A Wall of White: The True Story of Heroism and Survival in the Face of a Deadly Avalanche

by Jennifer Woodlief

Recounts a harrowing survival tale involving the 1982 Alpine Meadows avalanche, describing the unlikely combination of factors that prompted the disaster and the efforts of a heroic ski patrol team to rescue a woman trapped for five days beneath the snow. 30,000 first printing.

Genres: Nonfiction, Survival, Biography, Outdoors, Dogs, History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Chana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fearsome natural disaster. A huge avalanche falls at a California ski resort burying eight people, one of whom survives five days under the snow.
I had no idea that bombs, cannons and huge guns are used, near daily during ski season, to cause small avalanches in order to prevent huge ones. Like we are at war against the mountains and elements. I don't like the idea of it, but I can see why it is done, to prevent more disasters like this one from happening.
The mountains and weather did their own things anyway, blizzarding for days and then a huge crushing, resort and life destroying, avalanche.
It was a search and rescue dog who alerted on the survivor. I wish the rescuers had dug her out at that time but they were worried about another avalanche and the loss of more life and they couldn't be sure the dog had alerted on a live person, it seemed unlikely. They dug her out 71 hours later when the dog went straight back to her location.
The reason this book gets a 3 star is that the writing seemed plodding and disjointed to me. I did feel that she cared deeply about what had happened and tried to honor each person who was a victim, family of victim, staff at the resort and rescuer.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

An essential history lesson for any Tahoe local, or else an introduction to how badass ski patrollers are at Alpine Meadows. This book chronicles the events surrounding the largest avalanche to strike within a U.S. ski area, as well as the everyday heroes who rose to the occasion to become legends. Even though one of the patrollers in this book, Casey Jones, was the person to first tell me about this slide, the book has much more personal details to some of the people who were either killed or rescued from the slide that people who were there are reluctant to share for obvious personal reasons. It was a bizarre experience for me to read about the truly heroic efforts from rather "ordinary" people that I have met up there. If you've ever skied Alpine Meadows, I would highly recommend this book in order to grasp the magnitude of what the Ski Patrol deals with there on a regular basis, truly inspirational stuff.

"I just like blowin' shit up and making things move." -Casey Jones

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

What seems to be a monotonous tale of individual characters in the first half of this book, makes a very personal and vivid story in the second half. A detailed and touching story of heroism, with a reminder that we can't control as much as we like to think we can. The story is well told and rightfully honors the victims of this tragic event.

[Tami · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of a ski resort tragedy near Lake Tahoe. One of the biggest avanlanches in North American history came down upon the base of the ski resort, killing 7. Woodlief does a good job building up the events to the tragedy as well as help the reader get to know those involved. A feature length documentary was just made in memory of the 40th anniversary of the event.

[Kate Picher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because it is the rescue story of my manager, Anna Allen. But it is much more. I learned so much about the ski patrol and avalanche control. The background information on each of the victims was well done and apprecited. This is actually an easy read and exciting in many ways.

[Anna Engel · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was waaaaaaaaay too much detail on the lives of those involved. Like, I get that it was a horrible tragedy, but I don't really care about what kind of cake needed to be made for a daughter's birthday.

[Abby Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book started slow but it turned into a page turner halfway through. If you’re interested in avalanches and snow science, check this book out.

[Melvin Marsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Please note, this review refers to an ARC of “A Wall of White.”

This book tells the story of the devastating Alpine Meadows avalanche in March 1982. “A Wall of White” is written in a very similar style, a journalistic style, to “Into Thin Air” which covered the Everest disaster in 1996. In this reader’s opinion, it started off a little slow and I believe that some of the first 10 chapters can easily be reduced in size or eliminated entirely since it acted as a setup for the parts to follow. The second half of the book, which focused on the avalanche and the rescue attempts, was a much faster pace and was quite pleasant to read.

However, while I enjoyed reading “A Wall of White,” I did find the sheer amount of names, who they are, and how they were related to the situation to be a little confusing at the beginning and, at one point, I was considering whether to take a piece of paper and write this information down. That made it a little difficult to follow.

If you are considering reading this book, you may also be interested in books such as “Into Thin Air.”

[Marianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly, ultimately, I can only give A Wall of White 2 stars. The subject matter is interesting, the story itself is tragic and inspiring by turns, but the writing takes these two positives and grinds them into a narrative that's almost unreadable toward the end. Too many names, too much irrelevant minutiae, too many lengthy departures from the main plot, bog the story down almost from the first chapter. Other reviewers claim the story picks up after chapter 10. That's actually when I started skimming. The author didn't seem to know that, once she made me care what happened to the victims of the avalanche, what I really didn't care to do was take time to read about people's best friends who were worried or how the rescue dogs were trained. A shame really. Lots of information here worth knowing but poorly organized as an overall narrative. A Wall of White bears little resemblance to Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, which is written in a much more cohesive and readable style. Having said that A Wall of White is worth a skim.

[Elliot Earles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good in the storytelling aspect, not as analysis heavy as I had hoped, but it was still a read worth my time as someone with an interest in skiing and history.

In terms of negatives, my only legitimate complaint is that there is a lot more time spent in the build up to the disaster (I don't need the genealogy of the entire family of every single person involved with the disaster), and I would have liked to hear a lot more about the post disaster response.

Positives include a lot more detail than one could possibly find anywhere else, and a brief but informative "where are they now?" section.

[Sienna Nelon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about the heartbreaking tragedy of the 1982 avalanche at Alpine Meadows. Although so many individuals were impacted by this incident, I thought it was confusing how many characters the author focused on for the first half of this book. By the time she started talking about the avalanche itself, I lost track of who she was referring to since I had just learned about around 20 individuals. It was hard to put a name/story to who she was talking about. Also the photos included in the middle of this book spoiled what was to come. This was a very informative book and I learned more about avalanches and other random historical facts.

[Elaine Loh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wayyyyy too many superfluous details. It’s good to talk about the backgrounds of the victims and people involved but not to the point of writing about what kind of birthday cake the girl had, or how many rooms which floor contained, etc.
The first half the book read like an editor hadn’t gone through it.
Building background stories to create empathy and understand of characters is important but not to a point where it meanders and makes the readers skip paragraphs and paragraphs on end.

[Jenny Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting account of the deadliest avalanche in U.S. history. The beginning of the book was a little slow but it held my interest and the last half of the book was really good. I also enjoyed the part about the rescue dogs and how this event really brought attention to the value of using dogs for finding avalanche victims. Bravo to the German Sheppard who found Anna alive after buried for many days. After this event, more and more ski resorts began using rescue dogs.

[Carolyn Ebzery · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much detail in this book! The writing style isn’t what I’m used to as the author is a journalist - very to the point and sometimes unemotional, but I think that was better than me crying my eyes out. I live in Tahoe so this felt pretty close to home! It was also a book when I put down, it was a bit hard to pick back up. But once I was in it reading I got in the flow. Lots of information. Really good.

[Seize Todey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book unfolds at the pace of the storm. It slowly builds like the snow coming down… THEN BOOM 💥 hold ON you’re going for a ride!!! Wow! I read the first 112 pages over about 45 days - I read the next 128 pages in about 34 hours! Like I said…

Now it’s time to watch the documentary…
BURIED

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary tension building, dimensional characters, and a disaster that manages to be both eerie and epic. If you liked Into Thin Air, this is your next read.

[Anna Dalton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tragic but also fascinating. The author moves the people that play a part in this story inch by inch towards the ultimate event of that day in March 1982. It was the avalanche version of the perfect storm, and so many lives were changed forever.

[Tammy Dotts · Rating 4 out of 5]

On March 31, 1982, a devastating avalanche occurred at Alpine Meadows, a ski resort near Lake Tahoe, Calif. High on the mountain, a quarter-mile-long fracture sent a wave of snow 800 feet down the slope. The destructive energy of the avalanche didn’t dissipate until it had torn apart the resort’s operation center — the Summit Terminal Building — as well as ending seven lives.

Jennifer Woodlief’s A Wall of White takes readers into the days before and after the avalanche. Woodlief’s strengths as an author lay in her ability to detail complete characters who readers quickly become invested in. Members of the ski patrol are presented both as adventurous mountainmen who love their job throwing dynamite as avalanche prevention and as heroes who likely put their own lives at risk to find their friends under the snow. Although knowing the outcome makes it easy to point out mistakes made by visitors to the resort caught in the avalanche, Woodlief’s characterization also makes it easy to understand the decisions taken on March 31 and for readers to feel they may have made the same decisions.

