What do you think?
Rate this book
Critical Hours: Search and Rescue in the White Mountains
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.
312 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 3, 2018
66 people are currently reading
357 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
July 21, 2020
Probably only of interest to those familiar with New Hampshire’s White Mountains, Critical Hours offers a wandering look into search and rescue in the Whites. As a total sucker for that sort of thing, I ate it up. Lots of interesting tales and fascinating tidbits.
April 21, 2024
I would have preferred more searching and rescuing, and less philosophical waxing about nature. Too many of the rescues contained the author writing some variation of "this incident is recounted in more detail in [insert name of other book here]." Well, you know what? I'm not reading those books, I'm reading this book, so why not include the details in this one? Not everyone has read every book in existence about the White Mountains.
February 4, 2021
Beautifully written and full of the history of the white mountain SAR. Great companion to Ty Gagne’s two books, which go into greater detail about specific rescues, while Critical Hours looks at SAR as a whole. So glad I read it!
July 15, 2024
Warning - may literally result in you supporting a rescue of a person in the white mountains (I am not kidding. Great book!)
December 18, 2020
Very poorly written. Could have been a fantastic book with harrowing stories of search and rescue but instead was more of the author's philosophical rambling and most of the SAR story is just a basic stating of timeline fact. This is a topic I love and this book was so poorly written I couldn't finish it.
October 3, 2025
Kind of boring and like a knock off version of Not Without Peril
August 10, 2024
Very niche, but I'm super into this topic/category. Interesting writing style at times, but overall learned a lot about search and rescue in NH
July 6, 2018
Yes, this is a book about hiking and rescue in the White Mountains that artfully combines history, philosophy, memoir and, ultimately thrilling story after thrilling story. Stott has a knack for exploring mysteries, and there are plenty of them throughout the book. As a reader, you are constantly stunned by the choices that hikers and the rescuers make---both courageous and foolish decisions. So, the entertainment factor in these stories is huge. But there is more. These stories all reveal a world that is, I think, about hope. There is a reference in the book to an essay by a noted hiker who says, "At every trailhead, erect a sign bearing the inscription Dante found over the gate of Hell: 'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.'" But the truth that Stott explores is that hope is, in fact, precisely what both hiking and rescue are ultimately about--different for each group, to be sure, but Stott recounts in lovely individual sentences why both of these activities have, in part, a religious, spiritual quality. Yes, this is a book of fascinating stories, but it will also give you a glimpse into the reasons why people hike, and why other people go in to rescue them and, ultimately, into the nature of hope.
June 22, 2021
"Accidents are never one event. They're usually a combination of things that happened beforehand."
- From Critical Hours: Search and Rescue in the White Mountains, Chapter 10: When the Angles and the Odds Rise by Sandy Scott
Critical Hours tells the story of SAR in the White Mountains region of New Hampshire, addressing everything from the history of SAR to how current operations run to the lives of those who volunteer their time search for and (hopefully) rescue others. It's a lot to deal with, and unfortunately the book bounces around a lot in the process of touching on the disparate topics. I wouldn't have minded it so much if each chapter had been pretty self contained in the history, function, importance, experience, or something else for a particular topic around the axis of White Mountains SAR IF those chapters didn't have so many digressions that would have been more appropriate and timely if they had simply been included in their relevant chapters. There's a lot of good information in this book; unfortunately the manner in which the author relates that information is more than a little haphazard. Critical Hours wasn't a bad book by any means, but it could have done with a better editor.
- From Critical Hours: Search and Rescue in the White Mountains, Chapter 10: When the Angles and the Odds Rise by Sandy Scott
Critical Hours tells the story of SAR in the White Mountains region of New Hampshire, addressing everything from the history of SAR to how current operations run to the lives of those who volunteer their time search for and (hopefully) rescue others. It's a lot to deal with, and unfortunately the book bounces around a lot in the process of touching on the disparate topics. I wouldn't have minded it so much if each chapter had been pretty self contained in the history, function, importance, experience, or something else for a particular topic around the axis of White Mountains SAR IF those chapters didn't have so many digressions that would have been more appropriate and timely if they had simply been included in their relevant chapters. There's a lot of good information in this book; unfortunately the manner in which the author relates that information is more than a little haphazard. Critical Hours wasn't a bad book by any means, but it could have done with a better editor.
January 11, 2022
Questions I'd have as an editor reviewing the work as a whole:
1) How is this book distinct from Not Without Peril? Assume your reader has read that classic book and be careful of excessive overlap.
2) Related, are you writing about the incidents themselves or focusing on the search and rescue perspective?
3) Do you really need that chapter and how does it fit in with your point found in #2? (Lots of chapters seemed plopped in and without context or tie in.)
