About the Book
"On par with Into the Wild... Fast-paced, yet thoughtful and empathetic, all the way to its devastating conclusion, this psychological thriller will haunt me whenever I step off the pavement into the woods. I couldn't stop reading it, and I can't stop thinking about it." -- Bill Gifford, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Outlive
A harrowing, never-before-told story of life and death in the Colorado mountains--thirty hours that changed lives forever and forced a reckoning about the cost of adventure.
"You wanna ski a lap?"
Fifteen-year-old Cole Walters-Schaler couldn't resist. This was why they'd come to the backcountry, after all--three fathers and four teenage children together for a bonding alpine getaway outside Salida, Colorado, in January 2017.
Within minutes, Cole and Brett Beasley, a longtime Forest Service ranger and expert outdoorsman in his mid-forties, had pushed off from their cabin, expecting to be gone for a half hour or so. But an unforgiving blizzard transformed their quick jaunt into a thirty-hour ordeal that would end in tragedy, as the community raced to find them.
The Way Out is the story of those ensuing hours and their aftermath--an almost unbelievable event that shook a tight-knit mountain community and raised difficult questions about life and death, guilt and redemption, and the pursuit of adventure. Why, when we know that the wilderness can kill, can't we stay away? When the unthinkable happens, how does a community forgive the survivors? And how do the survivors forgive themselves?
Drawing on firsthand interviews with those closest to the tragedy, including the key eyewitness, and written with the gripping intensity of classics such as Into Thin Air and Touching the Void, O'Neil recreates that fateful day. The Way Out is a thoughtful investigation of the allure of the mountains and the aftermath of trauma, and an unforgettable look at life at its very edge.
The Way Out includes 12 black-and-white personal photos throughout.
About the Author :
Devon O'Neil is a journalist based in Breckenridge, Colorado. O'Neil got his start as a daily newspaperman and later worked as a staff writer at ESPN.com and as a correspondent for Outside magazine. His stories have been recognized in the Best American Travel Writing and Best American Sports Writing anthologies and have twice been finalists for national awards in civic journalism. Raised on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, he studied psychology at Middlebury College and often writes about the effects of psychological trauma on adventurers. In the winter, he helps maintain a network of backcountry ski cabins above 11,000 feet.
Review :
"A gripping exploration of the fine line between recreation and risk that defines life in Western mountain towns and the disastrous effect that seemingly simple choices can have when even the most experienced outdoorspeople venture forth into the backcountry." - M. John Fayhee, author of Smoke Signals: Wayward Journeys through the Old Heart of the New West
"On par with Into the Wild, The Way Out shows how a few bad decisions can turn a harmless outdoor adventure into a tragedy--and how its ripple effects can change lives and communities forever. Fast-paced, yet thoughtful and empathetic, all the way to its devastating conclusion, this psychological thriller will haunt me whenever I step off the pavement into the woods. I couldn't stop reading it, and I can't stop thinking about it." - Bill Gifford, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity
"A thoughtful, sorrowful page-turner about a tragedy that engulfed a Colorado town steeped in alpine sports and the ethos of risk and adrenalized adventure. It's a tough story to tell, and O'Neil, a true mountain athlete who wisely interrogates the very things he loves, is just the right person to tell it." - Hampton Sides, New York Times bestselling author of The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact, and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook
"O'Neil probes the pain of loss and the pain of survival through a once-in-a-decade winter storm and its generational aftershocks. The hearts of the book are the skiers, snowmobilers, rangers, teachers, school kids, and search & rescue volunteers. From this cast, O'Neil draws the best anatomy of a mountain community I've read... a deep examination of death, adolescence, and the rewards and tolls of living with nature. I can't stop thinking about these people and their packs full of flaws, burdens, and joys; The Way Out will go on my shelf next to The Perfect Storm and Into Thin Air." - Jon Billman, author of The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America's Wildlands
"The Way Out is at once a gripping story of survival and a complex portrait of a beautiful, troubled mountain community. O'Neil raises profound questions about the pursuit of adventure that linger long after the story ends." - Abe Streep, author of Brothers on Three: A True Story of Family, Resistance, and Hope on a Reservation in Montana
"With both delicacy and solid reporting, O'Neil recounts the events... setting them against a Rocky Mountain environment both perilous and jaw-droppingly inspiring... a story of surprising depth and power." - Booklist
"The Way Out is one of those rare books that will both entertain readers and save lives." - Jonathan Franklin, author of 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea
"I found The Way Out to be both gripping and at the same time deeply moving. O'Neil masterfully unfolds a chilling adventure story while simultaneously probing the psychology of those who take heightened risks in outdoor adventures, the bonds that hold them together, and the trauma that unfolds when things go wrong. It all makes for a deeply immersive and rewarding reading experience." - Daniel James Brown, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat
"Devon O'Neil takes the 'wilderness survival story' to a new place. The Way Out begins with an adventure gone bad but then broadens into a moving story of families and community. It is also about truth-telling--contradictory accounts of backcountry trauma and how people remember, forget, and 'learn to live with.' Though he might have written a quick version, O'Neil waited until people were ready to talk--years, in some cases--and the result is nuanced, thoughtful, and gripping, a book that will last." - Ted Conover, author of Cheap Land Colorado: Off-Gridders at America's Edge and Pulitzer finalist for Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing
"Devon O'Neil has crafted an extraordinary work of narrative nonfiction that reads like a thriller but cuts deeper than fiction could. The Way Out begins with a relatively simple question--'You wanna ski a lap?'--and unfolds into a devastating exploration of tragedy, survival, and the secrets that can tear a community apart, combining investigative rigor, immersive reporting, and the narrative power of a master storyteller. This is more than a story of survival, it's an unflinching examination of how we live with the unthinkable--and whether the mountains we love are worth the price we sometimes pay as a consequence." - Amanda M. Fairbanks, author of The Lost Boys of Montauk: The True Story of the Wind Blown, Four Men Who Vanished at Sea, and the Survivors They Left Behind
"Sifting through the shards of a ski trip turned tragic, Devon O'Neil casts an unflinching gaze at outdoor adventure's cost and refuses to look away. Both harrowing and uplifting, The Way Out is impossible to put down." - Michael Wejchert, author of Hidden Mountains: Survival and Reckoning After a Climb Gone Wrong
"The Way Out is an uplifting story of family, community, survival, and the aftermath of loss that I simply couldn't put down." - Roman Dial, author of The Adventurer's Son: A Memoir
