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The Making of a Rescuer: The Inspiring Life of Otto T. Trott, Md, Rescue Doctor and Mountaineer
This is a book about the making of a hero - a rescuer. There are few of us that can claim to be bigger-than-life heroes, but surely the story of Dr. Otto Trotts life is the story of one of these. Because of his existence many lives have been saved or improved, human suffering has been reduced, and the world is a better place. What greater statement can be made about a person?
A hiker sees the beautiful blue of a mountain gentian just off the trail and stops to capture the image through a snapshot, but in seeking a slightly wider angle steps back -- in a flash the hiker lies injured amid the rocks. A snowboarder searches for untouched powder snow, but finds a cliff instead. A small plane has engine trouble and glides steeply toward a mountain meadow. An early snowstorm catches two climbers exposed in the high alpine. An avalanche buries a foolish snowmobiler trying to make the highest mark on the side of snow-covered slope. An older gentleman has a heart attack far from his city hospital.
Its quite possible and even probable that what all of the above have in common is Dr. Otto Trott. He co-founded the search and rescue organization that seeks out the injured and carries them down from the mountains, he pioneered the medical treatments that will be used for hypothermia and frostbite, he introduced advanced European methods of climbing as well as the identification of avalanche danger areas and the systematic search for and rescue of accident victims. Most importantly, Otto taught generations of others to follow in his footsteps.
As Lou Whittaker, the renowned mountain guide states, This book is a must for anyone who seeks the mountains and their reward. Dee Molenaar the acclaimed mountaineer, artist and writer, says that this treatise is long overdue, while the legendary high altitude premier climber Jim Wickwire writes that Nicholas Corff has brought to life the fascinating story of Otto Trott There is no question that Dr. Otto Trott was one of those few men who was a legend in his own time, but he always remained a man of great empathy as well as skill who sought to relieve suffering, improve the safety of the outdoors and protect the mountain environment he so loved.
In his long and adventuresome life he overcame great loss with courage and perseverance, and ultimately was the recipient of many awards including the Jefferson Award. Along with the text there are over 250 full page photos and illustrations.
A hiker sees the beautiful blue of a mountain gentian just off the trail and stops to capture the image through a snapshot, but in seeking a slightly wider angle steps back -- in a flash the hiker lies injured amid the rocks. A snowboarder searches for untouched powder snow, but finds a cliff instead. A small plane has engine trouble and glides steeply toward a mountain meadow. An early snowstorm catches two climbers exposed in the high alpine. An avalanche buries a foolish snowmobiler trying to make the highest mark on the side of snow-covered slope. An older gentleman has a heart attack far from his city hospital.
Its quite possible and even probable that what all of the above have in common is Dr. Otto Trott. He co-founded the search and rescue organization that seeks out the injured and carries them down from the mountains, he pioneered the medical treatments that will be used for hypothermia and frostbite, he introduced advanced European methods of climbing as well as the identification of avalanche danger areas and the systematic search for and rescue of accident victims. Most importantly, Otto taught generations of others to follow in his footsteps.
As Lou Whittaker, the renowned mountain guide states, This book is a must for anyone who seeks the mountains and their reward. Dee Molenaar the acclaimed mountaineer, artist and writer, says that this treatise is long overdue, while the legendary high altitude premier climber Jim Wickwire writes that Nicholas Corff has brought to life the fascinating story of Otto Trott There is no question that Dr. Otto Trott was one of those few men who was a legend in his own time, but he always remained a man of great empathy as well as skill who sought to relieve suffering, improve the safety of the outdoors and protect the mountain environment he so loved.
In his long and adventuresome life he overcame great loss with courage and perseverance, and ultimately was the recipient of many awards including the Jefferson Award. Along with the text there are over 250 full page photos and illustrations.
541 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 8, 2008
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September 4, 2017
This book was not on my list of books to read, but once again I got pulled off to a book that suddenly overwhelmed everything I am already so excited about reading. The main thing that interested me is that I know one of the daughters of the subject of this book. She had mentioned once that her father had been a doctor and been instrumental in some of the early ski rescue work in Washington State. I was mildly interested and during some spare time, I Googled her father and found this book written by her father and brother-in-law, so I requested it through the library. What was actually in the book was much more than I had expected.
Otto Trott was a man with energy and capability that I can’t begin to imagine. He was a medical doctor with all the responsibility that entails, plus the responsibility of treating injured people as a ski patroller and mountain rescuer, which would have added hazards, he was a very skilled technical climber and skier, he provided medical treatment for rescued animals, he started anti-smoking programs in Seattle, spent time with his family, and liked to joke.
Some people write books about the difficulties of medical school, and while medical school must be more difficult now than in the 1920s and 30s, medical school is barely mentioned in the book. Instead this time of his life tells about the “Academic Club for the Agreeable Way of Living”, which had parties with singing, drinking, accordion music, and campfires. But the members skied and climbed extensively in the mountains. They leased a cabin high in the Black Forest in which they stayed every weekend in 1934 and 1935.
In this book, Otto Trott tells how he became skilled at skiing and became a ski instructor and mountain guide and about the climbs he and his friends made. There are several very frightening and dangerous situations that he was lucky to survive. These chapters are written so well you can almost see and feel what happened. Otto Trott and his friends traveled to many areas for climbing. If I was familiar with mountain climbing, I would probably recognize the mountains and rock climbs described, but they certainly seem to be difficult ones. It is interesting that Otto Trott did not even know how to drive a car during those years. He learned as a medical intern when the doctor for whom he was filling in was leaving on vacation and he received an urgent call that turned out to be diphtheria. His first time driving a car was when he drove to the patient’s house, and the second time was the next day when he had to drive back to the same house as another child there had appendicitis. People who do not drive seem to be very limited in where they can go, especially to get to wilderness areas, but I got the impression that there was great freedom to travel even without a car by train in the Europe in those days. They did use bicycles, too.
