Pickets and Dead Men: Seasons on Rainier

by Bree Loewen

* A women's perspective on the macho world of climbing rangers

* Rescues, egos, and breakfast burritos on Mt. Rainier



Being a climbing ranger on Mount Rainier proved to be a life-altering experience for Bree Loewen. As one of only a handful of women on staff, Bree fought to prove herself among men in the field, while confronting the often unrealistic expectations of the public on a mountain that shows little mercy. With honesty, self-deprecation, and wry humor, she reflects on her experiences on assisting injured climbers, rescuing lost children, battling inscrutable bureaucracy, lugging heavy equipment, and trying to make sense of it all. Whether it's her account of a solo climb in dicey conditions or trying to protect her good jacket while cleaning the outhouses at Camp Muir, Loewen's writing is engagingly human and humane.

Genres: Outdoors, Nonfiction, Mountaineering, Memoir, Adventure, Climbing, Nature

192 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 2009

Reviews

[audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a peculiar phenomenon about being in your twenties and wanting to work outdoors, like for the Park Service: you expect to be or become invincible and perfect and utterly fulfilled, but you're still you, deep inside, and no one's really invincible and perfect and utterly fulfilled, but you won't realize that for another twenty years. Loewen captures that tension perfectly in this book, along with telling wonderfully compelling stories about working as a climbing ranger on Mt Rainier.

[Leshell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stayed up all night to finish this book. It was eye opening to have a peek into the world of climbing rangers. The author’s honesty and humility was refreshing.

[Kathrin Passig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Auch sehr gut, und diesmal aus anderen Gründen ärgerlich als ihr zweites Buch. Der Ehemann kommt noch nicht vor, hier geht es um idiotische, ungesunde und frauenfeindliche Strukturen im Bergwachtberuf. Aber nur zu ungefähr zehn Prozent, der Rest ist auf un-ärgerliche Art interessant. Gut fand ich auch, dass die Autorin die Fälle ziemlich stark anonymisiert und nicht (wie ich es leider schon getan habe) ihre Geschichte mit dem persönlichen Hintergrund der Gefundenen ausschmückt.

[Edward Etzkorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always wondered what they did. I've had multiple contacts with forest rangers over years of hiking the backcountry--one of them with a female ranger who carried a pack twice the size of mine. Well, this book gives the answer. Besides increasing your respect for the ranger who safeguards your unknowledgeable neighbor on the trail, this is a highly readable, grammatically correct, and utterly captivating series of memories. Anyone who has ever hiked the backcountry, whether the Sierras (me!) or Mount Rainier (my brother!) MUST read this book! Bree--I've got your back!

[Callie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick, page-turner, as Bree’s stories offered an insightful peek into life as a park climbing ranger. This is a lifestyle often romanticized, so this was a refreshing and honest perspective. I like that the book touched on the gritty parts that are not as readily talked about in memoirs like this- especially the challenges of navigating work as a woman in a male-dominated space. I like that it had a happy ending as she pursued the kind of life that makes her truly happy and fulfilled.

[Andy Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Bree Loewen's book about her experience as a woman climbing ranger on Mt Rainier. She has a self deprecating sense of humor which is part of her lively writing style,

Her book includes suspenseful stories of rescues, the mundane work and life of a low paid climbing ranger and her perspective of the treatment of women climbing rangers. One of the more poignant chapters was a solo climb she did at about the same time as a novice climber who kept a journal of his climb and her description of her climb is intersected with what she could learn of the novice's climb, the search for the novice when she finished her climb and the sad ending that his body was never found. On the other hand, there was another chapter that ended in the recovery of a body with an especially insensitive comment about the person who died. While she does explain elsewhere in the book the need to develop a macabre sense of humor to deal with the stress and frequent tragedy of being a climbing ranger, her repeating of her insensitive comment was not followed with an apology from her perspective of writing the book years later.

The other complaint I have is that while it is clear that she loves climbing, the book seemed to focus on the negative stories of her experience and I think it would have been a better read if she would have included more stories and perspectives that would have reflected her joy on the mountain.

All in all, an interesting, well written read

[Liralen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes being exhausted is a wonderful feeling. There is nothing like being mentally, physically, and emotionally picked clean, not to mention unreasonably dehydrated, battered, and sunburnt—and then being allowed to sleep. That is a kind of sleep like not other, and I was ready for it. But the week wasn’t over yet, and I was wary of what might come next. (46)

I have an inexplicable love of rescue stories, and also disaster stories. I like reading about climbing and mountains and jobs that I dream of but probably would not, in real life, enjoy very much.

