October 2, 1996
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.
September 1, 1996
%% This is a multi-book review: SEE also the title "Alaska Ascents." %% These two titles encapsulate the extreme risks and exhilarating rewards of mountaineering. They also have a topical aspect: two of the people featured were hit by last May's storm atop Everest. One survived, one didn't.Jon Krakauer, an accomplished outdoors writer, was a survivor. An account of his earlier escape from Alaska's Devil's Thumb is his vivid contribution to "Ascents," an anthology of pieces by climbers reflecting on their feats. There's the first ascent of North America's "tallest" mountain in 1897, Mount St. Elias. Then Denali was determined to be tallest; the story of its first scaling in 1913, by an eloquent missionary, conveys a quaint rapture upon reaching the real and metaphorical mountaintop. With accounts about the technical challenges of the state's lesser-known peaks to choose from, alpinists will appreciate this collection.Scott Fischer, a figure in one of Potterfield's three contemporary survival stories, was the renowned mountaineer and professional guide who died on Everest. On an earlier expedition, he conquered K2, the earth's second tallest peak, which has a deserved reputation as a killer. Its crevasses dislocated Fischer's shoulder, its avalanches bowled him over, but he was not denied the summit. Such tenacity in the face of danger and death typifies Potterfield's prose style, also infusing his other two tales of disaster and survival, set on Alaska's Mount Foraker and in the Cascades, respectively. Armchair adventurers will discover insights into why mountaineers take such high risks. ((Reviewed Sept. 1, 1996))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1996, American Library Association.)