances at its mighty presence.

It is readily apparent that this book is a labor of love for the author. He revels in any and all information about the mountain that he can track down. All of his studies of the mountain add flavor to his own wanderings. He sees in the mountain all of the history, geology, native folklore, and danger that it deserves. His respect is palpable and his experiences are priceless. If you want to experience Rainier in a different way than you ever have before, you need to check this out.

This book is well written, an easy read, and highly recommended.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good story, November 18, 1999

By 

Duwayne Anderson (Saint Helens, Oregon) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Measure of a Mountain: Beauty and Terror on Mount Rainier (Paperback)

Bruce Barcott writes as if you were in the room speaking with him. His style is friendly, to the point (often blunt) descriptive and frequently flowery. He uses such descriptive phrases that I was often left rolling on the floor, tears of laughter flowing from my eyes.

It's hard to categorize this book. It's not really about climbing mountains, though there is plenty of that. It's not really about geology, though there is plenty of that as well. It's not about ecology, though ecologists will certainly connect with Barcott, and it's not really about history, even though there are lots of interesting historical tidbits sprinkled throughout the book. The book is sort of a mish mash of all these subjects that Barcott ultimately ties in with the mountain that defines Washington State, and Seattle in particular: Rainier.

It's hard to say what part of the book I enjoyed the most. I really enjoyed the stories about the mountain's "real" name. Even though I grew up in Federal Way, Washington I never knew about the battle waged by Tacoma in trying to rename Rainier with it's original (or at least one of them) Indian name. There are other interesting historical footnotes like the military plane carrying marines home for the Christmas holidays that slammed into the mountain. And, of course, there are stories about early climbers like Muir.

Barcott describes lots of his hikes around Rainier, particularly the wonderland trail, and he ends the book with an account of his climb to the summit. As it turned out, I had climbed Rainier in June of the same year Barcott climbed it (he climbed in July) and so it was interesting comparing my recollection of the trip with his.

Barcott tries hard not to come across as the typical macho, climb-or-die mountaineer. In fact, he has some rather harsh words to say about some of the people who climb - offering physiological analysis that, although insightful and probably close to the mark, is sometimes pretty insulting. But that's Barcott's style - to the point with no BS. I like it.

The author presents lots of stuff in the book as factual, but there are no footnotes or chapter endnotes. Consequently, at first I was a little skeptical about how much of the book (especially what appeared to be anecdotal) is just fabricated for its story-telling value. Upon reaching the end of the book, however, I had to conclude that Barcott has probably done his homework and research pretty thoroughly. There is a long list of references (roughly 100) with descriptions about many. Some of the references look pretty good, and I'm probably going to get one or two of them for further reading. The book also has a complete index, which is something the forgetful among us always appreciate.

Overall this is a fine book. It's enjoyable, interesting, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes reflective, but always engaging. I read the entire book - all 250 pages - in just a few days. It's a great companion for those cold rainy Northwest nights when there's a log in the fireplace.

Duwayne Anderson Saint Helens, Oregon. November 18, 1999