The Falling Season: Inside the Life and Death Drama of Aspen's Mountain Rescue Team

by Hal Clifford

Book Overview

* Offers an inside view of the dangers, emotions, and politics of a mountain rescue group * Covers one of the most publicized mountain rescue operations of the decade: Express Creek To write fairly about mountain rescuers, journalist Hal Clifford was told, you must become one yourself. And so began the most challenging assignment of his career - in the wilderness around Aspen, Colorado, where each year the destinies of a handful of skiers, hikers,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0898866332
• ISBN13: 9780898866339
• Release Date: February 1999
• Publisher: Mountaineers Books
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.79 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Interesting book

The falling season is a tough book to review, since I am involved in SAR work, not in Colorado though. First off the author is an excellent writer and keeps the book moving along. He gets into the personalities of the team members and when you do SAR work you realize that it is the interrelationships of the team personal that make or breaks your team. I think Mr. Clifford does a good job in detailing the day to day nuances of the characters in the book.I also think that he portrays a realistic look at the tensions that arise between the NEEDED paramilitary Sheriffs department and the free-spirited rescuers. The facts are that the SAR Teams are going to become more and more under the direct aegis of the Sheriff departments. That means more liability issues will be raised and in turn more Certifications will be needed to be a member of any SAR team. While this may be a noble objective it also had the direct dilemma of ostracizing the competent members on any SAR team. I have seen it happen, so sometimes the net result is a SAR team will lose some competent people only to be replaced by individuals that have passed the minimum sheriffs department certifications. While technically these individuals are qualified to perform a rescue they are as inept as any mountain neophyte is and in most cases a liability to the team. But this is the wave of the future and a reason why the author sees SAR teams being staffed only by paid people.One caveat for the any Non SAR person. This book does glamorize the work and makes it seem as non-stop action. I understand that the book has to do this otherwise it would be a bore to read. But real SAR work can be tedious and hard, no limelight, many days spent traipsing through buckthorn or on the side of some rattlesnake-infested ridge. You will come home on many days, dirty and tired, with fresh scrapes on your hands and faces oozing blood, just wondering just why you were assigned to search that area? But in the end it's always worth it.

An excellent account of the operation of SAR

Tha Falling Season gives readers an inside look at the operations of one of America's best rescue teams, Aspen Mountain Rescue. This fast paced book also lets us inside the personal lives of several key team members and shows us the triumphs and conflict that inevitably exist in such groups. Truly an excellent book for anyone interested in search and rescue and outdoor sports or mountaineering.

the "art" of integrity is almost lost, but Hal found some

in Search and Rescue and this could have been any SAR team, any County, USA. The general press gets us wrong every time but Hal got it right. Thank you for a sometimes tearful, often funny and believable read of one of the many sides of a multi-faceted SAR team. PS: the past pres. should get over it!

a page-turner

Clifford's prose is clean and he's gifted in his ability to hear dialogue and paint realistic descriptions, which draw the reader into the stories in this book. Like all good rescue books, this one is chilling and there are some gruesome details. However, the book doesn't exploit the victims of mountaineering accidents - the author is empathetic to the frailties of both victims and their rescuers.

Like "Into Thin Air" or "Perfect Storm", you will like this.

A biased and straight forward view of the famous Aspen Search and rescue team from one of it's own. The rescues are real accounts, the effects on the rescuers are real, and the thoughts and interactions between the people are real. The book puts you into the shoes of the rescuers and tells the stories and follys of everyday people from the point of view of their heros. We see the struggle, the teamwork, and the impact life as a volunteer rescuer requires. We also view the ignorance and chances that people take in the outdoors. Under the drama of the rescues is also the life and interactions of the people involved. We see their good and bad sides. We are there as they make life and death decisions. We are a part of the team. The Writing itself is not overly fantastic, but the treatment of the subject and the feeling behind the words is at a depth that none but one of their own could have told the story. As a skier and backcountry recreationalist, I especially found the honesty and feelings portrayed as being similar to those I have felt in trying times and when dealing with those who tempt fate. Overall, a compelling story of the way man and nature interact both externally and internally when things have gone horribly wrong.