But what stands out most, here, is that it’s hard to see that Loewen ever enjoyed this work either. It sounds as though the odds were in many ways stacked against her: a woman in a male-dominated profession; an environment in which being ‘one of the boys’ could be the difference between being sent out on rescues and being sent to clean out the privies; a few people having a lot of arbitrary say. I’m not sure we’re getting the full picture here, really, but the parts we get feel quite sad.

I realized that I was no longer trying to prove to the world that I could do my job. I was just trying to make it through each day without losing myself, hurting anyone, or going insane. The work was amazing, but there was too much of it. I enjoyed talking to the public about route conditions, staffing the high camps, and patrolling routes up the mountain. If someone got hurt on a route, I went there and made it turn out all right, but I only got a full night’s sleep once every two or three nights. I fell asleep climbing, cooking, eating. My hands shook and my eye twitched all the time. I couldn’t recover, and consequently I was not a good partner or friend, and as a further consequence I got left. (91)

I read Loewen’s Found not too long ago and got a similar sense of job satisfaction and joy at being outdoors being overridden by pressure to meet standards, external and internal, that fundamentally cannot be met. Even Loewen’s enjoyment of talking to the public as part of her job comes with caveats, as she describes it as a part of her job that was less valued by her supervisors, to the extent that being seen as good at the ‘people stuff’ was tantamount to being seen as bad at the more dramatic, physical stuff.

It’s still a gripping read, mind, with excellent detail work (this stands out in stark contrast to a book I’m reading now, about rescue swimmers, in which I have to read a lot of the scenes twice because I’m not really sure what’s going on). But I get neither 'funny' nor 'cringe-inducing' (as the description says), and gosh it leaves me with a lot of questions.

[Kelsey Pope · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I wanted to create friendships that would last, that I could trust my life to, the kind where we would sit together when we were old and reminisce about all the crazy things we’d done. These friendships never really materialized.”

“That was a job I would have done almost anything not to go back to because I felt like the longer I worked there, the more jaded I became towards the people I was sent to help.” - On being an EMT

“I realized that I was no longer trying to prove to the world that I could do my job. I was just trying to make it through each day without losing myself, hurting anyone, or going insane.”

“I’m pretty sure I still loved the mountains, but I wanted fellowship in the mountains, not judgement or neglect. I didn’t want to keep proving myself over and over, when nothing I did seemed to be enough.”

“I can only offer that neither of my twin philosophies, that shared hardship increases camaraderie nor the doctrine ‘that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,’ worked out for me. The mountain irrevocably broke me in many ways, but it also kept me focused on what I wanted in life.”

[Jenna Bonenfant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being into Mountaineering, living in Washington, and hearing mixed reviews of the climbing community, I was very interested to read about Bree’s experience. I found her likeable and relatable right away (After the first chapter I went ahead and ordered her next book). Would recommend to anyone curious about the Rainer ranger life.

[James Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won't belabor the fine points made by others, but I too thought this book was interesting, honest, and well written. Always interesting to see someone's perspective from the inside. I'm happy it all turned out well for her in the end.

[Melanie Forstrom · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fast read and good, though depressing, to hear about the experience of being a female ranger. Author wasn’t always likeable, but that wasn’t the point. Also interesting to see a focus on the rescues and not on the tragedies.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A challenging, often unflattering and always unromantic view of life on Mount Rainier for a climbing ranger. Straightforward and unflinching, it will show you a raw and painful glimpse into the lives of people climbers count on in tough moments on the mountain.

[Mari S.H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked Bree Loewen's second book much better, but I really appreciate this book for its stark and unflinching look at the realities of climbing, sexism, and death in the wilderness. The most realistic and real book about climbing I've read. But it's quite dark.

[Katya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Gripping and sometimes poetic. The girl is a total badass despite how she felt about her role on the team.

[Erinp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really well written, makes me respect rangers way more.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting, honest and exciting story!

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many highlights

Great story. Makes me !omg to be back on the mountain and learn how to be safe on it. So much to learn still.

[Katy O. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Highly recommend for anyone interested in national parks, climbing, and real life adventure stories.

