Critical Hours

Search and Rescue in the White Mountains

By: Sandy Stott

Narrated by: Kyle Tait

Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's Summary

A misread map, a sudden storm, a forgotten headlamp - and suddenly a leisurely hike turns into a treacherous endeavor.

In the past decade, inexpensive but sophisticated navigation devices and mobile phones have led to alarming levels of overconfidence on the trail. Adding to this worrisome trend, the increasing popularity of ventures into mountainous terrain has led hikers seeking solitude - or an adrenaline rush - into increasingly remote or risky forays. 

Sandy Stott, the "Accidents" editor at the journal of the Appalachian Mountain Club, delivers both a history and a celebration of the search and rescue workers who save countless lives in the White Mountains - along with a plea for us not to take their steadfastness and bravery for granted. Filled with tales of astonishing courage and sobering tragedy, Critical Hours will appeal to outdoor enthusiasts and armchair adventurers alike.

©2018 University Press of New England (P)2019 Tantor

History of Search and Rescue Operations on White Mt.

If you love acronyms- this is the book for you!
I found this to be a history of organizations that oversee search and rescue operations for the White Mts. The author is a native of the area and has a personal history with the mountains yet I felt like this was a very long travel piece written for a regional magazine. I felt it wasn’t written for a national audience not familiar with the area. I also felt that there was a lot of negativity towards people who called for help. The author repeats many times that people who come to the mountains should be skilled athletes not “goofs” (his word). It made me feel the White Mts. were a private area for very skilled athletes and everyone else should just admire from their car windows. Living in the Rocky Mts, we want everyone to enjoy the mountains at every level of skill and have many open spaces for everyone to enjoy so I was a bit put off by his condescending undertone. I respect the men and women who conduct search and rescue, I don’t feel this book did them justice.

I tried

I like adventure books, but this is not one. This is far too much history and background information for me. It was so slow moving. I gave it a good try, eight chapters but finally realized it was just going to continue to be more of a burden than a pleasure.

amazingly eye opening read.

narrated well. eye opening. some of the back "history" had me wandering off but over all... definitely recommend!

Terrible Narration

I don't mean to bag on Kyle Tait but he made the book very difficult to listen to. While the subject matter is very interesting, especially for someone with a background in rescue, it is 100% not necessary for the narrator to take a dramatic pause after every 5th word. I feel like I could have gotten through this book in half the time if he had just read it. It was very frustrating and I will be avoiding him in the future, no matter how interesting the book may be. He just ruined it.

Narrator not so great but a great story

The narrator took a while to get use to. Other than that it was a great experience. I would recommend to anyone who spends time in the woods.

So terribly boring

The focus should be on the victims and how they were found right? But not according to this writer who was obviously more interested in endlessly repeating the acronyms of the various rescue agencies over and over and over and.....yes...over.
Do not waste your time or valuable $15 credit. If you do not ask for a refund within 48 hours of ordering a book then you are stuck with it. Does not give near enough time to get into the book and see if you like it or not.

hard to listen to reader.

The story is outstanding. The reader has a set cadence of reading that I found very distracting and annoying; such so that I had to concentrate on listening for the benefit of the story.