Coming Home from Devil Mountain

By Eleanor Dart O'Bryon

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0943173205
• ISBN13: 9780943173207
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Harbinger House
• Length: 97 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Interesting non-fiction description of near catstrophy by one of the participants

Not nearly as well written as "Into Thin Air" but still an interesting story. This book was written many years ago and quite a few years after the incident. Two Hikers (a couple) try to summit the highest peak in Baja Mexico (Picacho del Diablo). The story depicts their epic story as well as the resulting rescue search. As is often the case when things go very wrong it was a collection of mistakes that resulted in this mis-adventure. Spoiler warning: Picacho del Diablo is a significant peak not to be taken lightly. Yet one of the two hikers did not participate in any of the planning; she was basically just accompanying her boyfriend. She had bought some new boots just before the hike. They hitch-hiked towards the base of the mountain but the vehicle they got a ride on was having mechanical issues (remember this is in Baja Mexico). They therefore decided to walk to the base of the mountain. Her feet had some blisters before they were to start on the actual hike. They then proceeded up the wrong route. This would have been less likely to have happened if both particiapants had participated in the preparation. They realized that they were on the incorrect route, but they continued (I have made this same decision on various hikes, but most the time it has been the wrong decision). In this case the route they were on required climbing skills. Both hikers were accomplished mountaineers, but they had not planned on anything this extreme. Both hikers managed to make it to the summit on this poor route, but it took so much out of the female that she decided she could not proceed all the way down so they separate. He soon takes a fall. Fortunately not only is it not a fatal fall, but it has a small water source). Meanwhile she is waiting for assistance that is to be fetched by her boyfriend. While waiting she eats moss and attempts to eat her mocassin. In California her father recognizes that the hikers are late to return and a rescue effort is started. It takes a while to get a rescue effort organized in a foreign land. Furthermore, there are not many people familiar with the mountain. Once the rescue effort gets started it is quickly determined that the hikers went up the incorrect route. It is the opinion of the rescuers that they could not have reached the top of the mountain with the gear they had so the rescue effort is concentrated on the lower parts of the mountain. After quite a while someone finally makes it to the top of the summit to check the summit registry and find out that the couple made it to the summit. They then switch their search effort to the top of the mountain. Unfortunately the female has realized that something must have gone wrong with her boyfriend's effort and she has started down the mountain. On her way down the mountain she thinks she hears him. So when she was high on the mountain the search team was searching the lower regions and as she transitioned to the lower regions the search effort w