From the Publisher
"An exquisitely told, harrowing true tale interwoven with a rich history of climbing and a thoughtful look at the risks and rewards of adrenaline-filled escapades." — People
“Wejchert’s storytelling…is precise and gripping…I read the book cover to cover in just a few hours…Hidden Mountains is about what happens during and after a rescue. It’s about living through a nightmare scenario—and then living with yourself after...Certain authors are poised to write of certain events, and Michael Wejchert found his with Hidden Mountains…Compelling.” — Climbing
"An accomplished rock and ice climber with extensive experience in exploratory mountaineering, Mr. Wejchert proves to be an able guide...[relating] the gripping, heroic details...[and] the book's heart-wrenching dénouement." — Wall Street Journal
“A gripping account of a disastrous climbing trip gone wrong and the harrowing rescue attempt that followed…Narrated with an intensity that grabs readers from the start…Moving…A hard-to-put-down tale of tenacity, bravery, and friendship in the face of staggering odds.” — Kirkus
"A compelling, page-turning story." — Library Journal
“With prose so radiant and immediate it seems almost translucent, Michael Wejchert brings readers deep into the hidden places of the wildest mountains and the human heart.” — Katie Ives, author of Imaginary Peaks: The Riesenstein Hoax and Other Mountain Dreams
“Climbing can be an addiction, its pursuit as dangerous as any drug and with similar consequences: broken lives from broken bodies and the sadness survivors suffer from the early death of loved ones. Filled with empathy and understanding, Hidden Mountains is the best account of modern mountaineering’s risk I’ve read.” — Roman Dial, author of The Adventurer’s Son
“Hidden Mountains is essential reading for anyone interested in climbing or the outdoors. A deftly-written, cautionary tale, Michael Wejchert brings the climbing experience to life, revealing its history and culture to help us understand how every decision must be made with great discipline.” — Norman Ollestad, author of Crazy for the Storm
"With unvarnished prose and deep humanity, Hidden Mountains tells a different kind of adventure story, one that’s been all too often overlooked by real-life risk-takers and armchair mountaineers alike. It’s both a gripping rescue tale and an original mediation on the ultimate price of following your passion.” — Freddie Wilkinson, filmmaker and author of One Mountain Thousand Summits
“Hidden Mountains is a masterfully layered and deeply moving book that takes us to the heart of human adventure – and to the devastating sorrow that sits alongside the beauty of risk. Haunting, inspiring, and unforgettable.” — Kelly Cordes, author of The Tower
“Compelling…exactly the person to tell [this story]….He does so with expertise and with heart.” — Hippo
"A masterpiece of adventure writing, solidly grounded in both factual details and empathetic understandings of human motivations." — Anchorage Daily News
Library Journal
01/13/2023
Climbing guide Wejchert (chair, Mountain Rescue Service) chronicles a climbing expedition by four friends to Alaska's Hidden Mountains. This range southwest of Anchorage is very remote and contains lots of unnamed and unclimbed peaks. The climbers' skills and experience were up to this challenge, but when a fall renders Emmett (one of the climbers) unresponsive, a rescue is requested. A search and rescue (SAR) team is mobilized, and a perilous airlift rescues the injured climber, flying him to Anchorage for medical treatment. Advances in technology now allow remote climbing parties to signal for help, which is great, but it puts a strain on a woefully inadequate and patchwork network of SAR operations and endangers those (mostly volunteers) who try to help. Wejchert weaves interviews with SAR experts with his own stories and others' tales of climbing experiences to remote locations, where a rescue may become impossible. VERDICT Wejchert's personal relationship with the climbers, especially Emmett, make for a compelling, page-turning story. This title is recommended for fans of adventure stories.—Margaret Atwater-Singer
Kirkus Reviews
2022-10-12
A gripping account of a disastrous climbing trip gone wrong and the harrowing rescue attempt that followed.
In June 2018, two couples decided to go on the most ambitious climbing adventure of their lives, traveling to “the far western end of the Alaska Range” to tackle the Hidden Mountains, which Wejchert describes as “thin needles of rock capping a wild landscape.” All of the adventurers were experienced technical climbers and alpinists, spending years summiting intense peaks, engaging in some of the most challenging climbs in the world. What made this trip different was that for the first time, they would head into unknown territory and attempt to claim a first ascent in the Hidden Mountains, “a phalanx of peaks so remote they had no names or history.” The Hidden Mountains take days, even weeks, to reach via charter planes and laborious hiking, through snowstorms and clouds of mosquitoes. The climbers’ difficulties began early on: Bushwhacking through unforgiving alder trees while grizzly bears looked on, they realized the peak they had originally planned on attempting—the one they spent months meticulously researching and planning for—was too far away. Because they were weighed down with hundreds of pounds of gear, every mile took them three trips to carry the packs in manageable loads. They would have to climb a closer, unknown peak—a choice that would come to haunt them. Narrated with an intensity that grabs readers from the start, the ascent began with courageously difficult climbing and a sense of adventure. The true bravery, however, came in the aftermath of the tragic accident that forever changed their lives. The determination, strength, and courage of the four climbers and the rescue team are impressive, and the narrative is moving in its portrayal of “bits of humanity enveloped in wilderness and quiet.”
A hard-to-put-down tale of tenacity, bravery, and friendship in the face of staggering odds.
