Los Angeles, 1981, 1st printing, 236mm tall x 149mm, 499pp, 65 b/w photos, 6 appendices, end paper diagram. Hardcover, DJ, Near Fine.
The author was leader of 12-man Denali climb in 1967 where 7 perished in a fierce storm. Snyder's 3-man team was forced by the park rules on team size to combine with the Wilcox team. Controversy arose after Snyder wrote Hall Of The Mountain King, his version of events and who was responsible. The climb was made via the classic Muldrow Glacier - Karstens Ridge route, the same route pioneered by Belmore Browne and first climbed by Hudson Stuck for the first ascent of this Alaska giant, the highest peak in North America.
Some members of Wilcox's team were lacking in experience, but it was mostly poor judgement and the storm that killed the climbers very close to the top of the mountain. Wilcox goes into great detail here to describe the mistakes and the bad luck. He was criticized by Bradford Washburn after the tragedy for blaming the storm more than anything else for the deaths. Extensive appendices address much of the criticism point by point. Also includes much of the original correspondence between members prior to and after the expedition, transcripts from radio communications during the tragedy and rescue operations, analysis of windstorms in Alaska. Hardcover, DJ, Near Fine.
Howard Snyder, was the leader of a 3-man team that was forced by Park rules to join Joe Wilcox's larger team. 7 members from Wilcox's group perished in a fierce storm. Controversy arose after Snyder wrote a book, The Hall Of The Mountain King, his version of events and who was responsible. The climb was made via the classic Muldrow Glacier - Karstens Ridge route, the same route pioneered by Belmore Browne and first climbed by Hudson Stuck for the first ascent of this Alaska giant, the highest peak in North America. Some members of Wilcox's team were lacking in experience, but it was mostly poor judgement and the storm that killed the climbers very close to the top of the mountain. Snyder and another member of his team reached the summit ahead of the Wilcox members (except for Joe Wilcox who summited with Snyder).
Joe Wilcox was criticized by Bradford Washburn after the tragedy for blaming the storm more than anything else for the deaths. Snyder's book was the first to be published about the expedition. Joe Wilcox's White Winds about the expedition published several years after Snyder's book, partly in rebuttle to points in Snyder's account. Wilcox presents some valid & good arguments, and the bottom line is that the poor guys who perished on the mountain got screwed by a combination of bad luck and bad judgement due to lack of experience with semi-arctic conditions; the disaster wasn't Wilcox's fault.
