Not Without Peril: 150 Years of Misadventure on the Presedential Range

Howe, Nicholas S.

ISBN 10: 1878239937 / ISBN 13: 9781878239938

Published by Appalachian Mountain Club, 2000

About this Item

Second printing. Inscribed by author (Nicholas S. Howe) on title page. Dust jacket has wear and creases. Inside is clean and unmarked other than author's inscription. Corners bend in, see photo 5.

Seller Inventory # ABE-1701588036652

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Not Without Peril: 150 Years of Misadventure on the Presedential Range
• Publisher: Appalachian Mountain Club
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1878239937
• ISBN 13: 9781878239938
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Signed: Inscribed by Author
• Seller catalogs:
  • First Edition
  • Signed

About this title

Synopsis

Catalogs the deaths of human visitors to the mountains of New Hampshire's Presidential Range, citing the freezing temperatures, dangerous heights, and fatal mistakes that people make when attempting to trek through the terrain.

Reviews

A catalog of death in the New England mountains. Although not high by world standards, New Hampshires Mount Washington is home to howling winds and monstrously cold temperatures, often the coldest in the Lower 48. For years, mountaineer and freelance journalist Howe has been haunting the mountain and nearby summits of the Presidential Range, a place where furious storms, hypothermia, and occasional bears take their toll on human visitors at all seasons. Howe catalogs the errors of the unfortunate victimsand silly mistakes which seem always to come into play whenever Americans head outside, whether the date is 1849 or 1994. (The most common of them, Howes evidence suggests, is the simple omission of appropriate cold-weather gear, for although the summertime temperature may approach 90 at Mount Washingtons base, the wind chill may take it down to freezing at the peak.) Few of Howes pointed tales end happily. Some of his protagonists slip easily into death, having made some misjudgment or another; others wander around for days in the woods, running from lightning and wild animals in scenes that would fit right into a sequel to The Blair Witch Project, before meeting their unhappy fate; a few others even make it off the mountain alive, but minus toes and fingers. Since there are only so many ways to die on a mountainsideyou can fall, freeze, or get munchedthe narrative tends to be repetitious, and a little judicious paring would have been welcome. Still, all these deaths lead up to a well-taken moral: It is not so much that Mount Washington is a killer, but that people approaching it need to take better care than many of them do. Fans of outdoor disaster and unpleasantry, as well as collectors of New England mountain lore, will find Howe a generally satisfying guide to New Hampshires dark side. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.