Synopsis
Including rare photographs, the author of In the Shadow of Denali uses the letters and journals of the duke and his team as historical context to his retracing of their brave trek to the top of the world. 10,000 first printing.
Reviews
Alaska's Mount St. Elias was a mystical site to Waterman (In the Shadow of Denali, 1994, etc.), to be revered, and to be visited by fair means, without all the techno-wizardry climbers use today. To show its appreciation, the mountain beat him mercilessly. Mount St. Elias is not a trophy peak. It may be the fourth highest mountain in North America, it may stymie 70 percent of its climbers (and kill another 5 percent), but the trophy climbers want Denali. That was fine with Waterman; he preferred his mountains pure, free of the commercialization of climbing. Waterman was fascinated by the duke of Abruzzi, the aloof, melancholy, scholar-explorer who was the first to ascend St. Elias a hundred years ago, and he wanted to tackle the mountain as the duke did, though with fewer companions (just one partner) and a drastically reduced payload (no porters, for instance to carry an iron bedstead). No radios, thank you, and no flight in and out; he wanted the sanctity of the wild, to discover remnant instincts, deploy map-reading and route-finding talents, be self-sufficient. He would sail up from Seattle, climb, and return. Using diaries and letters from Abruzzi and his team, Waterman entwines his climb with the duke's, although the pleasure here is in Waterman's tale. The climbing almost immediately goes badly and then gets much worse. Crevasses lurk, nonstop avalanches thunder by, it rains watermelon-size rocks. The climbers run out of food. His companion isn't amused; then again, they survive, barely, returning without having gained the summit. Waterman's soul-searching can get trying, but he followed his dreams. In sharing them, he gives readers back some of their own. (24 b&w photos, 2 maps, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Luigi Amadeo di Savoia, Duke of Abruzzi, was the first to scale Alaska's Mount St. Elias (18,008') on July 31, 1897. In this centennial celebration, Waterman (Kayaking the Vermilion Sea, LJ 5/15/95) and friend Jeff Hollenbaugh trace his journey beginning with a three-month, 1200-mile approach sailing from Seattle to the base of the mountain. They intend to climb the South Face without the accoutrements and communication devices of modern technology. Unfortunately, 11,000 feet short of the summit they abandon ascent because of insufficient food supplies?rendering presumptuous this book's subtitle. Waterman recounts typical mountaineering experiences?near-fatal avalanches and rock falls, camaraderie made fragile by proximity partnership, the straining of stamina and steely resolve. More fascinating, however, are the interspersed texts derived from accounts and journals of the duke's expedition. Recommended only for libraries specializing in mountaineering or travel literature.?Lonnie Weatherby, McGill Univ., Montreal
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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