Forever on the Mountain: The Truth Behind One of Mountaineering's Most Controversial and Mysterious Disasters

By James M. Tabor

Book Overview

In 1967, seven young men, members of a twelve-man expedition led by twenty-four-year-old Joe Wilcox, were stranded at 20,000 feet on Alaska's Mount McKinley in a vicious Arctic storm. Ten days passed while the storm raged, yet no rescue was mounted. All seven perished in 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 make this disaster unlike any other.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393331962
• ISBN13: 9780393331967
• Release Date: June 2008
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 0.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Chilling and Wonderful!

Tabor has put together a beautiful, extremely balanced account of a tragedy that includes the objective, the subjective, and quite tastefully, the emotions of the survivors. I read it once, and then had to read it again. The story deserved to be told again, and from a person far removed from the story. Tabor does an incredible job of piecing together an investigation some 40 years later. Tabor's descriptions made me want to,...

Preconceived opinions?

While browsing my local bookstore, I saw a book with a title that left no question in my mind about the subject: an event that happened 40 years ago and I could now read about the truth surrounding that tragedy on Mt. McKinley: Forever on the Mountain, by James Tabor. In the summer of 1967 I was full of dreams and anticipation as to what my second season at Mt. McKinley National Park might bring: new adventures, amazing sights,...

Memories

As a person who had close ties to the expedition, both in the planning and the aftermath, I found this book to be an accurate account of the tragic events that occurred. The book brought back 40 years worth of memories, just like they had happened yesterday.

Incredible

"Forever on the Mountain" is a staggering literary work. Serious climber, non-climber and everyone in between will find the account of this horrific accident constantly gripping. There isn't a boring page in this book and not only that, there is not a single page that isn't 100% factually correct. I, myself, am a non-climber and thoroughly enjoyed this book. In all respects, I found this book to be more interesting and...