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| Forever on the Mountain: The Truth Behind One of Mountaineering's Most Controversial and Mysterious Disasters | 
 enlarge | Author: James M. Tabor
Brand: Alpen
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy Used: $5.30
You Save: $21.65 (80%)
New (35) Used (32) from $5.30
Avg. Customer Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 274513
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.6
ISBN: 0393061744
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.52209798
EAN: 9780393061741
ASIN: 0393061744
Publication Date: July 16, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: EX-LIBRARY; used item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned for refund. Buy with confidence - your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics!
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Product Description
Forever on the Mountain: The Truth Behind One of Mountaineering's Most Controversial and Mysterious Disastersby James M. TaborIn July 1967, seven young men - members of Joe Wilcox's twelve-man expedition - died on Mt. McKinley, North America's highest peak. Ten days passed with no rescue attempt, while more than half an expedition was stranded and dying at 20,000 feet during a vicious Arctic storm. The bodies were never recovered. And, for reasons that have remained cloudy, there was no proper official investigation of the catastrophe.Forever on the Mountain begins as a classic tale of men against nature, gambling - and losing - on one of the world's starkest and stormiest peaks. Reckoning by lives lost, it was history's third-worst mountaineering disaster when it occurred, but elements of finger pointing, incompetence and cover-up make this disaster unlike any other. James M. Tabor draws on previously untapped sources: personal interviews with survivors and those involved in the aftermath, unpublished diaries and letters, and government documents. He consults not only mountaineers but also experts in disciplines including meteorology, forensics, and psychology. What results is the first full account of the tragedy that ended a golden age in mountaineering. Maps; 8 pages of illustrations.Winner, 2007 National Outdoor Book Award for History/BiographyWinner, 2007 Banff Mountain Festival Book Awards Grand PrizeA Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers SelectionShortlisted for the 2007 Boardman Tasker Award
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| Customer Reviews: Read 20 more reviews...
 A Tour de Force July 31, 2007
17 out of 23 found this review helpful
Although I am not a mountain climber, this book was incredibly compelling.
I couldn't put it down as the action and tragedy unfolded. It is powerfully written and penetrating in its reflection of human nature and
choices. And it is an extremely moving story of young lives lost.
Although the book is a tour de force of investigative journalism, it also
has universal depth and, at times, reads like a fine Greek tragedy.
Enjoyed it immensely, recommend it highly and have already bought many
gift copies.
 Dissapointing September 26, 2007
17 out of 31 found this review helpful
Having significant personal experience with many of the Alaskans identified in the book, I found this book very misleading. The Park Headquarter's staff made easy targets for the author. What a terrible injustice Tabor has done to the memory of those individuals and to their families who had no opportunity to defend themselves from his callous charecterizations. The most experienced mountain experts and rescue team members came to the conclusion and reiterated their belief that the weather, their location and their level of experience put these men in an unsurvivable situation. The park headquarters who had not launched a summer rescue in several years - like everyone involved did all they could. They grieved with the families and friends of these men.
I agree with an earlier reviewer - If you want to "hear" the real story and not a fictionalized version meant to create a hero/villian scenario that might make an appealing movie, read either White Winds by Joe Wilcox and Hall of the Mountain King by Howard Snyder - first hand accounts of the tragedy. White Winds in my opinion is the most thorough account.Forever on the Mountain: The Truth Behind One of Mountaineering's Most Controversial and Mysterious Disasters
An Incredible Docu-Drama August 4, 2007
14 out of 19 found this review helpful
I was hooked from the beginning, even though I know little more about mountain climbing than the differnce between a crampon and a carabiner. Tabor has done an incredible job of researching, documenting and piecing together the known facts of this terrible tragedy and then using his own climbing experience and that of others to knit together a well told tale with some suprising revelations and conclusions. Its also a frustrating story about how some unusually bad luck, marginal leadership, a clash of egos, poor communications and bad management by the National Park Service led to the deaths of the seven young men left forever on the mountain.
With the right producer and director, it will make a great movie !!
Very good read August 2, 2007
11 out of 14 found this review helpful
Prefaces and introductions are usually hard for me to finish. In the case of Mr. Tabor's book, something grabbed me and I knew that I would not want to put it down until I finished it.
Tabor has done an amazing investigative endeavor to uncover a sad and tragic tale. This is a powerful story that still has a huge effect on the lives of the survivors as well as rescuers and others who became part of it.
It would be easy, as had been for years, to place blame and move on but Tabor saw a different path. He takes the reader through a multi-layered voyage of the climbing world, its personalities, egos, extreme challenges, glories, and sometimes defeats.
What he does well is to present the information, tell the story as he has researched through personal interviews, park service tapes, old weather maps, and more, while staying neutral, and letting the reader come to their own conclusion. That is a gift and, I think, a nod in honor of those that endured and those that did not.
I have read it twice and it will be a fixture on my bookshelf.
Don't waste your money September 25, 2007
11 out of 24 found this review helpful
If you want to learn the facts behind this climbing tragedy read White Winds by Joe Wilcox and Hall of the Mountain King by Howard Snyder, actual climbers who were there. This book is a weak effort to create controversy where none existed.
There are enough facts in Tabor's book to give it the appearance of truth but those facts are overshadowed by obvious fallacies, among them out-of-context quotes, manufactured conversations that could not have been--and weren't--recorded and unsupported assumptions by the author.
Tabor seems to want mimic Jon Krakauers' epic study of the tragedy on Everest with the goal of his own movie deal but he has neither the chops to write it nor the facts to support his assertions.
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