Welcome to Shelf Control — an original feature created and hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies.

Shelf Control is a weekly celebration of the unread books on our shelves. Pick a book you own but haven’t read, write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up! For more info on what Shelf Control is all about, check out my introductory post, here.

Want to join in? Shelf Control posts go up every Wednesday. See the guidelines at the bottom of the post, and jump on board!

Title: Denali’s Howl: The Deadliest Climbing Disaster on America’s Wildest Peak
Author: Andy Hall
Published: 2014
Length: 272 pages

What it’s about (synopsis via Goodreads):

Denali’s Howl is the white-knuckle account of one of the most deadly climbing disasters of all time.

In 1967, twelve young men attempted to climb Alaska’s Mount McKinley—known to the locals as Denali—one of the most popular and deadly mountaineering destinations in the world. Only five survived.

Journalist Andy Hall, son of the park superintendent at the time, investigates the tragedy. He spent years tracking down survivors, lost documents, and recordings of radio communications. In Denali’s Howl, Hall reveals the full story of an expedition facing conditions conclusively established here for the first time: At an elevation of nearly 20,000 feet, these young men endured an “arctic super blizzard,” with howling winds of up to 300 miles an hour and wind chill that freezes flesh solid in minutes. All this without the high-tech gear and equipment climbers use today.

As well as the story of the men caught inside the storm, Denali’s Howl is the story of those caught outside it trying to save them—Hall’s father among them. The book gives readers a detailed look at the culture of climbing then and now and raises uncomfortable questions about each player in this tragedy. Was enough done to rescue the climbers, or were their fates sealed when they ascended into the path of this unprecedented storm?

How and when I got it:

I stumbled across this book when it first came out, but didn’t actually pick up a copy until last year when I found it at a used book store.

Why I want to read it:

I love reading about Alaska, and I love true adventure stories, so this book checks a lot of boxes for me. I loved Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, so I’m curious to see if this reading experience is at all similar. A couple of summers ago, on a trip to Alaska with my daughter, we flew in a small plane around Denali, and we could spot — way, way down below — a group of hikers on the way to start their climb. Seeing these teeny, tiny people at the foot of this huge mountain was an incredible moment, and I couldn’t even imagine what it must take to make the attempt.

This is my 2nd non-fiction Shelf Control book in a row! I don’t tend to read a lot of non-fiction, but I have quite a few non-fiction books on my shelves, so it’s probably time to branch out a bit with my reading.

What do you think? Would you read this book?

Please share your thoughts!

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• Write a blog post about a book that you own that you haven’t read yet.
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