{"id":15654,"date":"2025-11-15T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-book-chronicles-tragedy-in-colorado-mountains\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T19:34:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T19:34:38","slug":"new-book-chronicles-tragedy-in-colorado-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-book-chronicles-tragedy-in-colorado-mountains\/","title":{"rendered":"New book chronicles tragedy in Colorado mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Author
Author Devon O\u2019Neil will be at Maria\u2019s Bookshop on Tuesday to talk about his new book, \u201cThe Way Out.\u201d (Courtesy)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Devon O\u2019Neil brings his vast journalistic experience to his coverage of a major, tragic event that took place over 30 hours near Salida in 2017 in his new book, \u201cThe Way Out: A True Story of Survival in the Heart of the Rockies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

If you go<\/h4>\n

WHAT:<\/strong> Author event and book-signing with Devon O\u2019Neil, \u201cThe Way Out.\u201d<\/p>\n

WHEN: <\/strong>6-8 p.m. Tuesday.<\/p>\n

WHERE: <\/strong>Maria\u2019s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave.<\/p>\n

MORE INFORMATION: <\/strong>Visit https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/42d69y2j<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It is obvious he spent a lot of time getting to know and interviewing the main parties involved. O\u2019Neil also covers the physical layout of the area in great detail. His depiction of the time and flavor of the community, its history and colorful inhabitants seems intimate and on point, making the incident emotionally impactful.<\/p>\n

Salida is similar to Durango with its appeal to outdoor enthusiasts. It has a small population of only 5,000 to 6,000 residents who live at 7,000 feet altitude. It is known for its historic district, skiing, mountain biking and especially rafting on the Arkansas River. Salida is considered \u201cThe Heart of the Rockies\u201d by its fans. These factors draw many people who love the outdoors and even extreme sports.<\/p>\n

This story involves well known Salida residents, especially Brett Beasley, Dr. Joel Schaler and Chuck McKenna. Joel and his kids have suffered a serious loss with the death of his wife and their mother. So he has planned a two night skiing trip into the Sawatch Range. The group will be staying at Uncle Bud\u2019s Hut at 11,380 feet.<\/p>\n

In addition to the three fathers, the four teenage children include Brooke, 15, Brett\u2019s younger daughter who is not as an enthusiastic an outdoors person as her sister. Brooke\u2019s friend, Melissa, 16, is Chuck\u2019s daughter and a great skier. Joel\u2019s children are Morgan, 19, and Cole, 15.<\/p>\n

In \u201cPart One: The Hut Trip,\u201d the group sets out for a fun, bonding adventure on Jan. 3, 2017. The hut is located only 8 miles from Leadville, the highest town in the Lower 48. The party skis up to the hut, followed by an evening of cards and stories. After breakfast the next morning, Joel plans to hand out equipment and go over safety guidelines. But Brett and Cole disappear from the group after Brett asks Cole, \u201cYou wanna ski a lap?\u201d This begins a harrowing tale of converging circumstances involving Mother Nature and human nature that start a bitter fight for survival.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart Two: The Search\u201d begins when the others realize that Cole and Brett have been gone far too long. They also discover that the two are woefully underprepared with the wrong clothing, and no food or water. Complicating \u2013 and making the situation more frightening \u2013 is the fact that a blizzard chooses this time to bear down on the mountain.<\/p>\n

Attempts for a timely rescue effort are foiled by terrain and severe weather. Brett is a well known and respected outdoorsman. He is a U.S. Forest Service ranger known for his expertise and knowledge of the mountains. Cole is an active teen who has had some troubles toning down his sporting activities. It seems that both of them struck out that day with big cases of \u201cpowder fever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPart Three: The Reckoning\u201d delves into the aftermath of the search, where there is only one survivor. How do families deal with unimaginable loss? Also, the survivor must deal with his own feelings and those around him.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neil paints a picture of an unique community populated with people who recognize the possibilities and risks of recreating in the wild, but are still driven to pursue adventure anyway. The tight-knit group must go through the stages of grief and forgiveness to recover the equilibrium needed to heal and grow. O\u2019Neil has taken an small-town experience and crafted a riveting read that includes important observations about human strengths and weaknesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Way Out\u201d is written with clarity and compassion, and includes some valuable lessons for outdoor enthusiasts.<\/p>\n

Leslie Doran is a retired teacher and freelance writer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

O\u2019Neil will discuss \u2018The Way Out\u2019 at Maria\u2019s Bookshop on Tuesday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1060,28,1443],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-arts-entertainment","tag-headlines","tag-literature"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15654"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19772,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15654\/revisions\/19772"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15654"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}