In this well-written account, Norman Ollestad tells the compelling tale of his own survival of a small plane crash high in the San Gabriel Mountains of California. As an 11-year-old boy, he was the lone survivor of the crash, and had to make his way down the steep face of the mountain alone in order to escape the deadly cold. Interwoven with this narrative is the larger tale of his relationship with his dad.
Normand Ollestad Sr. was a driven man, who loved to push the envelope in skiing, in surfing, and in life, and who took his son along with him, willing or not. These experiences of being forced to push his own endurance, to learn things that didn't interest him, caused a lot of resentment in young Norman Jr. But as he recounts the tale of his survival, he comes to realize that though his dad was "crazy for the storm," for the rush of survival and the thrill of the perfect ride, it was his dad's drivenness and the extremes that he too experienced under his dad's compulsion that got him through. "I knew that what he had put me through saved my life" (210).
The memoir is an entertaining read. The harrowing fight for survival high in the mountains drives the story, but the interwoven tales of Norm's upbringing in the surfing and skiing world are no less interesting, and the two halves of the tale come together nicely to paint a fascinating though tragic picture of this complicated relationship of father and son. It raises, without answering, some interesting and important questions about fathers and sons, parents and children, especially with regard to how to mold and shape a future generation and ensure they learn and experience things that will be important building blocks for life without removing freedom. The epilogue in which Norman talks about his relationship with his own son and the setting in which he wrote the book provides a nice tie up for these questions. In all, it is a very worthwhile book.
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