In Search of the Mount Cleveland Five

Book excerpt: Two days after Christmas in 1969, five young, forward thinking mountaineers set out to climb Mount Cleveland, the highest peak in Glacier National Park. Their interest was the previously unclimbed north face, a project that had been in the works for several years. The Mount Cleveland Five arranged boat transportation from the Canadian end of Waterton Lake to the American end, just ahead of ice-over to begin their journey. They were never seen alive again. The Mount Cleveland tragedy will remain one of the most enigmatic mountaineering accidents in the United States. It was not unlike the disappearance of the Edmund Fitzgerald into the stormy waters of Lake Superior five years later. In both cases, no one returned to tell what happened. In this tale, the author fast-tracks himself into mountaineering at age 15. His quest is to vindicate the Mount Cleveland Five by climbing the north face with the brother of one of the missing. In Search of the Cleveland Five is a true story about the coming-of-age, racing through 22 years of climbing endeavors with colorful Montana climbers and their close calls, antics and tears. The grief and inspiration of the Mount Cleveland avalanche never leaves the rear view mirror. The story ends on a peak in the Alaska Range as the author attempts a new route with the son of his longtime climbing partner. The slope they are ascending threatens to avalanche- and history is on the verge of repeating itself. "Let's get the hell outta here!" -- book jacket.