Minus 148 Degrees: The First Winter Ascent of Mount McKinley

Average Customer Rating: List Price: $16.95 Asia Trips Trips Price: $11.53 Your Savings: $ 5.42 ( 32% ) Subject To Change Without Notice Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: Mountaineers Books
Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 910 EAN: 9780898866872 ISBN: 0898866871 Label: Mountaineers Books Manufacturer: Mountaineers Books Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 242 Publication Date: 1999-07 Publisher: Mountaineers Books Studio: Mountaineers Books
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Editorial Reviews:
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: minus 148 Comment: Book was good but text was missing from maybe 20 pages of the last chapter. Customer Rating: Summary: A book ahead of its time Comment: I am not going to rehash the plot here, I'm sure others have done so and you can get that in some capacity from many sources. The author was on the expedition which this book is about, and it was a bold one to say the least; the first winter ascent of Mt Mckinley. He does a great job inviting us onto Mt McKinley (it was not Denali in 1967, at least not in the public mind) and this is a quick and pleasing read. However he does not interweave as deftly the history and personal story lines that have taken the genre to new places in the past decade or so. Granted Art wrote this in 1969 at which time he'd sworn off expeditions -- largely as a result of holing up in snow cave in a hurricane at 18,000 plus feet for 8 days - so the books that I'm used to reading from adventure writers simply feel more modern. Regardless of this I would highly reccomend this read, and I would also pair it with Forever on the Mountain by James Tabor; about the Wilcox expedition on the same mountain a mere 3-4 months after the first winter ascent (which ended up changing the rules for how Mountains would be climbed in general - not from the mountaineering standpoint, but rather from the standpoint of how gov't officials approved and approached expeditions). For any armchair expeditioner -- such as myself -- the literature on McKinley is essential. This is a mountain that can be every bit as evil and unforgiving as the nastiest Himalayian peak, the weather and the relief are actully in most cases at least equal. Donavan's book is certainly a great read. I bought the paperback reprint, but if I had a do-over I'd look for an early edition as I suppose they must be out there. Customer Rating: Summary: Pretty Good Description of Event Comment: I'm not sure, but I may have been one of the pilots on the C-130 that helped to coordinate the rescue of the team off of Mt. McKinley. Rescue 489 sounds like one of the 17th Troop Carrier Squadron's aircraft. And, I recall dropping (parachuting) a couple of radios on the emergency frequency to a climbing team that we helped rescue. The aircraft commander and I are discussing this particular rescue as "I speak." As I recall, the person from the expedition that was talking to me was very very reluctant to leave the climb, finally asking what it would cost. When the team was assured that there would be "no cost," things did change... :-) On the rescue that I'm describing, perhaps the one covered in this book, the Army Huey helicopter had difficulty landing at such a high elevation, and carrying out such a load. I watched as the helicopter lifted off, and it had to dive down toward the base of the mountain to get into more dense air, and to gain associated lift. On the way back to the airport, we slowed the C-130 down, and lowered the flaps, so the Huey helicopters could fly on each wing tip... Customer Rating: Summary: great book Comment: this is a fantastic read, if you have ever climbed any mountain this would probably interest you Customer Rating: Summary: Amazing Comment: I loved how suspenseful it is when they are trapped in the snow cave for a week. I would definetly recommend this book to anyone about the age of 12. It is kind of challenging. More Reviews