Forever On The Mountain: The Truth Behind One Of Mountaineering's Most Controversial And Mysterious Disasters

In July 1967, seven young menmembers of Joe Wilcox's twelve-man expeditiondied on Mt. McKinley, North America's highest peak.

Ten days passed with no rescue attempt, while more than half an expedition was stranded and dying at 20,000 feet during a vicious Arctic storm. The bodies were never recovered. And, for reasons that have remained cloudy, there was no proper official investigation of the catastrophe.

This book begins as a classic tale of men against nature, gamblingand losingon one of the world's starkest and stormiest peaks. Reckoning by lives lost, it was history's third-worst mountaineering disaster when it occurredbut elements of finger pointing, incompetence, and cover-up make this disaster unlike any other. James M. Tabor draws on previously untapped sources: personal interviews with survivors and those involved in the aftermath, unpublished diaries and letters, and government documents. He consults not only mountaineers but also experts in disciplines including meteorology, forensics, and psychology. What results is the first full account of the tragedy that ended a golden age in mountaineering. Maps; 8 pages of illustrations.

James M. Tabor, a writer in Waitsfield, Vermont, and a former contributing editor to Outside, hosted the national PBS series The Great Outdoors. He has attempted Mt. McKinley and summitted Mt. Sanford.

Publisher: W. W. Norton
Distributor: W. W. Norton
Publication Date: 07-16-2007
Pages: 400
Measurements: 9in X 6in