Source: purchased Kindle edition

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.9 stars

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved reading a woman’s perspective on being a climbing ranger at Rainier. It was dark, funny, and I was exhausted just reading about her job.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pickets and Dead Men provides a rare window into the daily life of a Mount Rainier Climbing Ranger. Where Dee Molenaar's excellent book The Challenge of Rainier took a historical look at rangers and climbing on the mountain, this book delivers the heartfelt renderings of one ranger over her few seasons.

Having climbed Mt. Rainier a number of times I was excited to read this book. Although at times Loewen writes passionately about the mountain and her experiences, there was often a heavy tone of disenchantment.

Even so, after reading the book I was left with more respect for the author and other climbing rangers who do so much with so little; it is appalling the lack of equipment and support they get, yet they do a great job of managing the mayham that occasionally occurs.

That said, it can be painful to read how these people might feel at times while doing their job. It is perhaps no different than overhearing the kitchen banter among waitstaff: we all know serving the public can be a pain but do we want to hear about it? Maybe there is a better delivery method than Loewen chose; humor comes first to mind--I can hear Bill Bryson skewering people while making you want to read on! Contrast that with plowing through Loewens' book at times because you value her overall message and want to hear her out.

Lastly, I found the cover image (done by one of the author's family)strikingly beautiful; along with the title the cover caused me to pick up this book and want to read it.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. One thing I appreciated was that I did not feel like Bree Loewen was trying to "put words" into other people's mouths (sorry, I know this is cliche, I just can't think of a better way to say it). Loewen really tried to speak about her experiences as a ranger on Mt. Rainer, without generalizing or suggesting that all rangers feel a certain way about the job. One clear theme is Loewen's need to connect with others through climbing and harsh experiences,something she does not find in this job. However,this is stated several times throughout the book. I think Loewen's stories are told well and get this idea across,so at times I didn't want to be told "hey this is what you should get from the story." As a warning, while I appreciated the reality of the stories, most are pessimistic, so this isn't a book to read if you are looking for a light-hearted "put me in a good mood" "bonding with nature" memoir. The job is harsh, and Loewen gives us her unflinching insights during her third year on the mountain, refusing to spare her reader, the mountain, or herself.

[Betsey Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you ever loved reading those "Drama In Real Life" stories in Reader's Digest, and I did, you'll enjoy this memoir of a young, new, female climbing ranger on Mt Rainier. Some of her experiences on the mountain were really shocking, mostly in the actions of other climbers she encounters. This is another book I read while nursing, and Loewen's message that we do not tackle things because they are easy but because they are difficult, resonated with me in the middle of the night when I was wiped out and wondering if I could carry on with motherhood. Another thing I took away from Pickets and Dead Men was that I never want anyone I love to be involved in climbing.

[skye · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went to a book-reading by the author a couple years ago, and always wanted to know the end of the story she left us hanging with. (But not enough to buy the book.) So when I saw it at a book sale, I bought it. I then read it over Christmas, and was really impressed by the quality of her writing. Some truly great mountain musings. The core is about companionship in the mountains (or elsewhere). Great work.

[e daily]

Bree Loewen: “despite all the awful things, it was a dream job”
Me: are you fuckin sure

I liked Found way better, I think because everyone in it was trying their best. This book made me cringe at a lot of points because of the actions of others. It did a great job illustrating how trash we feel when we say/do untrue things to try to get ahead in situations where we have to “overcome” our womanness.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating book about Bree Loewen's experiences over three years as a climbing ranger on Mt. Rainier. Those rangers face an incredibly tough life, and I don't blame her for quitting. Not the life for me, thanks, except maybe for the copious amounts of macaroni and cheese that Bree eats throughout the book.

[Jeannie Colling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating look at three seasons of climbing rescues on Mt. Rainier, written by a young female ranger who not only had to battle the elements, but also the climbers and the powers that be that didn't support women in this field. Not a whiny book. She was good at presenting all sides, and had a good sense of her won capabilities.

[Krista Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a good read - what an amazing behind-the-scenes view from the Rangers at Rainier. I was shocked to hear just how unsafe they constantly are as well. The Author has completely dry humor which I really appreciated.

[Kimberlybrennantyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A females perspective on being a climbing guide on Ranier, a mountain that eats people. The details are incomplete so it mainly just provides a brief background with beautiful descriptions of the backdrop. A light read.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was a great raw narrative and had moments when it was both gut-wrenching and really funny at the same time. It was a page turner and I liked the underlying message about the importance of having good community. It could've been longer.