Every one of the seven killed become fully realized portraits. The jacket copy lets readers know one woman is pulled from the debris 5 days after the disaster, so readers are aware the people they’re beginning to care about don’t make it out. Still, the yearning is there to issue a warning, to see a father and daughter turn back from their journey, to direct the rescuers to the right spot just in case a way exists to save those lost.

Woven into the character-driven narrative are facts about avalanches in general — what causes them, what it feels like to be caught in one — and the Alpine Meadows avalanche in particular. On March 26, the snowpack was 87 inches. By March 30, 64 more inches fell; 25 more inches on March 31. At the time of the avalanche, estimates put the snowpack at 145” and wind gusts at up to 120 mph. Snow was falling at or over 1”/hour from March 29 through April 1. The resort itself becomes a character as Woodlief draws a clear picture of its history and its staff.

Readers learn about the basics of avalanche control as the ski patrol uses its howitzer and dynamite to safely bring down risky areas of snow. In the brutal conditions, their efforts have no effect on the snow. Some of the patrol were headed to the neighboring Squaw Valley resort to try prevention measures from the backside when the avalanche hit.

The avalanche occurs about 60% of the way through A Wall of White. By that time, readers are caught up in the individual stories of the participants. The turning of the pages is like the ticking of clock counting down to tragedy.

Not everyone in the Summit Terminal Building died. Woodlief uses the accounts of the survivors to place the readers inside the avalanche, legs and arms trapped by the hardening cement an avalanche becomes. Readers can almost hear the sudden silence after the roar of the avalanche ends and the creaking of broken buildings.

With its mix of characterization and avalanche lore, A Wall of White may remind some readers of Sebastian Junger’s A Perfect Storm. Similarities exist, but because Woodlief was able to speak to people present at the time of the avalanche and use, her book draws readers into a tragedy rather than a mystery.

The book doesn’t lose momentum when the focus shifts to rescue and recovery efforts. The patrol members headed to Squaw Valley returned, only to find almost all of their rescue equipment gone. It was housed in the destroyed Summit Terminal Building. Equipment inside was swept out into the parking lot, which was buried under 10 to 12 feet of snow and debris.

Woodlief again educates readers about avalanche rescue. She discusses the proper use of avalanche beacons and avalanche probes, but the lessons aren’t didactic paragraphs of exposition. She uses the frustration of the patrol to explain the futility of probes when a probe is just as likely to hit spare clothing stored in employee lockers as a survivor. Readers, like the rescue team, have already learned air pockets will ice over from a survivor’s breath, shutting off any oxygen travelling through the snow. As the hours and days pass after the avalanche, readers are still involved in the story, hoping against hope for rescue not recovery.

A rescue dog is the first to alert those on site to the possibility of a survivor. Anna Conrad had been trapped in the employee locker room under furniture and tipped over lockers. The debris built a shelter over her, protecting her from the crushing weight of the avalanche, but severely injuring her and leaving her with only melting snow to drink. When she is pulled from the wreckage on April 5 and loaded on a medical helicopter, readers feel the rescue team’s exhilaration and relief.

Throughout the book, Woodlief hits all the right notes. Her pacing drives the readers to the avalanche without sacrificing the portraits of those involved in the disaster. The pauses to inform readers about avalanches are brief and serve the overall story.

[Doug Cornelius · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to really like this book. But I didn't.

Jennifer Woodlief tells the story of the 1982 avalanche at the Lake Tahoe ski resort of Alpine Meadows. She chronicles the stories of the victims of the avalanche and those left to conduct the rescue and recovery efforts. A ten day storm left 14 fourteen feet of snow on the resort's slopes. These are slopes that already had some unstable layers of snow. When they finally let go, a wall of white destroyed the base lodge and covered the parking, burying most of those in the area.

