Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival - Softcover

Ollestad, Norman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007322518 ISBN 13: 9780007322510

Publisher: HarperPress, 2009

Synopsis

Set in the aftermath of a harrowing plane crash, this is the true story of one young boy’s fight for survival in nature’s most treacherous conditions.

Eleven-year-old Norman Ollestad was a gifted skier. After winning the 1979 Southern California Slalom Skiing Championship, his father chartered a small plane to fly Norman home, so that his son could collect his trophy and train with his team.

Moments later the Cessna, engulfed in a blizzard, crashed into the San Gabriel Mountains and was left suspended at 8,000 feet. Norman's father, his coach and his hero, was dead.

Climbing out of the wreckage, young Norman begins a gruelling descent, thousands of feet down an icy mountain. Blinded by heavy snow and faced with a raging wind and below-freezing temperatures, he attempts to guide his father's injured girlfriend to safety. Kept alive by sheer will, Norman summons everything his father taught him about determination and courage to save his own life.

Powerful, inspiring and utterly compelling, this is a unique and unforgettable memoir.

About this title

Review:

'The memoir is as much about a father-son relationship as it is a survival story ... Ollestad says his father's life philosophy about surfing and skiing – ‘’knowing there's always a place to go and find peace, clear your mind’’ – got him down the mountain and through life.'
USA Today

'I could not stop reading this thrilling memoir ... a heart-stopping adventure that ends in tragedy and triumph, a love story that fearlessly explores the bond between a father and a son and what it means to lead a life without limits.'
Susan Cheever

''Crazy for the Storm' is truly extraordinary – an adventure story with a rich psychological foundation from an enormously talented author. Ollestad's portraits are beautifully contradictory and complex – brutal, brave and human – and the book is filled with wonderful dramatic moments. In scene after scene, these images beg to be savoured, yet they drive the story forward with tremendous force. 'Crazy for the Storm' is a powerful book. It deserves to be a bestseller.'
Lucinda Franks, Pulitzer Prize winning author

'As much a thriller as a memoir ... gorgeously written, perfectly controlled.'
Carolyn See

' A heart-stopping story beautifully told ... Norman Ollestad has written a book that may well be read for generations. It's a book that fathers should give to their sons, but sons should give it to their fathers, too. And mothers, wives, sisters and daughters – read it and weep for all the boys and men you have ever loved.'
Russell Banks

From the Back Cover:

From the age of three, Norman Ollestad was thrust into the world of surfing and competitive downhill skiing by the intense, charismatic father he both idolized and resented. Yet it was these exhilarating tests of skill that prepared "Boy Wonder," as his father called him, to become a fearless champion—and ultimately saved his life.

Flying to a ski championship ceremony in February 1979, the chartered Cessna carrying Norman, his father, his father's girlfriend, and the pilot crashed into the San Gabriel Mountains and was suspended at 8,200 feet, engulfed in a blizzard. Norman's father was dead, and the devastated eleven-year-old had to descend the treacherous, icy mountain alone.

Set amid the spontaneous, uninhibited surf culture of Malibu and Mexico in the late 1970s, this riveting memoir recalls Ollestad's childhood and the magnetic man whose determination and love infuriated and inspired him—and also taught him to overcome the indomitable. As it illuminates the complicated bond between an extraordinary father and his son, Ollestad's powerful and unforgettable true story offers remarkable insight for us all.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperPress
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0007322518
• ISBN 13: 9780007322510
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304