by Andy Hall
CHAPTER 9: Split Apart
“Radio contact with Eielson”: Copy of Joe Wilcox’s journal, Grace and John Vincent Hoeman papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska–Anchorage.
“As feared, the weather turned foul”: Louis Reichardt journal from the July 1967 Western States Expedition, courtesy Louis Reichardt.
“Mountain clear from 6:30”: Wonder Lake logbook, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA26382.
a saucerlike lenticular cloud: Author telephone interview with Howard Snyder, May 2013.
“Light snow and fog all day”: Boyd N. Everett Jr., “The A-67 M. McKinley Expedition 1967,” Alaska Mountain Rescue Group archive.
since they carried no intact shovels: Snyder telephone interview, October 2012.
“Listen . . . I hear voices”: Wilcox, White Winds, 140.
“Wed. July 19. Strong winds”: Wilcox journal.
“The wind picked up”: Reichardt journal.
“Lloyd’s prognosis was favorable”: Lloyd Price was a member of the expedition. He went on to work as a ranger in Yosemite. E-mail exchange with Louis Reichardt, December 28, 2013.
“Denali visible briefly”: Wonder Lake logbook, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA26382.
“The failure to establish radio contact”: Narrative report by Joe Wilcox, Alaska Mountain Rescue Group files.
“We knew they got to the top”: Schlichter telephone interview, February 2013.
“How long should we wait” . . . “Two days”: Wilcox, White Winds, 144.
foot-deep powder: Wilcox McKinley Expedition partial expedition log, 14 July through 26 July, written by Howard Snyder in Anchorage, evening of July 29, 1967, Grace and John Vincent Hoeman papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska–Anchorage.
“With our trail obliterated”: Wilcox, White Winds, 144.
“We stood still”: Snyder, The Hall of the Mountain King, 128.
“I thought he shouldn’t have left it”: Snyder telephone interview, January 2014.
“He said I was not to leave her”: Hall, Griffen interview, June 3, 1999.
“The ranger said to me”: Ibid.
“At about noon Wilcox exp.”: Wonder Lake logbook.
By 4:30 P.M., Hansen had received his briefing: Alaska Rescue Group diary written by Gary Hansen, Howard Snyder collection.
“The same spirit of preparation”: E-mail exchange between author and Gary Hansen, January 2013.
“the ARG had been alerted” . . . “a ‘go-ahead’”: Log of Wilcox Expedition rescue by Wayne Merry, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, 1967 Wilcox Expedition, Folder 108.
“If a flight is required” . . . “Report from the mountain”: Hansen ARG diary.
stripped-down bare aluminum Cessna 180: Don Sheldon was so conscious about the weight of his aircraft when flying in the mountains that he didn’t paint many of them, saving as much as 80 pounds.
Sheldon, who reported poor weather: Hansen ARG diary.
50 miles per hour with gusts to 65: Merry, Wilcox Expedition rescue log.
“The storm, which had been battering”: Wilcox McKinley Expedition partial expedition log.
“The day was cold and clear”: Reichardt journal.
“Unfortunately, the weather did not break”: Ibid.
“Storm appears to be roaring” . . . “We build huge snow walls”: Babcock journal.
“When visibility improved”: Draft of report by Bill Babcock, undated, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, Folder 113.
“I knew there was a problem” . . . “I didn’t know what it was”: Babcock telephone interview, March 2013.
“You know . . . I think to not try the summit”: Wilcox, White Winds, 148.
“We Gotta Get Out of This Place”: Snyder telephone interview, May 2013.
“I remember thinking, It’s only a matter of time”: Schlichter telephone interview, February 2013.
having difficulty moving his hands: Snyder telephone interview, May 2013.
three sick men who couldn’t care for themselves: Snyder, The Hall of the Mountain King, 150.
“Not more than one of us would feel like going up”: Wilcox, White Winds, 154.
“We have three people”: Ibid., 151.
