In the Zone: Epic Survival Stories from the Mountaineering World [Hardcover]

Peter Potterfield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1996

Colby Coombs on Alaska's Mount Foraker, Scott Fischer and Ed Viesturs on K2, Author Peter Potterfield on Chimney Rock in the North Cascades. To climb is to risk, and nowhere is that more evident than in these true-life accounts of three men who faced the ultimate challenge in passionate pursuit of their sport. A veteran journalist with 25 years of climbing experience, author Potterfield is a master craftsman who has himself been in the zone. These stories, the result of extensive interviews, reveal that the keys to averting tragedy lie in the head and heart as much as in technical proficiency and physical strength. There is the story of Colby Coombs' disastrous experience on Alaska's Mount Foraker, which ranks with Joe Simpson's Touching the Void as one of the greatest survival stories of the genre. On K2, experienced climber Scott Fischer (who lost his life in the 1996 Everest tragedy) and partner Ed Viesturs battle for the summit in the face of numerous setbacks, severe injuries, and harrowing weather conditions. Peter Potterfield recounts his own riveting tale of hope and desperation after a climbing fall that left him trapped and badly injured on a narrow ledge in Washington's North Cascades.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When a climb goes wrong, shows Potterfield, it can become the threshold to a grim, life-changing experience. Along with the survival stories of others, veteran climber Potterfield tells a harrowing tale of his own brush with death and dramatic rescue on Chimney Rock in the Cascades in 1988. Then there is Colby Coombs, who, after an avalanche killed his two companions on Alaska's Mount Foraker in 1992, struggled for five days to make his way down, despite a broken neck, shoulder and ankle. Potterfield's other story features Scott Fischer and his determination to climb K-2, in Pakistan's Karakoram, in 1992. On his first attempt, Fischer fell into a crevasse and dislocated a shoulder. Crippled and in pain, he and his partner persisted; they saved the lives of three other climbers before reaching the summit. Potterfield eventually pieced together the details of his own rescue, which was the most technically elaborate in memory. It involved 100 people?climbers, law enforcement officials, army helicopter pilots, ham-radio operators?in a 36-hour operation. Photos.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 270 pages
• Publisher: Mountaineers Books; First Edition edition (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898864828
• ISBN-13: 978-0898864823
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,708,146 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gruesome, Gripping, but Not Well Written, December 7, 1999

By 

K. Freeman (Apple Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In The Zone (Paperback)

This book is made up of stories where "what's the worst that can happen?" does. The first, an Alaskan mountaineering epic, leaves the reader amazed that the lone survivor made it; the second, about Scott Fischer on K2, leaves the reader amazed at Fischer's having survived as long as he did; and the third, Potterfield's own story, spawned much heated discussion and controversy among climbers. Clearly, Potterfield fell because he lost his grip on the rock, but why did he fall to the end of the rope? Did his belayer drop him...? That would certainly explain why he doesn't analyze the accident in more detail. In any case, the last story is the best, not only because it explodes those dearly-held beliefs in fainting before impact, but because it gives a detailed chronicle of a difficult high-angle rescue. Unfortunately, Potterfield does not write very well, but I suspect most readers will hardly notice.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Bland, December 12, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Jeff Rowes, Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Zone: Epic Survival Stories from the Mountaineering World (Hardcover)

Three tales comprise the text, only the first of which is especially gripping. The second, an overview of Scott Fischer's '92 ascent of K2, was a poor choice to chronicle. The third, in which the author is the victim, neglects to explain why the accident happened. Overall, the narrative simply lacked the suspense and urgency of good mountaineering literature.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What the climbing press says about In the Zone, November 25, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: In the Zone: Epic Survival Stories from the Mountaineering World (Hardcover)

Reviews of In the Zone

In The Zone chronicles some of the greatest mountaineering survival stories ever told. Like a great novel, we emerge from our experience transformed, with a new reverence for the limits of human endeavor and will. Potterfield takes us to a place climbers hope never to visit, where the hold on survival is tenuous.
--Rock & Ice Magazine

Forget the hype about the new "extreme" sports; mountaineering has been around for centuries and is clearly the most extreme of all. It's hard to beat Peter Potterfield's harrowing In the Zone, an account of three deadly climbs.
--Men's Journal

A journalist and able story teller, Potterfield recounts three harrowing tales: Colby Coombs' struggle to live after a deadly avalanche on Alaska's Mount Foraker in 1992, Scott Fischer's near-death experience on K2, and his own fall and nail-biting rescue that followed. Fischer's experience is arguably the most compelling, as Fischer is dead and the climbing world wants to understand why. Poignant, horrifying . . . .
--Outside

Potterfield's matter-of-fact style gets you right into the climber's head. I loved this story [Colby Coombs'] and could not put it down. Potterfield does a good job of mixing direct quotes with his own insights . . . . [He] captures the dangers of Himalayan climbing, but even more interesting are his insights into the mentality required for such extreme risk.
--Climbing Magazine

A compelling, troubling look at the dark side of mountaineering.
--Jon Krakauer, author of Into the Wild

Expertise and personal experience meet in these three harrowing tales of close calls in the mountains, from a veteran mountaineering writer.
--Seattle Weekly

Tense and descriptive. . . a trilogy of true accounts of near-death experiences.
--Eugene Register Guard

Journalist and climber Potterfield shows Scott Fischer at his courageous and athletic prime. . . that foreshadows this year's Everest deaths. For the reader, it is a mixture of fascination and agony.
--Chicago Tribune/Universal Press Syndicate

In the Zone is riveting reading . . .
--Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph

A white-knuckle volume of gruesome stories . . . Not for the squeamish, these are harrowing tales of broken survivors dangling beside corpses, of shattered bodies inching along for miles in blinding agony, of confident expeditions from which only one climber returns.
--The Santa Fe New Mexican

In the zone is a masterful account of three extraordinary humans and a fascinating depiction of the struggle for survival . . . a gripping trilogy.
--Adventurous Traveler

Three contemporary survival stories, one of renowned guide Scott Fischer who was not denied the summit of K2. Such tenacity in the face of danger typifies Potterfield's prose style, also infusing his other tales of survival. Armchair mountaineers will discover here insights into why mountaineers take such risks.
--Booklist

The message from these stories of human drama is clear: think and choose before the climb, not at the onset of trouble.
--John Roskelley, author of Stories Off the Wall