| Snowstruck: In the Grip of Avalanches Contributor(s): Fredston, Jill (Author) |
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ISBN: 0156032546 ISBN-13: 9780156032544 Publisher: Harper Paperbacks OUR PRICE: $18.04 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: January 2007 Annotation: Jill Fredston stalks avalanches. She predicts where and when they will strike, deliberately triggers them with explosives, teaches potential victims how to stay alive, and leads rescue efforts when tragedy strikes. Reaching deep into this trove of personal experience, Fredston captures the overwhelming force of avalanches from a panorama of perspectives: a skier making what may prove his final decision, a victim buried so tightly that he can't move a finger, rescuers racing time and weather, forecasters treading the line between reasonable risk and danger. Sweeping us into these stories, she also captures the mercurial fascination of snow itself, which first drew her to Alaska and then led her to the man who would become her lifelong partner in love and work. Having spent decades trying to keeping avalanches and people apart, Fredston has brought them together hauntingly in "Snowstruck," |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Nature | Ecosystems & Habitats - Mountains - Nature | Natural Disasters - Biography & Autobiography | Personal Memoirs |
| Dewey: 551.307 |
| LCCN: 2005020454 |
| Physical Information: 0.86" H x 5.34" W x 7.98" (0.71 lbs) 352 pages |
| Themes: - Seasonal - Winter |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Every year around the globe, people cross paths with avalanches--some massive, some no deeper than a pizza box--with deadly results. Avalanche expert Jill Fredston stalks these so-called freaks of nature, forecasting where and when they will strike, deliberately triggering them with explosives, teaching potential victims how to stay alive, and leading rescue efforts when tragedy strikes. In Snowstruck, Fredston draws on decades of personal experience to take "avalanches out of the statistical realm and into the human one" (Skiing Magazine): a skier making what may prove his final decision, a victim buried so tightly that he can't move a finger, rescuers racing both time and weather, forecasters treading the line between reasonable risk and danger. Fredston brings to life the awesome forces of nature that can turn the mountains deadly--and the equally inexorable forces of human nature that lure us time and again into treacherous terrain. |
Contributor Bio(s): Fredston, Jill: - JILL FREDSTON is the author of Rowing to Latitude: Journeys Along the Arctic's Edge, which won a 2002 National Outdoor Book Award. She and her husband, Doug Fesler, are codirectors of the Alaska Mountain Safety Center. They live in the mountains above Anchorage. |