Customer Reviews

Mount McKinley: Icy Crown of North America

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Commenting on a Fred Beckey climbing book is a little like critiquing a Mozart opera: who among us, really, has any standing to question him? It's remarkable that the man combines such complete mastery of two crafts, both climbing and writing. Compared to Reinhold Messner, another heroic climber and author, Beckey's writing is much better, more insightful, and ultimately far more useful. The book begins with a forward by Heinrich Harrer, famous for the first climb of the north face of the Eiger, as well as his books "The White Spider" and "Seven Years in Tibet." Much of the book is a history, detailing the early explorations and attempts, including Cook, the sourdough expedition, and the Reverend Stuck's successful climb, on through the pioneering climbs of other routes on the mountain. This is one more book that demonstrates that, in his areas of experience, Fred Beckey is unsurpassed. He is a climber's climber (not least because of his legendary guidebooks) and this is a climber's book on Denali. It's extensively footnoted and makes good use of historical photos, which is a nice professional touch, but the real value of the book is Beckey's total knowledge of climbing and of the mountain. One of the chapters details his participation on the first climb of the NW buttress (the first ascent of the Wickersham Wall) as well as his subsequent first ascent, with Harrer, of nearby Mt. Hunter. It's hard to imagine undertaking a climb of Denali without reading this book first; the last section includes complete route descriptions of the four most-climbed routes on the mountain, an extensive record of accidents and disasters, including analysis of what went wrong, and a chapter on logistics and equipment. Some things have changed; Talkitna is already more built-up than it was in '93 when the book was published (with a soberingly well-used cemetary) and the standard routes are more crowded than ever, but the same accidents happen for the same reasons. If everyone who attempted the mountain read this book, it would be a safer place.

The book is very good. The history of the mountain makes it simple to write something interesting, but certainly Mr. Beckey has done an excellent and very comprehensive work, and he deserves the credit. The reading is fine too. I only missed some more detailed sketches of the routes, and at times I got a bit lost in the succession of climbing expeditions (though it is true that the book has a chronology at the end).

Also some of the final chapters perhaps do not belong in this book, but all in all I certainly recommend it.