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, and climbers intersect with those of their rescuers. The Falling Season is Clifford's thrilling account of an insider's life and time on one of America's premier mountain rescue teams. Giving new voice to the adrenaline rush, he recounts the harrowing moments and the against-the-clock, painstaking procedures of more than a dozen mountain rescues, including 1993's infamous Express Creek crisis and its attendant media circus. Throughout, he profiles his teammates, dedicated volunteers who leave warm beds and meals at a moment's notice and brave unimaginably harsh conditions to save an injured stranger's life. Here are their thoughts and motivations as they dangle from cliff sides, risk avalanches, and wait for fateful words on static-filled radios. Unflinchingly honest, Clifford also talks about the divisive politics, personal struggles, egos, and occasional unhappy outcomes that are an inevitable part of rescuing life.

• 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...

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...