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Book Review, © Copyright 2000, Jim Loy
This book is subtitled, "Tragedy and heroism in an avalanche zone." It is the story of five young men (James Anderson, Clare Pogreba, Mark Levitan, Ray Martin, and Jerry Kanzler), aged 18 to 22, who decided to climb the "unclimbable" north face of Mt. Cleveland, in Glacier National Park, in winter. And it is the story of a massive and dangerous rescue effort which became a search for bodies. And it also gives a good run down of the history of death (and near-death) by avalanche.
I saw this book in a store, and wondered if it was any good. I thumbed through it. And there was the picture of a boy I had known slightly in high school, Jerry Kanzler. And there was a picture of a line of searchers probing the snow for his body. I remember hearing that he had died while climbing in Glacier Park. Years later, I climbed Sacajawea, a simple climb followed by the thrill of a huge vertical dropoff at the top. There at the top, in the register book, was something like this: Jim Kanzler in memory of Jerry Kanzler. As described at the end of this book, Jim Kanzler and two other climbers became the first people to climb the north face of Mt. Cleveland.
Note: There are other books by the name of White Death, including one on tuberculosis.
To order this book, click Amazon.com (goes directly to this book).