“They understand that they were the closest”: Wonder Lake logbook.
“It was such a surprise” . . . “A few hundred yards”: Reichardt journal.
“Climbing alone unroped”: Wilcox, White Winds, 157.
“When Lewis would fall”: Snyder, The Hall of the Mountain King, 155.
“You’ll just have to leave me”: Ibid., 159.
“We see a party of 5”: Grace Jansen Hoeman’s journal, Grace and John Vincent Hoeman papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska–Anchorage.
“They literally drank”: Babcock telephone interview, March 2013.
CHAPTER 10: An Ice Ax in the Snow
he urged Joe Wilcox to call an all-out rescue: Babcock journal.
“To me, it was blatantly obvious”: Babcock telephone interview, March 2013.
“Bill will go up in forced ascent”: Hoeman journal.
“Wilcox reached MCA”: Wonder Lake logbook, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA26382.
“Somehow, there was the idea”: Wilcox interview, March 2012.
“I got the sense that”: Author interview with Frank Nosek, Anchorage, May 2013.
was worried about the cost: Nienhueser interview, August 2012.
“There’s a full-scale rescue”: Snyder, The Hall of the Mountain King, 162.
“Merry again recommended”: Wonder Lake logbook, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA26382.
“I remember we mobilized”: Nosek interview, May 2013.
“You have to be moving faster” . . . “You simply can’t get it down”: Author interview with Chuck Sassara, Anchorage, October 2013.
“He just wanted to take off”: Babcock telephone interview, March 2013.
“Winds began to pick up”: Babcock journal.
“MCA report good flying weather”: Wonder Lake logbook.
dropping a radio and food 500 feet below: Itemized account of hours flown for reconnaissance and search, Wilcox Expedition, bill submitted to the ARG for reimbursement on September 2, 1967 by Don Sheldon’s Talkeetna Air Service, Grace and John Vincent Hoeman papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska–Anchorage.
“We awoke at 3:30 A.M.”: Reichardt journal.
“Would you like to see the storm?”: Author interview with John Papineau, Meteorologist, NOAA, National Weather Service, Anchorage, October 2011.
“They were where the wind” . . . “the worst when people were on it”: Fathauer interview, October 2012.
“Spent several hours digging”: Babcock journal.
“We were still planning to relay” . . . “I had been very happy”: Babcock telephone interview, March 2013.
“The going was extremely difficult”: Draft of report by Bill Babcock, undated, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, Folder 113.
“Never should have done it”: Babcock journal.
“We had this crazy way” . . . “Today, you can have a conversation”: Babcock telephone interview, March 2013.
Sheldon spent two hours searching: Talkeetna Air Service invoice, September 2, 1967.
“Bill exhausted”: Babcock journal.
the A-67 Expedition spotted Sheldon’s shiny Cessna: Everett, “The A-67 Mt. McKinley Expedition.”
“The snow was
hard enough” . . . “Around that . . . there was a sleeping bag”: John Ireton, interview by the National Park Service, tape recording, July 1967, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, NPS 7187, transcribed by author.
“We hollered”: Babcock telephone interview, March 2013.
“a ghastly sight”: Babcock journal.
“He was blown over”: Ireton NPS interview.
“I was twenty-six”: Nienhueser interview, August 2012.
the cold begins to penetrate the skin: J. L. Harrison and K. D. Davis, “Cold-Evoked Pain Varies with Skin Type and Cooling Rate: A Psychophysical Study in Humans,” Pain 83, no. 2 (November 1999): 123–35; A. Kreh, F. Anton, H. Gilly, and H. O. Handwerker, “Vascular Reactions Correlated with Pain Due to Cold,” Experimental Neurology 85, no. 3 (September 1984): 533–46.
renders brain enzymes less efficient: Peter Stark, Last Breath: Cautionary Tales from the Limits of Human Endurance (New York: Ballantine Books, 2001), 11–25.
blood surges into the nearly frozen flesh: “The Word: Paradoxical Undressing,” New Scientist 194, no. 2,600 (April 21, 2007): 50.