4) Be a weeee more careful writing about why women might not be involved in something when you're not a woman. That chapter in particular grated and felt tone deaf. I guess points for trying?
Writing is mostly solid otherwise. Would probably recommend Not Without Peril over this one, combined with Where You'll Find Me for the SAR look.
1) How is this book distinct from Not Without Peril? Assume your reader has read that classic book and be careful of excessive overlap.
2) Related, are you writing about the incidents themselves or focusing on the search and rescue perspective?
3) Do you really need that chapter and how does it fit in with your point found in #2? (Lots of chapters seemed plopped in and without context or tie in.)
4) Be a weeee more careful writing about why women might not be involved in something when you're not a woman. That chapter in particular grated and felt tone deaf. I guess points for trying?
Writing is mostly solid otherwise. Would probably recommend Not Without Peril over this one, combined with Where You'll Find Me for the SAR look.
September 25, 2021
2.5/5. This is essentially a sociology paper, series of conflicting ideologies, and high school book report rolled into one. Any actual rescues discussed are referenced from other books (most frequently 'Not without Peril' - read that instead of this). If you're looking for a book that spends an entire chapter pondering the offset between male vs. female search and rescue workers, how donations from the public are distributed across various volunteer SAR teams, or the struggles behind the dubious and seemingly arbitrary 'rescue bills' that some rescuees are faced with, this might be the one for you.
September 20, 2024
Awesome book but might not get the attention of the people who live outside New England and aren’t as familiar with the mountains discussed but overall great book.
May 3, 2022
Yet another in a series of recent books I've read about accidents and deaths in the White Mountains. In fact, if it were only a recitation of the most noteworthy search-and-rescue activities, those events would seem pretty familiar after reading the three preceding books on this topic.
But although Stott recounts some of the more noteworthy successful and unsuccessful rescue attempts, the spin in this book is to examine how search and rescue (SAR) is accomplished in New Hampshire, including how it came about that NH Fish and Game became the government authority overseeing SAR and the genesis of numerous volunteer SAR organizations located primarily in my backyard here in the Whites.
Beyond painting the factual landscape of SAR, though, Stott considers ethical questions such as whether hikers who run into trouble - whether by true accident or poor planning - should be rescued at all. He references an article written by Robert Kruszyna in the mid-1990s, where Kruszyna argues - apparently somewhat tongue-in-cheek:
While Stott empathizes with Kruszyna's libertarian leaning on this subject, he says "I also feel a hollow space where compassion and relationship live, the place where people overlap, where, in all their messiness, people coexist. Extreme self-sufficiency and individualism seem, finally, lonely. Given the ease with which we bumble in all areas, ...such standards seem unapproachable." I can't help but agree with Stott's more humanitarian take on this question, recognizing that rescuers are ultimately free to decline to participate in a rescue.
Stott also provides some really interesting SAR-related background in terms of case law that bears on liability when a victim or victim's family seeks damages from a perceived negligent party - in one case, the U.S. Forest Service for its alleged failure to adequately warn hikers who were inexperienced and ill-equipped to be on Mount Washington in dangerous conditions. Alas, the law comes squarely down on the side of the government in this case, essentially finding that the unfortunate hiker who died in this incident was responsible for her own misfortune, as sad as it was.
In the end, what I thought would be a retread of accident stories I was already familiar with, this turned out to be a book that covered plenty of new and interesting ground from the perspective of the SAR community. Well written, and worth reading.
But although Stott recounts some of the more noteworthy successful and unsuccessful rescue attempts, the spin in this book is to examine how search and rescue (SAR) is accomplished in New Hampshire, including how it came about that NH Fish and Game became the government authority overseeing SAR and the genesis of numerous volunteer SAR organizations located primarily in my backyard here in the Whites.
Beyond painting the factual landscape of SAR, though, Stott considers ethical questions such as whether hikers who run into trouble - whether by true accident or poor planning - should be rescued at all. He references an article written by Robert Kruszyna in the mid-1990s, where Kruszyna argues - apparently somewhat tongue-in-cheek:
Therefore, I offer the least expensive, the least complicated, the least regimented, and the most moral solution to the problem of what to do about people in trouble in the mountains: do nothing! Abandon all contingency plans. Disband all mountain rescue groups... For if it is immoral for the climber to exercise his freedom at the expense of placing a burden on others, it is equally immoral for society to seduce him into exactly that position by promising him rescue no matter what.
While Stott empathizes with Kruszyna's libertarian leaning on this subject, he says "I also feel a hollow space where compassion and relationship live, the place where people overlap, where, in all their messiness, people coexist. Extreme self-sufficiency and individualism seem, finally, lonely. Given the ease with which we bumble in all areas, ...such standards seem unapproachable." I can't help but agree with Stott's more humanitarian take on this question, recognizing that rescuers are ultimately free to decline to participate in a rescue.
