Escape from Lucania: An Epic Story of Survival

This book is more about the long trek out from Lucania than the climb. In the same genre as "Into Thin Air" and "Touching the Void", it paints very vivid pictures of the hassles of first getting to the mountain, then getting away from it. Its a quick, enjoyable read. The writing is not as crisp as Jon Krakauer's but its descriptive and credible. The ending is a little rushed, compared with the beginnng. The maps and diagrams could have been better, but they gave a fair idea of the route taken. It made me read Washburn's original stories from his youth, climbing in the Alps which the Appalachian Mountain club has reprinted and were originally published by Putnam.

For anyone who is an armchair adventurist (like me), this is a fun read. Roberts creates a smooth story and actually downplays what were really dangerous acts. The highlight of the book for me was the picture of Bob and Brad on the back cover and in a picture inside. Here are two people who are completely immersed in life. They have just summited Lucania and they know they have 80+ miles of hard hiking in any direction with a limited amount of food. Their smiles warm us through miles of mountain air and decades of time. Ahhh, to be 20 again with the world under your feet.

This is just a story of two friends. It is not complex but it is a very fun read. It is not written as a catharsis, like into thin air was, it's basically the coolest story your grandpa ever told you.

Perhaps in the dual wakes of the Shackleton phenomenon and the tragic events on Mount Everest in 1996, books in the survival/mountaineering genre have seen renewed popularity. With the entry of "Escape From Lucania", a little-known - yet epic - story of survival immediately shows it will be one of the top books of the genre.Author David Roberts provides a written account - taken from extensive interviews - of two men and their quest to climb one of the highest North American peaks in what was then quite literally an unknown wilderness. Mount Lucania had been attempted only once prior to this expedition, but its summit remained out of reach. These two friends, both members of the Harvard Mountaineering Club, took on the risk of attaining Lucania's summit. The climb, it turned out, was perhaps the most uneventful of the entire expedition. Mr. Roberts somehow manages to pack a great deal of background information and detailing of the events into about 200 pages. This was remarkable, considering this could have been the type of story to fill several hundred more pages. He introduces the reader to the collection of characters: the two men who survived this trek, the two who were slated to climb with them but didn't due to problems at the base camp landing site, and the gruff bush pilot who flew the two men and their gear into the wilderness. Mr. Roberts then dives into a recount of the harrowing attempts to get the bush plane freed from the glacial morass and airborne, the decision to travel as light as possible, the successful summit push, and then the amazing 100+ mile journey out to the nearest civilization.In the course of this story, I found that the actual climb and descent from Lucania seemed to be the least difficult of their entire trip. That in itself is stunning, since they traveled with very little in the way of cold-weather - much less climbing - gear. I was left amazed that the bush pilot was able to take off from the glacier and return to Valdez, and was equally amazed at their decision to "escape" over such a long route that wound up being a treacherous trek with limited food and included fording of swollen rivers.In terms of the modern mountaineering book, the natural comparison would be to works such as Jon Krakauer's "Into Thin Air". "Escape From Lucania" doesn't match up well with Mr. Krakauer's, mostly because of the stunningly tragic circumstances surrounding that story. But "Escape From Lucania" is unique in that the people conquered uncharted territories and lived to tell about it. This book is also well-served by the fact that in subject terms - in this case, Mount Lucania - it is virtually unheard of in most popular circles. Most readers think immediately of the Himalayas and Alps when it comes to extraordinary mountaineering feats. Mr. Roberts manages to remind us that there are, and have been, similar legends made in our own backyard. At times, Mr. Roberts seems to be trying to write for a more intellectually

In the current age of high tech gear, millionaire adventurers, and an every-man-for-himself attitude, it's easy to forget that there was, not so very long ago, an era when relatively modest people of the highest character took on first ascents with little more than wool sweaters on their backs. Escape From Lucania is not only a window into this era, but also a look at the men themselves, men of decency, honor, ambition, character, honesty, immense skill, intelligence, and an "aw, shucks" attitude. These are men who would abandon their own ambitions on a moment's notice to save a friend. These are men I would want to have with me when the going gets tough. And the going does get tough in this book.