A few years ago I had a great time snowboarding in Lake Tahoe. After spending most of my snowboarding days on the blue ice of the east coast, that deep snow in Tahoe was intoxicating. But each morning we waited at the base, listening to the explosives go off trying break loose any unstable snow. We don't have avalanches back east. We don't get that much snow and don't have much wide open terrain above treeline. So I appreciated the work of the snow patrol as they made all that wonderful snow safe for me to enjoy.

I also saw an avalanche first-hand during my climb of Rainier. Fortunately, it was off in the distance. But we heard the roar and saw the destructive power of that snow fracturing and streaming down the mountain.

With that, you can see my interest in the book.

There were some good parts of the book and some very moving passages. As you might guess, not everyone survives. Most of the book is spent giving the background stories of the people, why they ended up on the mountain and where they ended up just before the avalanche. The avalanche itself takes just a few minutes. The ensuing rescue and recovery takes a few days.

I had trouble keeping track of all the people she included it the story. The portraits seemed to merge together into generic skiers of the early 80's and stereotypical ski bums. There are some interesting characters but it is easy to lose track of them. parts of the book seem to be in the wrong places.

With good editing and another draft of the book it could have been pretty good.

In the interest of full disclosure, Atria Books sent me an advance proof in the hopes that I would review the book.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Wall of White; The True Story of Heroism and Survival in the Face of a Deadly Avalanche (2009) written by Jennifer Woodlief is a fascinating and amazing story about a blizzard, an avalanche, and the heroic people who set out to rescue survivors. The deadly avalanche occurred on March 31, 1982 at the Alpine Meadows ski resort near Lake Tahoe, California. A blizzard rolled into the area and dropped more than four feet of snow--on top of previously existing layers of snow-- in three days. Three avalanches were set off simultaneously and millions of pounds of snow rolled over the ski resort and parking lot. The ski patrol worked with vacationers at the resort during the blizzard to rescue any survivors. In the end, seven people were killed and one woman was buried alive.
This book was obviously very well researched. Woodlief uncovers all sorts of details about the science of avalanches, the history of Alpine Meadows, the workings and efforts of the ski patrol to control avalanches, and the personal lives of both victims and survivors. I was particularly intrigued by the descriptions of the ski patrol’s missions to control massive avalanches by setting off bombs to cause smaller avalanches. I was somewhat bored by the detailed biographies of people affected by the avalanche that day and skimmed over them a lot. In general, A Wall of White is full of adventure and suspense and is an easy read.
Readers who are fans of adventure stories with the theme of “man vs. nature”--i.e. those written by Jon Krakauer, Erik Larson, Sebastian Junger—may also like this title.

[Toby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me be honest, I'm a bit crazy. Crazy about how things are written. I don't write in perfect grammar, nor do I expect it in casual writing. But I do expect a level of grammatical competence and editorial excellence. This book did not meet my standards. It was written as spoken, informal and relaxed. I think I had an early review copy, so some mispellings and grammar problems might be fixed by the book's next printing. However, I thought it was unnacceptably relaxed sometimes.[return][return]As for the subject matter, I was definitely interested in the story, and Jennifer Woodlief does a wonderful job of giving you lots of information about the people involved in the disaster, making them real and interesting to you. The structure of the story was a long series of vignettes regarding each of the people involved. That makes this book a nice memorial for the people who were killed by the avalanche, but it makes it pretty difficult to follow the arc of the story as a whole. The final chapters of the book, where it was linear and followed the course of the disaster over the last few days was well done, I wished that the rest of the book had been like that.[return][return]I did appreciate how the author provided a lot of technical detail on avalanches and the functioning of the ski patrol at a resort. That was great.[return][return]Overall a good story and a good read, but it suffers from the poor structure and lackadaisical writing style. Read it for the story, or because you know the area, but don't read it for writing excellence.

