Forever on the Mountain

In 1967, seven young men, members of a twelve-man expedition led by twenty-four-year-old Joe Wilcox, were stranded at 20,000 feet on Alaska’s Mount McKinley in a vicious Arctic storm. Ten days passed while the storm raged, yet no rescue was mounted. All seven perished in what remains the most tragic expedition in American climbing history. Revisiting the event in the tradition of Norman Maclean’s Young Men and Fire, James M. Tabor uncovers elements of controversy, finger-pointing, and cover-up that make this disaster unlike any other.

"A shrewd and penetrating investigation of one of climbing’s greatest tragedies, Forever on the Mountain grapples with the most fundamental questions of risk and responsibility.", "Just as good as Into Thin Air…A spell binder.", "Some welcome perspective on an enduringly painful episode of mountaineering history…Tabor analyzes this debacle with the doggedness of an investigative reporter and the technical knowledge of an experienced climber.", "A powerful case study in how quickly cracks in a team’s solidarity can lead to disaster.", "As he negotiates his way through egotism, sabotage, freak weather, and staggering courage, Tabor maintains a cool head and, even more importantly in this case, an open heart. This is a maddening, terrifying book, and also a deeply compassionate one."

James M. Tabor, a former contributing editor to Outside, attempted Mount McKinley and summitted Mount Sanford. He hosted the PBS series The Great Outdoors and cocreated the History Channel series Journey to the Center of the World. He lives in Waitsfield, Vermont.