“It was a nightmarish thing”: Babcock telephone interview, March 2013.
“We give negative”: Babcock journal.
“Not likely” . . . “Can this be accomplished commercially”: Hansen ARG diary.
“It’s not the kind of rig”: Author interview with Dave Johnston, Talkeetna, AK, November 2012.
“Well, the plane flew over”: Babcock telephone interview, March 2013.
“By three fifteen we also reach the summit”: Babcock journal.
this time in his Super Cub: Talkeetna Air Service invoice, September 2, 1967.
The plane circled the slope . . . they wait and discuss it with Babcock: Description of flight pattern and note from interview with Chet Hackney, reel-to-reel tape, George Hall Collection, transcribed by author.
“I really tried very hard”: Babcock telephone interview, March 2013.
orange wind pants, and green overboots: Ireton NPS interview.
“The body was in a sitting position”: Hackney e-mail interview, September 2013.
“He again was in a position” . . . “We looked into the cans”: Ireton NPS interview.
“Mysterious clouds spill over”: Babcock journal.
“If we had dillydallied a half an hour”: Babcock telephone interview, March 2013.
“I didn’t have enough knowledge”: Wilcox interview, March 2012.
“Let’s go. They’ve found two more bodies” . . . it took a half an hour to dig their way out: Wilcox, White Winds, 158.
leaving the body where it sat: Babcock telephone interview, March 2013; Ireton NPS interview.
“Would you fellows consider”: Babcock journal.
“I think I yelled at Gayle”: Babcock telephone interview, March 2013.
“We had no feeling toward him”: Babcock journal.
“24 July: The Colorado Party” . . . “Grace says not true . . . VH”: Wilcox McKinley Expedition partial expedition log, 14 July through 26 July, written by Howard Snyder in Anchorage, evening of July 29, 1967, handwritten note added by Vin Hoeman, Grace and John Vincent Hoeman papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska–Anchorage.
“We weren’t there” . . . “with no divided channels”: Snyder telephone interview, January 2014.
“My question was, are they alive”: George Hall, interviewed by Karen Brewster, April 16, 1999, Anchorage, H98-39-12, Part 1 Project Juke Box, University of Alaska Fairbanks oral history program, http://jukebox.uaf.edu/Sitka/program/htm/GeHa.htm [accessed January 5, 2014].
CHAPTER 11: Whose Son?
“Luchterhand’s nineteen-year-old sister, Erika”: Letter from Pat Luchterhand to Vin Hoeman, October 6, 1967, Grace and John Vincent Hoeman papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska–Anchorage.
“Further information came”: Letter from Elmer Luchterhand to Vin Hoeman, June 17, 1968, Grace and John Vincent Hoeman, papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska–Anchorage.
“and that he had contacted Senator Edward Kennedy” . . . “Capt. Gordon has talked”: Hansen ARG diary.
“the generally slight prospects”: E. Luchterhand to Hoeman, June 17, 1968.
Steve Taylor’s parents: Author interview with Wally Cole, park hotel manager in 1967, Deneki Lakes, AK, March 2013.
“could be of any assistance” . . . return to the upper mountain to continue searching: Hansen ARG diary.
“Send the Air Force” . . . “Whose son should I send?”: Author interview with George Hall, Anchorage, August 1999.
Against the wishes of the regional director: Hall, Griffen interview, June 3, 1999.
“to find and bury” . . . “Little was added”: Notes on the Humanitarian Climb, written by Vin Hoeman, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, 1967 Wilcox Expedition, Folder 109.
“Dear Vin and Grace”: Letter from Perry Taylor to Vin Hoeman, June 20, 1968, Grace and John Vincent Hoeman papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska–Anchorage.
“I know that considerable effort”: Letter from S .P. McLaughlin to George Hall, September 6, 1967, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, 1967 Wilcox Expedition, Folder 108.