[Bernadette Calonego · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book proves that events in the past can be equally compelling today if a talented author tackles the subject. Jennifer Woolief wrote the story about a deadly avalanche at a U.S. ski resort near Lake Tahoe in 1982 that killed seven people like a thriller.
A thriller that has the qualities of a thoroughly researched non-fiction-book.
I skipped some more technical passages about avalanche rescue procedures (more aimed at for insiders) but it did not deter me from "eating up" this book.
In an epilogue, Jennifer Woodlief confessed to being obsessed with certain details like the timing of victims in making their (fatal) decisions (i.e. if they had not stopped to talk to people, they could have survived later). This obsession bodes well for the narrative. Every person comes to life (most of them died).
For dog lovers: A German shepherd plays an important role in the aftermath of the tragedy: The dog found the only person who survived the ordeal. The rescue of this woman alone is a heartbreaking story.
This was a break-through for rescue dogs in the U.S. and the start of using these dogs for the benefit for human victims and rescue organisations. These are the kind of interesting facts that one normally does not learn.

[Annie Fyfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having grown up in Tahoe City this was a must read for me. Although this avalanche happened before I was born I had heard about it, just not in detail. The whole book was a little spooky to me when she described all the background stories of everyone involved becasue while reading it you just know some of them are going to die. I thought it was a great explaination of how avalanches happen, how they kill people, and how ski resorts try to control them. I liked how all that lead into telling about the actual avalanche itself and the aftermath. Even though I knew that Anna survived I still found myself very excited and happy when they found her. I'd recommend this book to anyone who has ever skied in the Tahoe area or has an interest in avalanches, it is a quick read and you probably won't be able to put it down!

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I spent a couple of months in the winter of 1970 living in a cabin in Alpine Meadows and enjoying the skiing and the social life up there. I was often woken in the mornings by the howitzer that was used as part of the ski resort's avalanche control, and I was always a little bit paranoid about avalanches in that steep valley. My friend who owned the house just gave me this book to read--it's about a devastating avalanche that killed several people at the resort in 1986. She couldn't put it down. Either could I. There, but for the grace of God, go both of us... Well written disaster story.

[Beth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book because it is the local "community read." I also gave every junior a copy of the book. I don't know how I finished reading this book; it is just terrible. I hope that other community members don't get turned off and stop participating next year. Last year's book, Nature Noir, was so much better. You can tell from page one that she is a reporter, not a writer. I just read the section today where she blames other people for three of the deaths in the book. It was an avalanche for God's sake! It is no one's fault!! The author is coming to speak at our school and I'm not sure I even want to attend.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderfully true, tragic account of a freak-of-nature avalanche written by a woman journalist (unusual for a true-adventure story). The avalanche occurred in 1982 at the Alpine Meadows ski resort in the Sierra Nevadas. I was in my second year of college then and loved reading and recalling the rugged ski patrol crew plus, having learned to ski in Ohio and not skiing outside of New York and Pennsylvania where avalancle control was not needed, the details about avalanches, snow, etc. are facinating.

[Mpultroon]

After Junger's 'The Perferct Storm' and Krakauer's 'Into Thin Air' did we need another in this well-mined vein? The answer is decidedly YES. Woodlief does a great job in drawing you into the lives of the participants so much you can touch the snow. I couldn't get through the book fast enough because I was so wrapped up in how it would be resolved. I love the technical info as well. But above all else is the human drama so ably told. I graduated from college in 1982 and will forever think of that year for the events at Alpine Meadow after reading this book.

[Sandra Strange · Rating 3 out of 5]

This account of a 1982 avalanche in a ski resort near Lake Tahoe begins by introducing the people who experienced it. The reader knows that seven of these people will be killed in the avalanche--but not which ones. The author then tells the fateful events leading up to the avalanche and the tiny decisions and events that determine the fate of its victims. The account of the avalanche and its aftermath is riveting. (English teachers--this account really pairs well with The Bridge of San Luis Rey, if anyone teaches this classic.)

[Hope · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book flap leads you to believe the book is going to be about an incredible rescue of a young woman, and how she survived buried under more than 10 feet of snow. Instead the book took the first 200 pages to introduce all the people who worked at the ski resort and the vacationers who happened to be at the resort during the avalanche. The last 40 pages of the book were interesting, but not worth it!

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd give it a 4 1/2, I did find all the technical details and background stories to drag down the telling of the story a bit, but on a whole, a fascinating story about a place I'm very familiar with, having grown up skiing at Alpine Meadows and even spending a season working the switchboard. Recommend to all who have every skied at Alpine Meadows or for anyone who's looking for an in depth story about an avalanche, definitely similar to The Perfect Storm.