Dare to Survive: Death, Heartbreak, and Triumph in the Wild

Състояние: Много добро
Забележка: Внимателно използвана книга, здраво и чисто книжно тяло, леко захабен външен вид.
Издателство: Citadel Press
Град на издаване: New York
Наличност: singular
Ширина (мм): 150
Височина (мм): 225
Дебелина (мм): 20
Корици: Меки

With its towering mountains, sun-scorched deserts, fierce wildlife, and hard-to-predict weather, the American West ranks among the most forbidding places on Earth. Yet many are drawn to the beauty of this wild and rugged region. Some are daredevils... some are athletes... and some are outdoors enthusiasts who find themselves in a chilling battle for survival. In their extraordinary, heart-stopping true stories, you will discover how much can go wrong when people find themselves caught in the cross-hairs of nature's power...

DARE TO SURVIVE

Flash floods, plane crashes, animal attacks, avalanches, landslides-these devastating phenomena all too often claim the lives of men, women, and children In the American West. But some beat the odds, living to tell about their terrifying ordeals. There are inspirational stories of extreme survival and tremendous bravery. Of the hiker who-though armed with only a knife-survived a 30-minute nightmare with a cougar... of the backcountry snowboarder buried alive by an avalanche, saved with only minutes to spare... of the outdoorsman pinned by an 800-pound boulder, who freed himself by amputating his own arm. And there are the unexplainable, senseless tragedies-the little girl whose mysterious disappearance at a national park was never solved... the inexperienced charter pilot who crashed trying to beat curfew in a snowstorm... and the veteran backwoods camper who, despite every precaution, fell victim to a fatal bear attack.

What does it take to endure the impossible? Dare to Survive tackles that question as it vividly reminds us that when danger strikes, survival becomes the ultimate human challenge.

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Contents

Foreword ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1

I. THEIRS Is THE KINGDOM: ANIMAL ATTACKS 7

Cute, Endearing, and Occasionally Deadly: The Black Bear 12
The American King of Beasts: The Grizzly Bear 17
Rampant Lion: The Cougar 25
Canidae 33
Antlers, Hooves, and Bad Tempers 43

II. MISSING 51

Laura 55
The Iceman 60
Missing: Deliberately 65

III. SNOWBOUND 79

A Yellowstone Avalanche 86
Killed in Their Sleep 89
A Warm-Weather Avalanche 91
A Close Call 94
An "Urban" Avalanche and Its Wild Victims 95
Buried Alive 96
Snowdog 105

IV. LOST HORIZON: AIR ACCIDENTS 107

Fallen Angel: The Last Flight of Jessica Dubroff 112
The Bermuda Triangle of the Rockies? 118
Firefall: Heroes in the Sky 127

V. TROUBLED WATERS 137

Clear, Still—but Still Dangerous: Open Water
(Freshwater) Accidents 141
Whitewater Wildernesses: Paddling Accidents 148
The Weather Underground 156
In Hot Water 159

VI. BIBLICAL RAINS 165

Gone in a Flash 168
Flash Floods in the Lone Star State 174
Stuck Behind the Wheel—Tragically 186
And Yet They Rebuild ... 189
Earth Movers 193

VII: THE SKY ABOVE, THE EARTH BELOW: MORE SEVERE WEATHER, CHANGING CLIMATE, AND THE FUTURE OE WESTERN WILDLANDS 199

Serious Heat 205
Fire in the Sky 213
Mighty Winds 218
Winds of Change? 226

VIII: WILD STILL: TWO WEEKS IN SEPTEMBER 235

Sources 243