I liked Bartcott’s writing. The parenthetic side comments remind me of my inside voice. His description of the Rainier summit climb with RMI brought bI liked Bartcott’s writing. The parenthetic side comments remind me of my inside voice. His description of the Rainier summit climb with RMI brought back memories of my accent. I still remember the route and the views that Bartcott describes.
The book gives a nice history of Mount Rainer and the efforts to change the name to Tahoma. Knowing pieces and having some familiarity helps appreciate the back stories.
Bartcott also explores the motivation of the world’s great climbers with stories of local climbers like Jim Wickwire, Lou Whittaker, and Scott Fischer. We read summaries of accidents on Everest, K2, and elsewhere.
This is neither a focused book on any particular mountain climb like Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster, accidents or tragedies (though several on Mount Rainer are covered), nor a history of the formation of Mount Rainier National Park. What it is is an amalgamation of these topics with the personal experiences of Bartcott. I liked it but it might not be for anyone less familiar with the mountain. A strong 3.5 but not enough for me to put it in the fourth category. ...more
A walk down memory lane if you live in the Pacific Northwest. Steve Olson takes us back to 1980 and the eruption of Mount St. Helens. If you’re a WashA walk down memory lane if you live in the Pacific Northwest. Steve Olson takes us back to 1980 and the eruption of Mount St. Helens. If you’re a Washingtonian you’ll remember bits of this history and the events that transpired.
Olson takes the reader much deeper, though, as he explores the lives of those that died in the eruption and mud flow. He also takes the reader on several tangents including the history of the Weyerhaeuser company and how the two Northwest railroads, Great Northern and Northern Pacific, grew and benefited from the Federal government's railroad land grants.
While not everyone will enjoy these tangents, I did since Weyerhaeuser was the biggest Northwest company before the likes of Starbucks, Microsoft, and Amazon. And reading about railroads always brings back memories of my dad and his love of trains. I liked these diversions from the main story of the eruption.
The description of the private plane that flew towards the mountain on the day of the eruption was well done. As the plane dove and flew away from the eruption the passengers had an up-close view with a kaleidoscope of colors. Great section of writing! Though the passengers might not have thought they were lucky during that flight – they sure were with the view they had!
Dying from asphyxiation due to volcanic ash sounds absolutely gruesome. Those first deaths by the eruption, Harry Truman and David Johnston, were instantaneous but those further away died in part by suffocation from ash inhalation. Yuck! I think that would be worse than drowning in water.
A good read especially if you were in Washington when the eruption occurred....more