As hurricane-force winds pounded Mt. Hood in December 2006, Kelly James, trapped in a snow cave, called his wife for the last time. In this gripping story of adventure, love, and loss, Karen James reveals the story of that fateful climb, Kelly's final cell phone messages to his family, and never-before-published photos from Kelly's camera. 256 pages, hardcover from Nelson.

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4.5

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(10 Reviews) 10

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Customer Reviews for Holding Fast: The Untold Story of the Mount Hood Tragedy

Review 1 for Holding Fast: The Untold Story of the Mount Hood Tragedy

Overall Rating:

3 out of 5

Interesting

Date:February 7, 2012

Kristen

Location:Michigan

Age:35-44

Gender:female

Quality:

3 out of 5

Value:

3 out of 5

Meets Expectations:

3 out of 5

It was an interesting story, but there didn't seem to be a conclusion. It is a description of what the family went through. There aren't answers to what really happened. Mountaineering is a selfish endeavor, and this book confirms that.

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Review 2 for Holding Fast: The Untold Story of the Mount Hood Tragedy

Overall Rating:

5 out of 5

Date:January 23, 2010

Karla Meachem

With an unexpected death, we all have questions that we would like to have answers to. Karen was the same. She shares her grief with transparency, as she looks to God for the answers.If you are asking the same questions about where God is in your grief and loss; then you will want to read how Karen found the answers to her questions (step-by-step) along the road of healing.

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Review 3 for Holding Fast: The Untold Story of the Mount Hood Tragedy

Overall Rating:

5 out of 5

Date:February 10, 2009

Sharon A Lavy

Top 250 Contributor

I look for the relationship angle in any book I read. This was an inspirational read. A book with take home value.Kelly was Karen's prince charming, and he lead her to God by the sheer strength of his own faith. Karen wanted what Kelly had. He had mended her broken dreams, and she wanted to live the rest of her life with him.I read the book and learned how much goes into planning a mountain climb. I gained a little more insite on how climbing can get into a man's blood. Sort of like my own husbands love of flying a small plane. It becomes part of who the man is and a wise woman knows this. The thing that helped Kelly refuse to give up the search was her knowledge of her man. How careful he was. His keen planning ability. Knowing that he was not reckless. As I took the journey with her I could relate to her fears, her hopes, her despair. Her growing friendship with two other women whose husbands were also missing on that mountain ~~ the ups and downs of the search. I could not put the book down.

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Review 4 for Holding Fast: The Untold Story of the Mount Hood Tragedy

Overall Rating:

5 out of 5

Date:February 6, 2009

Calvin Habig

This book was of initial interest to me because I live in Portland, OR and many of the events depicted happened on the mountain we see every day (at least when it isn't covered up by clouds): Mount Hood. I have had friends and relatives climb Mt. Hood and know it is doable if you are in good shape and have a good guide, but I also hear of the dangers. Those dangers came to be no more real than in December 2006 when three men were reported as lost on the mountain.This book is the recounting of the story from the eyes of one of the wives of the three men (and the only one whose body ever was found): Karen James. Her husband, Kelly James, was a climber with 25 years experience. Karen gives a brief, but sufficient, relaying of highlights of Kelly's life and of their marriage and life together, but she does not dawdle in getting to what the book is about: how God moved in the situation of the lost climbers. It is a heart wrenching book. It is a book of faith. It is an honest book; Karen shares her anger, her doubts, her fears. But in the end it is about God shaping one woman and using the worst experience of her life to do so. The recounting of the story is the familiar news story and a fascinating read. The events, the news reports and the once-in-a decade snow storm are things I remember well. But that is not really the point of the book. The point of the book is what God was doing in Karen James's life through this most tragic of events.It is a book that is part adventure story, part love story, but mostly an inspirational story about one woman's journey of faith through the valley of the shadow of her husband's death. I would highly recommend it.

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Review 5 for Holding Fast: The Untold Story of the Mount Hood Tragedy

Overall Rating:

4 out of 5

Date:February 5, 2009

Heidi

This book not only tells the dramatic story of the Mt. Hood tragedy, but it also walks us through the healing process the author underwent her first year after losing her husband. While I found some of the writing unreal in certain places, overall the book is one full of life lessons and drama.

