New York, 1969, 1st edition, 5th printing. 218 pp, 24 b/w photos. Book also contains a newspaper article about a death in an avalanche on Mt Hunter (date is in faint pencil and is hard to read.) Hardcover with Dust Jacket. Other than the tipped-in newspaper article there is no writing in the book or other flaws, and the dust jacket has no edge wear but is price clipped. The Dust Jacket is protected by a removable clear plastic cover that we call a Brodart (the maker of the book covers.) The Dust Jacket and the book are in Fine condition.
This is the cleanest and best condition copy of Minus 148° that we have seen in several years.
There is a good interview with Art Davidson at this link, talking mostly about his climbing career and that winter Denali climb. The interview is audio only, at a site that is part of the University of Alaska: https://jukebox.uaf.edu/interviews/2879
The first winter ascent of Mt. McKinley was one of the most difficult North American climbs ever. This is one of the most exciting stories in the literature. In January 1967, eight men (four Americans, one Japanese, a New Zealander, one Frenchman and one Swiss) attempted the first winter ascent of Mt McKinley, the highest mountain in North America.
The summit was conquered, but not without loss of life and considerable suffering. The author, who was one of the three men who made the final climb, tells the story, day by day, of an expedition which was both a triumph and a disaster. On the expedition's second day, one member was killed in a crevasse.
It took a while, but when Art Davidson finally settled in and faced his book, he pulled off a remarkable thing. Here was no simple tale of heroism and valor, like Annapurna, but rather a vexed, uneven story of doubt, failure, whim, courage, tragedy. The team was unbalanced, with the strong members far superior to the others.
Perhaps the strongest of all was killed in an absurd accident within the first hours of the expedition. The leader himself seemed to lose heart in mid-stream. Yet everything was redeemed by the magnificent accomplishment of the summit in early March, and then by the even more magnificent survival of Art, Dave Johnston, and Ray Genet.
The book Art wrote managed, as few expedition chronicles ever have, to deal directly with the conflicts that divided the party, to pay close attention to the personalities involved, to lay bare their weaknesses without disloyalty to the men (who indeed cooperated splendidly by lending diaries), and to narrate without flinching the details of the ordeal at Denali Pass. The potentially diffuse details of the plot came together in a compulsively readable story.
Minus 148° is one of the few true classics in the literature of mountaineering. It richly deserves a republication that will bring it a whole new generation of readers, hungry young climbers and armchair graybeards alike. It is an honor to salute the book's reappearance, and a pleasure to wish it well.