Otto Trott had to immigrate because the Nazis thought that his father was not pure Aryan, so he was unable to work as a doctor in Germany. He went to the United States, where he had to repeat his residency. He taught skiing while he did this and then bought a car and traveled across the country to Seattle, climbing several significant peaks on the way. He had gotten a job in Seattle because he had heard of the mountains nearby.
In Seattle, he made good friends with others who climbed and skied and became familiar with the nearby mountains. Then he was arrested and interned in the Midwest for over a year because he was a German citizen and still a half year away from becoming an American citizen. He returned to Seattle and joined the Army, hoping that he could become a citizen that way. He was stationed in the Midwest for half a year until the war ended, then was able to return to Seattle and skiing and climbing. He also became the Director of the Department of Communicable Diseases and got married. He and two other Germans founded the Mountain Rescue Council, later to become the Mountain Rescue Association, for which he also designed the logo. Otto Trott was able to bring his parents over from Germany, and he and his wife had children and many animals. The whole family was very fond of animals and there were many in the household, sometimes ones that he rescued needing medical treatment. When any of the animals died, There was an autopsy performed, in which the children participated.
The book is pieced together by Otto Trott’s son-in law mostly from Otto Trott’s writings, with some newspaper articles and a chapter by one of Otto Trott’s daughters. A little of the writing is unusually phrased, like speech from someone whose first language is not English. From this, you can hear a little better what kind of person Otto Trott was. The book is large for a book, about 8 ½ by 11, which is hard to hold while reading and the corners get bent since it is a paperback. There are so many adventures that there is not room for too many details, and daily life has to be imagined. I like the fact that there the book does not go into great detail either about Otto Trott’s family. This seems respectful, since they were still living when it was written.
There are wonderful old photographs of Otto Trott and his family and the “Academic Club for the Agreeable Way of Living” at parties and skiing and climbing in Europe. Some show the Alps and people of the area and era, and some show grand mountains.
Otto Trott was a man with energy and capability that I can’t begin to imagine. He was a medical doctor with all the responsibility that entails, plus the responsibility of treating injured people as a ski patroller and mountain rescuer, which would have added hazards, he was a very skilled technical climber and skier, he provided medical treatment for rescued animals, he started anti-smoking programs in Seattle, spent time with his family, and liked to joke.
Some people write books about the difficulties of medical school, and while medical school must be more difficult now than in the 1920s and 30s, medical school is barely mentioned in the book. Instead this time of his life tells about the “Academic Club for the Agreeable Way of Living”, which had parties with singing, drinking, accordion music, and campfires. But the members skied and climbed extensively in the mountains. They leased a cabin high in the Black Forest in which they stayed every weekend in 1934 and 1935.
In this book, Otto Trott tells how he became skilled at skiing and became a ski instructor and mountain guide and about the climbs he and his friends made. There are several very frightening and dangerous situations that he was lucky to survive. These chapters are written so well you can almost see and feel what happened. Otto Trott and his friends traveled to many areas for climbing. If I was familiar with mountain climbing, I would probably recognize the mountains and rock climbs described, but they certainly seem to be difficult ones. It is interesting that Otto Trott did not even know how to drive a car during those years. He learned as a medical intern when the doctor for whom he was filling in was leaving on vacation and he received an urgent call that turned out to be diphtheria. His first time driving a car was when he drove to the patient’s house, and the second time was the next day when he had to drive back to the same house as another child there had appendicitis. People who do not drive seem to be very limited in where they can go, especially to get to wilderness areas, but I got the impression that there was great freedom to travel even without a car by train in the Europe in those days. They did use bicycles, too.
Otto Trott had to immigrate because the Nazis thought that his father was not pure Aryan, so he was unable to work as a doctor in Germany. He went to the United States, where he had to repeat his residency. He taught skiing while he did this and then bought a car and traveled across the country to Seattle, climbing several significant peaks on the way. He had gotten a job in Seattle because he had heard of the mountains nearby.
In Seattle, he made good friends with others who climbed and skied and became familiar with the nearby mountains. Then he was arrested and interned in the Midwest for over a year because he was a German citizen and still a half year away from becoming an American citizen. He returned to Seattle and joined the Army, hoping that he could become a citizen that way. He was stationed in the Midwest for half a year until the war ended, then was able to return to Seattle and skiing and climbing. He also became the Director of the Department of Communicable Diseases and got married. He and two other Germans founded the Mountain Rescue Council, later to become the Mountain Rescue Association, for which he also designed the logo. Otto Trott was able to bring his parents over from Germany, and he and his wife had children and many animals. The whole family was very fond of animals and there were many in the household, sometimes ones that he rescued needing medical treatment. When any of the animals died, There was an autopsy performed, in which the children participated.
The book is pieced together by Otto Trott’s son-in law mostly from Otto Trott’s writings, with some newspaper articles and a chapter by one of Otto Trott’s daughters. A little of the writing is unusually phrased, like speech from someone whose first language is not English. From this, you can hear a little better what kind of person Otto Trott was. The book is large for a book, about 8 ½ by 11, which is hard to hold while reading and the corners get bent since it is a paperback. There are so many adventures that there is not room for too many details, and daily life has to be imagined. I like the fact that there the book does not go into great detail either about Otto Trott’s family. This seems respectful, since they were still living when it was written.
There are wonderful old photographs of Otto Trott and his family and the “Academic Club for the Agreeable Way of Living” at parties and skiing and climbing in Europe. Some show the Alps and people of the area and era, and some show grand mountains.
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