Shattered Air: A True Account of Catastrophe and Courage on Yosemite's Half Dome [Paperback]

Bob Madgic (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 6, 2007

The compelling account of recklessness, tragedy, courage and rescue, a book whose sobering depiction of Nature's danger is tempered by unforgettable portraits of the triumphant human spirit.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Madgic claims that "in the annals of hiking tragedies caused by lightning," an ill-fated climb up Yosemite's famed Half Dome mountain by five experienced hikers in 1985 was "one of the most calamitous... of all time." Two of the hikers were killed and three sustained life-altering injuries after they decided to ignore signs of an oncoming thunderstorm and continued climbing a mountain whose peak had been struck by lightning during every month of that year. Madgic, a writer on the outdoors and a Half Dome climbing vet, delivers a well-written and thoroughly investigated account, but his real subject is less the hikers and more the "raw, fearsome power" of lightning. While he provides in-depth profiles of each hiker and their shared enthusiasm for risk taking as a way of conquering "personal fear," he makes it clear from the start that none of them "really knew the capacities, behaviors and dangers of thunderstorms." Madgic provides a fascinating—if somewhat stomach-churning—account of how the walls of a cave the hikers took refuge in conducted the electrical charge that devastated them, and his contribution to the adventure category is at once a terrifying story and an urgent cautionary tale. Photos. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The sheer face of Half Dome, the huge granite rock formation in Yosemite National Park, extends 2,200 feet from its base to its crest. Madgic gives a brief history of its early climbers, then tells the story of five hikers who began their climb on the evening of July 27, 1985, in the face of an imminent thunderstorm. One of three groups of climbers that day, it was headed by Adrian Esteban and Tom Rice. They planned to backpack to the top, camp there, and celebrate Rice's birthday the next day. Madgic offers a biographical sketch of the climbers and gives a vivid description of storms that frequently occur across the Sierra Nevada. A bolt of lightning killed two of the climbers and gravely injured three others. Madgic recounts their daring rescue by paramedics in a helicopter, which transported them to a medical center in Sacramento. This is a penetrating account of this tragedy. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Burford Books (February 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580801420
• ISBN-13: 978-1580801423
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #265,271 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mesmerizing, October 6, 2005

By 

A. Cooper "possum" (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shattered Air: A True Account of Catastrophe and Courage on Yosemite's Half Dome (Hardcover)

This is the true story of a handful of hikers who attempted to climb the venerable Half Dome, and faced a battle for their lives when a thunderstorm moved in.

First, the writing: Bob Madgic writes a tale as gripping as The Voyage of the Endurance, or Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air. The adventure speeds along with succinct descriptions that don't bog down the pace of the story. He has an easy and straightforward style, encompassing many viewpoints and answering (or attempting to answer) the many questions a reader would have. Very, very well done.

There are two main groups in this book: the injured hikers, and the many people who fight to save them. The heroes in this story are those who risked their own welfare to help total strangers. The main question, however, is what in the world made the hikers do something so incredibly reckless and stupid.

Those honors go to Tom Rice, a charismatic young man who guides a group of hikers (both skilled and total novices) on a trail that leads into hell. Both of the victims in this tragedy were first-timers on the Half Dome, though many others suffered a physical and emotional toll.

I couldn't put this book down, though I was discouraged by the ending (as often happens in real life.) Rice comes off as narcisscistic and contemptible, concerned primarily with a sad need for attention and his addiction to his adrenaline rush. He apparently never took an ounce of responsibility for what happened to the young teen novice who followed him up that rock, at least not publicly -- and from his reported future reckless actions that involved others, he seems to have come away from the whole experience primarily with a determination not to change even the slightest bit.

It takes a lot of guts to look deep into your own soul. Rice didn't have that kind of courage. He could deal with the more macho aspects of his ordeal -- the pain, the operations -- but not the tougher self-examination that should have followed.

It's ironic that of all the people on Half Dome that day, the self-proclaimed worshipper of strength and fearlessness proved to be the weakest of them all.

And by the way... if Shattered Air doesn't instill a healthy respect in you for the power of lightning, nothing will. This is an extraordinary story. Don't miss it.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Responding to Mountain Goddess' review, September 10, 2005

By 

Linda Ghilarducci (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shattered Air: A True Account of Catastrophe and Courage on Yosemite's Half Dome (Hardcover)

As a key participant in this event, I am saddened that you would give the book such a bad review based on your desires to be mentioned. You did not give your real name on the review, nor the full name of the person we only knew as "Brutus". To my knowledge, there is no record of you contacting the rangers, nor did any of us who were there meet or talk with you. Mr. Madgic tried very hard to find Renee Miller for several years, unsuccessfully, to get her story.

If you did, in fact, help in any way that night, those of us who were on top thank you for your efforts. It was an intense experience for all of us and, thanks to the years of effort writing this book by Mr. Madgic, it is now recorded in a beautiful, TRUTHFUL, and FACTUAL way.

Again, I am sorry you feel left out after all of these years.

Linda Crozier Ghilarducci (Hoog Party)

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Helps to Explain Mountain Climbing a Little Bit, August 31, 2005

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shattered Air: A True Account of Catastrophe and Courage on Yosemite's Half Dome (Hardcover)

Half Dome is just about the prettiest mountain in the world. I've seen it from several angles, including overhead from a plane on an absolutely gorgeous day. I've never really had the urge to go walking up that vertical face. In fact I've often wondered just what it was that drove climbers to challenge the rock, to challenge themselves.

Mr. Madgic calls the two principal climbers reckless. But he also explains that this was a typical decision that they would make as a way to conquer their own fears.

I was left with several feelings. One is that their actions really caused a great deal of risk and effort on the part of the rescue people. Their own foolishness is one thing, but to cause others to be at risk is quite another. Two, any remote desire that I might have had to climb half dome is totally erased. I'll just look at it from a distance.

As for the book itself. It is well written, it reads almost like a mystery novel. You are wondering just what's going to happen to these people. If it is evening while you're up to the lightening strike, put the book down right then. Otherwise you'll be up later than you planned.