July 01st, 2016
Cathi Shaw has co-authored Erik Bjarnason’s Surviving Logan (Rocky Mountain Books $28), the survival story of North Vancouver firefighter and veteran climber Erik Bjarnason’s rescue after he and two companions were stuck in a frozen wasteland atop Mount Logan, the second-highest peak in North America, during an extratropical cyclone in 2005. Hypothermia, severe frostbite and three feet of new snow prevented a retreat from the mountain. Through the combined efforts of North Shore Rescue, Alaskan Air Guard, Denali National Park staff and the Canadian Park Service, the three experienced climbers were eventually airlifted off the mountain by a Lama high-altitude aircraft. After losing all of his fingers, and one thumb, it didn’t seem feasible that Bjarnason could continue his career as a firefighter and mountaineer, but he re-trained and re-qualified as a firefighter. Just thirteen months after his rescue from Mount Logan, he climbed to the summit of Europe’s highest peak, Mount Elbrus, in Russia. 9781771601924
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