Tears in the Wind: Triumph and Tragedy on America’s Highest Peak

Semento, a circuit judge in central Florida, turns his attention to mountaineering in this rugged account of scaling Denali, the highest peak of North America, which for him is a diversion from the courtroom. Semento first explains the joy of hiking up trails in the Great Smoky Mountains. He geared up as a member of a three-man team to challenge Mt. Rainier in 1994, which he labeled “the most physically demanding and rewarding endeavor until that time.” The heart of the book is his climbing of Denali (formerly known as Mt. McKinley) in Alaska in 1998; in straightforward prose, he describes training for frigid conditions, enduring strenuous physical workouts, securing the right gear and crew, and undertaking the perilous expedition itself, with dangerous crevasses, whiteouts, and avalanches. While acknowledging the tragedy of one death in their party on the Denali adventure, Semento celebrates the physical courage and emotional significance of the climb in his life and the lives of his crew, mirroring the major turning points in his legal career. [em](BookLife) [/em]