The Falling Season: Inside the Life and Death Drama of Aspen's Mountain Rescue Team (Paperback)

by Hal Clifford (Author) "WE WERE getting banged around a lot..." (more)
Key Phrases: rescue cabin, brake bag, hasty team, Chris Myers, John Zell, David Swersky (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Hal Clifford lives what he writes. As a member of Mountain Rescue-Aspen, an elite group of volunteers dedicated to helping those lost, injured, or worse in the rugged terrain surrounding one of America's favorite alpine playgrounds, he knows what it means to risk one's own life to save another. He understands the excitement that lures people to the mountains and has witnessed the deadly consequences of ill-conceived, or just plain unlucky, outings.

In The Falling Season, Clifford opens a window on the cliquish world of the "adrenaline junkies" drawn to the dangerous and heroic work of mountain rescue and offers first-hand accounts of actual emergencies. "I keep climbing, up toward a pile of rocks that is the 12,430-foot summit. I look up again and see a body, 50 yards ahead. It is lying head downhill, face turned up to the sky...." In crafting his story, Clifford reconstructs tension-filled events and mixes them with a chronicle of the team's long and colorful history. He focuses on the formerly unfettered group's ongoing struggle with the constraints of a litigious society, increased media exposure, and ballooning government bureaucracy. He attempts journalistic impartiality, but his personal involvement and emotional attachment show through, giving the story a powerful sense of urgency. Clifford possesses the technical skills, conditioning, and experience it takes to belong in Mountain Rescue-Aspen; fortunately for the reader, he happens to be a compelling writer as well. --George Laney --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
"In exclusive Aspen, money can't buy membership in one select club-the mountain rescue team. You must earn your position the old-fashioned way-with loyalty, commitment, and gut-wrenching, heart-pounding, dangerous work." -- Jim Carrier, Denver Post

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Mountaineers Books; 2nd edition (March 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898866332
• ISBN-13: 978-0898866339
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #740,245 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent account of the operation of SAR, July 16, 2000

By	westmedic531 "westmedic" (Gig Harbor, WA; United States) - See all my reviews

Tha Falling Season gives readers an inside look at the operations of one of America's best rescue teams, Aspen Mountain Rescue. This fast paced book also lets us inside the personal lives of several key team members and shows us the triumphs and conflict that inevitably exist in such groups. Truly an excellent book for anyone interested in search and rescue and outdoor sports or mountaineering.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting book, January 6, 2002

By	Enigma "[e-mail]" (Washington, USA) - See all my reviews

The falling season is a tough book to review, since I am involved in SAR work, not in Colorado though. First off the author is an excellent writer and keeps the book moving along. He gets into the personalities of the team members and when you do SAR work you realize that it is the interrelationships of the team personal that make or breaks your team. I think Mr. Clifford does a good job in detailing the day to day nuances of the characters in the book.

I also think that he portrays a realistic look at the tensions that arise between the NEEDED paramilitary Sheriffs department and the free-spirited rescuers. The facts are that the SAR Teams are going to become more and more under the direct aegis of the Sheriff departments. That means more liability issues will be raised and in turn more Certifications will be needed to be a member of any SAR team. While this may be a noble objective it also had the direct dilemma of ostracizing the competent members on any SAR team. I have seen it happen, so sometimes the net result is a SAR team will lose some competent people only to be replaced by individuals that have passed the minimum sheriffs department certifications. While technically these individuals are qualified to perform a rescue they are as inept as any mountain neophyte is and in most cases a liability to the team. But this is the wave of the future and a reason why the author sees SAR teams being staffed only by paid people.

One caveat for the any Non SAR person. This book does glamorize the work and makes it seem as non-stop action. I understand that the book has to do this otherwise it would be a bore to read. But real SAR work can be tedious and hard, no limelight, many days spent traipsing through buckthorn or on the side of some rattlesnake-infested ridge. You will come home on many days, dirty and tired, with fresh scrapes on your hands and faces oozing blood, just wondering just why you were assigned to search that area? But in the end it's always worth it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Soap Opera, August 2, 2001

By A Customer

This book starts with a great, well painted rescue. Most of the remainder of the book then focuses on the egos and personal conflicts of the team and sheriff. "He said this and she said that and I said this." As a member of a busy SAR team, I was amazed at (and saddened by) how poorly the team and Sheriff got along. I also question the pseudo-conclusion that rescue teams will become paid services.

If you are looking for insight into the personal relationships the make up a rescue community, you will like this book.