Stott also provides some really interesting SAR-related background in terms of case law that bears on liability when a victim or victim's family seeks damages from a perceived negligent party - in one case, the U.S. Forest Service for its alleged failure to adequately warn hikers who were inexperienced and ill-equipped to be on Mount Washington in dangerous conditions. Alas, the law comes squarely down on the side of the government in this case, essentially finding that the unfortunate hiker who died in this incident was responsible for her own misfortune, as sad as it was.
In the end, what I thought would be a retread of accident stories I was already familiar with, this turned out to be a book that covered plenty of new and interesting ground from the perspective of the SAR community. Well written, and worth reading.
July 27, 2025
Sandy Stott has abundant material from which to work, due in part to his long-term role as editor of Appalachia Journal and, due to the fact that five to ten people die annually in the White Mountains from falls, exposure, or drowning.
In Critical Hours: Search and Rescue in the White Mountains, Sandy Stott dips into this deep source of material, while focusing on the rescuers – the men and (a few) women who selflessly drop their day jobs and come to the aid of those in peril.
If you read this book for adventure or to gain a few exciting campfire stories, then you might be a bit disappointed. There are better books available for that type of reading and Stott references them throughout Critical Hours. But unlike many of these other books, Stott offers insight into why SAR in the White Mountains is unique. He compares this with other SAR approaches in Colorado and in the French Alps. He discusses legal aspects and examines funding approaches. He even delves into the philosophy of SAR – should rescuers even go out to retrieve the victims?
There are some drawbacks: When Stott does paint adventure into the book, he comes off a little flat. And Stott references Ty Gagne’s excellent, Where You Will Find Me, yet strangely he doesn’t mention this important book in his appendix on further reading.
There is one particular highlight worth mentioning: Stott offers a robust packing checklist – one of the best that I have seen. Even if you scan the book or borrow it from the library, make sure that you study this packing list. It might help keep your name out of the next SAR book to be published.
In Critical Hours: Search and Rescue in the White Mountains, Sandy Stott dips into this deep source of material, while focusing on the rescuers – the men and (a few) women who selflessly drop their day jobs and come to the aid of those in peril.
If you read this book for adventure or to gain a few exciting campfire stories, then you might be a bit disappointed. There are better books available for that type of reading and Stott references them throughout Critical Hours. But unlike many of these other books, Stott offers insight into why SAR in the White Mountains is unique. He compares this with other SAR approaches in Colorado and in the French Alps. He discusses legal aspects and examines funding approaches. He even delves into the philosophy of SAR – should rescuers even go out to retrieve the victims?
There are some drawbacks: When Stott does paint adventure into the book, he comes off a little flat. And Stott references Ty Gagne’s excellent, Where You Will Find Me, yet strangely he doesn’t mention this important book in his appendix on further reading.
There is one particular highlight worth mentioning: Stott offers a robust packing checklist – one of the best that I have seen. Even if you scan the book or borrow it from the library, make sure that you study this packing list. It might help keep your name out of the next SAR book to be published.
August 23, 2022
This was a good read. It covered White Mountain rescues more from the rescuers point of view rather than the rescued person and their backstory. I liked the way it morphed into the politics of rescue - understanding the dilemma of charging for rescues for the negligent uninformed hikers (or not), where the budgets for rescues can come from, how the backcountry insurance card works, etc. At the end of all the rhetoric, it’s the rescuers that can answer that all important question, “why do you do it?”.
January 17, 2024
I may have given this five stars had I not been reading it alongside Nicholas Howe's "Not Without Peril - 150 Years of Misadventure on the Presidential Range of New Hampshire".
I abandoned Stott's book temporarily and consumed Howe's - which was much more detailed and discussed the same incidents plus so much more. Stott refers to Howe's book often.
It is still well written and a good read. Read this as an appetizer before "Not Without Peril" if you plan to read more about the White Mountains.
I abandoned Stott's book temporarily and consumed Howe's - which was much more detailed and discussed the same incidents plus so much more. Stott refers to Howe's book often.
It is still well written and a good read. Read this as an appetizer before "Not Without Peril" if you plan to read more about the White Mountains.
February 27, 2019
The topic- the searchers, not the lost- is really interesting, and worth the read.
The book reads like a collection of different ideas on search & rescue— it doesn’t have a strong overall narrative.
If you’re looking for great story telling about misadventures, read Nick Howe’s “not without peril”.
But if you want a mix of technical, philosophical, narrative & behind the scenes looks at search & rescue, it’s worth the read.