“naïve but unlimited determination”: E. Luchterhand to Hoeman, June 17, 1968.
“Radio communication is a great thing”: Letter from Vin Hoeman to Elmer Luchterhand, June 20, 1968, Grace and John Vincent Hoeman papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska–Anchorage.
moved too quickly for observers to effectively search: Johnston interview, November 2012.
“On the 17th and 18th”: Wilcox to Vin Hoeman, October 25, 1967.
“The six climbers made the push”: Babcock journal.
“It would appear to me”: Letter from Brad Washburn to Perry Taylor, September 22, 1967, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, 1967 Wilcox Expedition, Folder 108.
“you have to dig a snow cave”: Hoeman to E. Luchterhand, June 20, 1968.
frozen and matted hair: Author interview with Gayle Nienhueser, Anchorage, May 2013.
hold his tent upright in the “blowhole”: Babcock journal.
“As soon as there is any kind of infarction”: Smith interview, December 2012.
Snyder put forth a similar scenario: Author telephone interview with Howard Snyder, April 2013.
If so, he said, decomposition would: Author interview with Dave McMahan, Alaska state archaeologist, retired, Anchorage, May 2013.
“The big difference”: Okonek interview, October 2013.
CHAPTER 12: What Changed
the National Park Service convened a “critique” meeting: Letter from George Hall to parents of the Wilcox victims, September 21, 1967, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, Folder 109.
group strength is not measurable . . . “not always as described”: Handwritten notes from critique meeting, undated, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, Folder 109.
“Whether we could do anything”: Merry interview, March 2012.
“This I don’t know”: Ibid.
“Radio system funding and Climbing personnel”: Notes from critique meeting, undated, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, Folder 109.
“The critique meeting”: Hall to parents of the Wilcox victims, September 21, 1967.
He routinely flew when he was needed: Nosek interview, May 2013.
“I explored all I could”: Hall, Griffen interview, June 3, 1999.
“I wear that one” . . .
“At first I felt guilty”: Wilcox interview, March 2012.
“I never got the impression”: Sfraga interview, December 2012.
“Joe is a real convenient target” . . . “Paul and I have talked about it”: Snyder telephone interview, May 2013.
“It’s funny, we had some friends”: Schlichter telephone interview, February 2013.
“He suffered physically”: Snyder telephone interview, April 2013.
He maintained a card catalog: Author interview with Jed Williamson, editor of Accidents in North American Mountaineering, published by the American Alpine Club. Hoeman’s card catalog is part of the Grace and John Vincent Hoeman papers in the Archives and Special Collections at the University of Alaska–Anchorage Consortium Library.
five of America’s finest mountaineers and two Sherpas: Author telephone interview with Bob Gerhard, April 2013.
she met the same fate as her husband: Author telephone interview with Gary Hansen, February 2012.
Mount Everest, where his body remains: Ray Genet death certificate, George Hall collection.
“My office is on the second floor” . . . “We wanted to thank him”: Nosek interview, April 2013.
end climbing in Mount McKinley National Park . . . “He wouldn’t put it in writing”: George Hall, Griffen interview, June 3, 1999.
“We wanted to show our opposition” . . . “The appreciation for your dad”: Nosek interview, April 2013.
CHAPTER 13: Thirty Years After
“The lows usually come” . . . “If it had lasted a few more hours”: Smith interview, December 2012.
“Too many rescuers are killed”: Author interview with Daryl Miller, Anchorage, November 2012.
“I never even considered calling” . . . “I called down to fourteen”: Smith interview, December 2012.
“The winds were only half”: Author interview with James Nelson, science and operations officer, NOAA, National Weather Service, Anchorage, March 2013.
EPILOGUE: Memory in a Lifetime
Merry had no recollection of the encounter: Merry interview, March 2012.
neither did Bob Hafferman: Author telephone interview with Bob Hafferman, Kalispell, Montana, November 2012.
