Off The Wall: Death in Yosemite

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

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, picnickers, 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 a very famous, and infamous, saga of death in 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 comprehensive look at how and where things start going wrong. Its lssons comprise a great leap forward in the quest to prevent future fatal episodes.