Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #509406 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

From Amazon.com
Like a piece of granite chipped off a Presidential peak, veteran journalist Nicholas Howe's assessment of misadventure in New Hampshire's rugged mountains has a crisp, puritanical feel that fairly rasps New England. Take his description of the near-vertical (and now well-skied) slope that nearly killed Max Engelhart in 1926: "Tuckerman Ravine is a sort of twin to Huntington Ravine, a left-hand punch into the side of Mount Washington by the same primordial giant that made Huntington with his right." Underlying Not Without Peril is the not-so-subtle message that the Presidential Range, topping out at just over 6,000 feet, is as uncompromising as any other mountain range. After all, these mountains--named for Washington, Lincoln, Madison--are home to some of the most vicious weather recorded on the planet. Howe makes no judgment about those whose misfortunes he chronicles; there are tender moments that manage to stay faithful to a crusty Yankee sensibility, as in the tale of Lizzie Bourne, who died in a snowstorm while huddled in a makeshift lean-to. Howe quotes her uncle George: "She was dead--had uttered no complaint, expressed no regret or fear, but passed silently away." Such sober tales, scrupulously researched, tell the history of a mountain range and its climbers, some of whom are immortalized for their ill-fated treks. It's a gritty read, a touch morbid, but more than compensated for by sharp writing and compelling drama. --Tipton Blish

From Kirkus 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.

Review

Customer Reviews

History Comes Alive
I had the chance of meeting the author at the base of Mt. Washington after climbing it and getting a pretty bad headache at the summit. While this little peril of my own set me back, this book couldn't have captured the spirit of these mountains any better. Howe has a talent with taking the dusty accounts of adventure and plight back onto the behemouth from which they were told. I would reccomend this book to anyone who has ever been to the White Mountains and wanted to go back again.

Where Do You Live and Where Do You Hike?
You will see reviews here rated one and five stars - it depends upon who you are. Stylistically, this book is not tremendously written, though not bad (redundant in places). If you know the place(s) written about - Mt. Washington and near peaks it will surely be a thrilling and fascinating read. If not - tedium. I know a bit of the area, so it was just ok - a three star book I would only recommend to White Mountain fans. The author certainly knows the area and the subject.

depends who you are
You will see reviews here rated one and five stars - it depends upon who you are. The book is not tremendously written, stylistically, though not bad (redundant in places). If you know the place(s) written about - Mt. Washington and near peaks it will surely be a thrilling and fascinating read. If not - tedium. I know a bit of the area, so it was just ok - a three star book I would only recommend to White Mountain fans.