| Off the Wall: Death in Yosemite |  | Authors: Michael P. Ghiglieri, Charles R. Farabee
Creator: Jim Myers
Publisher: Puma Press LLC
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $16.47
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Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 57334
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 608
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 1.5
ISBN: 0970097360
Dewey Decimal Number: 363.1420979447
EAN: 9780970097361
ASIN: 0970097360
Publication Date: March 28, 2007
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Product Description
Gripping accounts of all known fatal mishaps in America's first protected land of scenic wonders.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 Excellent June 19, 2008
This was a book I just couldn't put down. It was absolutely awesome. From bad luck to dumb luck to out and out vicious deaths, the stories of deaths in the park were facinating. It's definately a must read and ranks in the top 5 of any book I've ever read.
 Off the Wall: Death in Yosemite May 22, 2008
This book is not nearly as well written as is its sister book Over the Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon. After reading the latter I was looking forward to a similar bit of prose in Yosemite. Yosemite has its moments but there is a bit too much detail on the work of the rangers (authors). Had the book been a 100 or more pages less it might have rivaled the Grand Canyon book. My guess is that Yosemite would have been much better had there been some quality editing.
National Park attracts idiots! November 24, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Off The Wall: Death in Yosemite is a book that chronicles the history of deaths in Yosemite park in California. From hikers to swimmers to base jumpers there is no shortage of people who will do very dangerous and idiotic things in a national park. The tale is told by two park rangers, Michael Ghiglieri and Charles Farabee who, in addition to performing their normal duties, also are involved in search and rescue for climbers and hikers who have met with injury or even death. Most of these hikers and tourists are either unprepared, overzealous, or just downright stupid. Not to mention those who are blatantly suicidal. The rangers are even deputized as such to be coroners for the counties in which they work.
The book is extremely detailed and well written. The stories range from comical to ironic to sad and eventually to gruesome and diabolical. There is no shortage of ways to die in Yosemite: wading in rivers with dangerous flows just above fatal waterfalls seems to be the most idiotic. There are: car accidents, failed parachutes of base jumpers, wall climbers who fall, lost hikers, ice climbers, goring animals, bears, mules, suicides and homicides. The book spells them all out.
There is even the tale of a lost hiker on whom hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars was spent in a hopeless search and rescue only to discover the person had merely hiked a few yards out of sight of his wife, turned around and was found years later alive and well and living in Maine. He had faked his disappearance to leave his wife!
You will enjoy this book. It's easy to put down and pick right up agin from where you left off as the body count mounts.
Fasinating November 4, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I had a hard time putting the book down. Even though it is mostly about death, it is an important read so that we can all learn from the mistakes from others. There is also a lot of history about Yosemite that I very much appreciated.
 Needs some editing. October 18, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a valuable compendium of information on various fatalities occurring in one of our most treasured and popular national parks, but the reader's eyes may glaze over from the author's urge to tell too many of these stories. Many of the fatal accidents described were witnessed by Farabee, who has had a distinguished career as a Yosemite Search and Rescue leader. I have backpacked the Southern Sierras, including Yosemite, for many years and realized,after reading the book, that I have occasionally committed some of the errors and stupid mistakes that have led others to their deaths. So I think the book is very valuable and commend the authors for writing it. But a shorter, honed version would make it more accessible to even casual day-hikers. Some of the historical notes are a bonus (particularly the violence to the indigenous native people that ensued when Yosemite Valley was discovered by whites).
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