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Review 6 for Holding Fast: The Untold Story of the Mount Hood Tragedy

Overall Rating:

5 out of 5

Date:December 5, 2008

David Bannach

This past week I finished reading the book called Holding Fast: The Untold Story of the Mount Hood Tragedy. It was the amazing and heart-breaking story of Kelly James, who, along with his friends Brian Hall and Jerry Cooke set out on a mountain climbing trip near Portland, Oregon two years ago tomorrow. What was supposed to be a short three-day practice run for an upcoming climb on Mount Everest, turned out to be the final climb for each of these three very skilled, veteran climbers.Karen James, the author and wife of Kelly James, chronicles the anxiety filled days of the search-and-rescue days of hoping against hope that her husband would somehow survive the brutal elements of winter at 11,000 feet. Karen brought me right along with her on her journey: the last phone call, the feared phone call, the agonizing wait on the mountain, the heartache of her husbands fate, the private family moments on their return home, and the discovery of Gods unmistakable care through it all. I was sad and encouraged all at once. One of my favorite quotes comes from the final chapter: After Kellys death, I went in search of everything that he had ever written to me.While reading his writings, I noticed that in the majority of them, I was not the sole character. That had never been apparent to me before. Kelly also included his love for God; there had always been three of us in this love affair.I enjoy reading biographical books anyway, but I must say that this ranks up there as one of my favorites.

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Review 7 for Holding Fast: The Untold Story of the Mount Hood Tragedy

Overall Rating:

4 out of 5

Date:November 28, 2008

Lauren Caldwell

Why do people tell their story? That's what I asked myself as I read Karen James' account of her husband's death in her book, Holding Fast: The Untold Story of the Mount Hood Tragedy. Utilizing her background in journalism and PR, she recounted the details of this tragedy. I had a hard time relating to her voice because I kept thinking, I could never write this way. I could never put somber photos in a book, indicating the magnitude and gravity of the search. I could never go on a trail of clues to figure out what happened to my husband dying in a snow cave. I could never write about the news conferences I was doing during the search because I wouldn't be doing them. Id have to, though-if Id married a mountain climber. She had a husband so unlike mine that I struggled to take in his beauty of character because he also seemed so hell-bent, even if he was heaven bound. I'm not sure if the author meant for me to have this conclusion: the account of this tragedy is gripping, the loss of the three men is tragic, the efforts of all the search teams were heroic, and the wish of Kelly James was to climb mountains- at any cost.He was a man who could not "resist the lure of adventure", who was "absorbed by challenge & to a certain extent, Danger."I was surprised that the author would share so boldly the inner conflict of life and death in her husband's soul. We see this by his poems and bits of writing she shares with us. She discusses what God's purpose was, concerning her husband's death. But perhaps what was inadvertently conveyed was that Kelly James had a purpose to live a life climbing mountains, defying the odds of survival until one day the mountain defied his wish to climb and still live.This isn't a book to read if you are looking for a good ending, how to get God to answer prayer, or even how to live a quiet godly life. Its a book that ends with the unspoken question all must answer: how will YOU ascend even as you hold fast to God?

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Review 8 for Holding Fast: The Untold Story of the Mount Hood Tragedy

Overall Rating:

4 out of 5

Date:November 23, 2008

Jean Ballance

This was a heart wrenching, but amazing book. The author is the wife of a mountaineer who lost his life two years ago on Mount Hood along with his closest friends, which is part of the Cascade Mountain Range. I chose this book as I can see the Cascade Mountain Range from our back deck. The book is the journey of a woman who was so deeply in love with her best friend, the tragedy of his death and how her life changed because of it. Her faith in God was transformed because of the circumstances that she dealt with. Seeing how her friends surrounded her, how her step-kids stuck by her, and how she was not afraid to question God was so real. The book itself went very quickly. You almost feel like you are right there beside her, grieving with her, but I can not begin to imagine the depths of grief she went through.All around, a good book. Not one that I usually would choose, and I was skeptical going into it, but the first page grabbed me and took me for quite the ride.

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Review 9 for Holding Fast: The Untold Story of the Mount Hood Tragedy

Overall Rating:

5 out of 5

Date:November 16, 2008

Luanne DeBoth

This book really has two main themes that stood out to me, and I was inspired by both Kelly and his wife Karen. Kelly lived his life to the fullest--passionately loving God, wife, children and friends. He was not afraid to die--He told his wife that he knew where he was going. After the tragic death of her husband, Karen lived courageously. I say that because she continued to get up each morning, when she would have rather curled up and pulled the covers over her head during her intense grief. She continued to do the right things for her step-children. That is a life that is unselfish and God honoring.Inspiring book.

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Review 10 for Holding Fast: The Untold Story of the Mount Hood Tragedy

Overall Rating:

5 out of 5

Date:November 15, 2008

Diane

A great and inspiring book. Since it was a gift from a relative of Kelly's, I will cherish it. After it is read by local friends, it will be going on a trip so all my sisters may read it. When it gets back I have a special spot for it.

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