The book reads like a collection of different ideas on search & rescue— it doesn’t have a strong overall narrative.
If you’re looking for great story telling about misadventures, read Nick Howe’s “not without peril”.
But if you want a mix of technical, philosophical, narrative & behind the scenes looks at search & rescue, it’s worth the read.
December 30, 2023
I couldn't put the book down. I live 25 minutes from the White Mountains and have hiked some of the trails highlighted in the book. I also was involved in a SAR by the NHFG when a friend I was hiking with fell and fractured a femur 2 miles from the trailhead. These are some amazing and dedicated folks coming out to rescue a fellow mountain traveler. The Whites are beautiful, but they demand respect.
February 11, 2025
3.5 stars, rounded up. If you are someone who knows and loves the White Mountains in NH, this book is for you (if not, this might be one to skip because it is very specific to places and events in the Whites). At times, this felt like a laundry list of events with both happy and heartbreaking outcomes, or the rambling thoughts of the author. But overall, it was an enjoyable book for someone who loves the White Mountains to increase appreciation of that tenuous region.
April 2, 2022
Unlike other stories of the whites, this one was very much focused on the tremendous members of NHF&G and all the various volunteer SAR teams. It was an interesting perspective although perhaps slightly long winded towards the end in pressing the point on being prepared. Of course I say this as someone who brings all the ten essentials and than some.
September 23, 2025
an odd combination of two parts SAR incident log and one part rather touching and beautiful writing about being a human in the mountains. I enjoyed both parts, I suppose.
east coast mountains are odd but I am accepting that perhaps I have underestimated them. who cares if you can drive to the top of the big big mountain if the temperature regularly hits like forty below????
east coast mountains are odd but I am accepting that perhaps I have underestimated them. who cares if you can drive to the top of the big big mountain if the temperature regularly hits like forty below????
January 16, 2024
Was given this as a gift.
I have no interest in this book. This book is basically a history of the Whites. It includes some rescues. I don't care. I want to experience the Whites, not read about it. AMC workshops are all you need to prepare yourself for tackling the Whites.
I have no interest in this book. This book is basically a history of the Whites. It includes some rescues. I don't care. I want to experience the Whites, not read about it. AMC workshops are all you need to prepare yourself for tackling the Whites.
May 27, 2024
She quoted the book, "Not Without Peril" so many times, I was left wondering why I just wasn't reading that book instead. I found the search a rescue stories about the trails I know so well captivating but the history I found boring. She jumped around a lot and was hard to follow.
January 12, 2025
Really liked this - definitely made me realize that I’ve gone on a few winter hikes TOTALLY unprepared, and just got lucky. Took off one star because there are some chapters I wasn’t super interested in.
Read
November 2, 2020This was an awesome book detailing the efforts behind rescues as well as the rescues themselves. Thoroughly enjoyed.
January 11, 2021
Decent read if you are familiar with adventuring in the Whites, but not the best search and rescue book about the Whites out there.
Read
February 26, 2025DNF
March 23, 2023
This audiobook was a good summary of many facets of search and rescue in the White Mountains.
Starting with several cases search and rescue, the book quickly moves into the history of search and rescue in the White Mountains. Next it goes into modern day search and rescue including; the various groups that's support search and rescues, those groups specialties, why search and rescue is important, the budget challenges facing search and rescue organizations, the charging for rescue and ensuing litigation from recoveries of bodies or refusal to pay charges.
Many of the trails the author discusses I know very well and I will look at this differently in the future.
Starting with several cases search and rescue, the book quickly moves into the history of search and rescue in the White Mountains. Next it goes into modern day search and rescue including; the various groups that's support search and rescues, those groups specialties, why search and rescue is important, the budget challenges facing search and rescue organizations, the charging for rescue and ensuing litigation from recoveries of bodies or refusal to pay charges.
Many of the trails the author discusses I know very well and I will look at this differently in the future.
November 25, 2020
Okay, to be fair, I didn't *quite* finish this. I skipped the last twenty minutes or so of conclusion. Stott has a tendency to wax grandiloquent.
Once you're underway in the story, past the introduction and flowery nature prose, the actual rescue stories are interesting: tense and compelling, if often tragic, and a good warning for those of us who spend time in the mountains at any length. Also, some of the history and financial stuff about SAR was really interesting -- how SAR is funded, different SAR models around the world, etc.
Just be prepared to do a little fast-forwarding.
Once you're underway in the story, past the introduction and flowery nature prose, the actual rescue stories are interesting: tense and compelling, if often tragic, and a good warning for those of us who spend time in the mountains at any length. Also, some of the history and financial stuff about SAR was really interesting -- how SAR is funded, different SAR models around the world, etc.
Just be prepared to do a little fast-forwarding.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews