Second Ascent: The Story of Hugh Herr

By the time he was 17, rock-climber Herr had soloed on Bugaboo in western Canada and set a new record in Yosemite. In January, 1982, he and a friend set out to climb Mt. Washington. Lost for three days in a vicious storm, they were severely frostbitten when discovered by a search-and-rescue team, one of whose volunteers was killed in the effort by an avalanche. Herr's lower legs were amputated; his companion lost a foot and fingers on one hand. In her inspiring account, Osius, editor of Climbing magazine, follows Herr, now a graduate engineering student at MIT, through agonies of guilt and depression to rehabilitation and reentry into the world of climbing. Photos. (Aug.)