Off the Wall: Death in Yosemite - Hardcover

Michael P. Ghiglieri & Charles R. "Butch" Farabee; Jr.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0970097379 ISBN 13: 9780970097378

Publisher: Puma Press LLC, 2007

Synopsis

Gripping accounts of all known fatal mishaps in America's first protected land of scenic wonders

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Yosemite National Park holds a worldwide reputation for being one of the most astoundingly beautiful places on the planet. Its glacier-carved, high Sierra wilderness has defied verbal description just as its polished walls have defied climbers. But along with Yosemite's ethereal beauty have come human errors.Yosemite's death toll leaves Mount Everest's appalling record in the dust. This ambitious, heavily researched, and absolutely gripping book explores every lethal danger in Yosemite and chronicles every fatal error made by those who failed to recognize or respect those perils.These pages recount story after story in which "Man Meets Yosemite" and underestimates it. Indians, Forty-niners, soldiers, casual visitors, concession workers, loggers, builders, National Park Service personnel, big wall climbers, hikers, fishermen, picknickers, and campers have entered the complex environment and topography of Yosemite for their own purposes then failed to understand what they were up against. Their true stories are suspenseful, engaging, and often astonishing. And while many are tragic, the accounts of near misses offer inspiration and even humor. Each story told here--whether of foolish error or selfless heroism--offer a lesson in survival.Authors Ghiglieri and Farabee recount many little-known errors for the first time. They also set the record straight on avery famous and infamous saga of deathin Yosemite from the time of the Mariposa Battalion "War" against the Yosemite Indians to the infamous tope-jumping death of super soloist Dan Osmond.Off the Wall: Death in Yosemite offers the first conpreensive look at how and where things start going wrong. Its lssons comprise a great leap forward in the quest to prevent future fatal episodes.

About the Author:

Michael P. Ghiglieri grew up at Lake Tahoe as the great- grandson of a Forty-niner and now lives with his wife in Arizona. He has worked as a professional wilderness guide since 1974, and had logged more than 660 trips and 43,000 river miles in America, Ethiopia, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Sumatra, Tanzania, and Turkey. He received a Ph.D. in ecology for his research on wild chimpanzees in Kibale Forest, Uganda. He has directed several overseas semesters in sustainable resource management in Kenya, Palau, Far North Queensland, the Turks & Caicos Islands, and Vancouver Island. Ghiglieri has run more than 140, 2-week, rowing and paddling trips on the Colorado River through Grand Canyon, some as an NPS ranger. He has written six other books, including Canyon, The Dark Side of Man: Tracing the Origins of Male Violence, and Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon (with Dr. Thomas M. Myers).Charles R. "Butch" Farabee. Jr. went on his first search mission in 1968. Formerly a police officer in Tucson, he became an NPS field ranger, and ultimately was in charge of Aearch and Rescue in Yosemite in 1975 and in the Grand Canyon in 1981-1986. During his career he participated in roughly 1,000 search and rescue missions, served as a medic on hundreds of other emergencies, and responded to more than 150 fatal incidents. He served as a coronor in Yosemite and became the agency's first emergency services coordinator. During his 34 years of rising through the NPS ranks, he eventually became superintendent of Glacier and Padre Islands. He has instructed search and rescue to more than 1,000 students and is the author of Death, Daring & Disaster: Search and Rescue in the National Parks and of National Park Ranger: An American Icon. A graduate of the FBI Academy, he holds an M.S., has received numerous awards, and still teaches on Park Ranger history. He would like to be known also for having raised, as a single father, two fine sons.

About this edition

• Publisher: Puma Press LLC
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0970097379
• ISBN 13: 9780970097378
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 608
• Illustrator: Jim Myers