Forever on the Mountain: The Truth Behind One of Mountaineering's Most Controversial and Mysterious Disasters | 
 enlarge | Author: James M. Tabor
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 70966
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 432
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.1
ISBN: 0393331962
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN: 9780393331967
ASIN: 0393331962
Publication Date: June 2, 2008
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Product Description
Winner of the 2007 Banff Mountain Festival Book Awards Grand Prize (The Phyllis & Don Munday Award): "A riveting account of a long-ago mountaineering disaster."—Time
In 1967, seven young men, members of a twelve-man expedition led by twenty-four-year-old Joe Wilcox, were stranded on Alaska's Mount McKinley in a vicious arctic storm. All seven perished on what remains the most tragic expedition in American climbing history. Revisiting the event in the tradition of Norman Maclean's Young Men and Fire, James M. Tabor uncovers elements of controversy, finger-pointing, and cover-up that combine to make this disaster unlike any other. Maps, 8 pages of photographs.
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| Customer Reviews:
Thorough and comprehensive August 6, 2008
I highly recommend this book, although I have not read (yet) the books written by expedition leader Joe Wilcox and expedition member Howard Snyder.
You don't get much more thorough than this book, and yet it's not at all boring. It's a fascinating exploration into the history of this expedition: what is known and what can only be guessed at. Even more interesting is that Tabor interviews many of the principals (as many as he could find), including Bradford Washburn and his wife, Joe Wilcox, and Howard Snyder.
I've seen reviews to the effect that this book is "anti-Washburn." Hmmm. But Washburn wasn't "anti-Wilcox" (or "pro-hypocrisy")? I think Tabor probably did think that Washburn was being a tiny bit vindictive, not to mention hypocritical, but - as he should - he reports the facts and lets them speak for themselves. (An interesting sidenote: check out this account of Washburn's vindictiveness ca. 1994: http://www.cookpolar.org/mckinley.htm)
The conclusion reached by this book is that there was more than one factor in the tragedy. Where I felt Tabor punted was on the responsibility that Jerry Clark (in my opinion) bore, but perhaps it's tacky to call his judgement into question. *koff* [if you know who Jerry Clark is, you know why it might be considered tacky]
Other than that, though, this is a remarkably balanced book and the interviews with Wilcox and Snyder at the end are absolutely fascinating in the context of the rest of the book. This is a must-read if only for the skill Tabor demonstrates in reporting history. If you're into history, that is, as opposed to literature.
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