The Edge of Never: A Skier’s Story of Life, Death, and Dreams in the World’s Most Dangerous Mountains is a nonfiction book that follows the story of a young man, Kye Petersen, who travels to Chamonix, France, to ski the route that killed his famous, big-mountain skiing father, Trevor Petersen. This article is a book review of The Edge of Never.
A while ago I was contacted by John (a reader of Homeboy Ski blog) who asked if I would be interested in reviewing The Edge of Never book. As I heard it’s a story of Kye Petersen skiing the run that killed his father Trevor I got really interested. During the 90s I followed how Trevor Petersen and Eric Pehota, the two pioneers of freeskiing, conquered the big mountains of Chugach in Alaska. A story so closely related to one of my early role models is something I must read.
The Edge of Never book in review
Why was this book written? Kye Petersen is a special young man with a powerful story. As a former race skier Kerig (author) wanted to tell the world this fascinating father-son story. Another reason for writing this book is that Kerig also wanted write about filming the ski movie Steep.
The Edge of Never is written from author’s perspective. Kerig travels with Key Petersen, Glen Plake, Mike Hattrup and a number of other well-known skiers to Chamonix in order to film Kye skiing Glacier Rond, the run that killed his father. Naturally there is a lot more in the book than just the trip to Chamonix, but the focus is in Key, his father Trevor and Glacier Rond of Chamonix.
The Edge of Never is nonfiction. It is full of real life stories of backcountry skiing, friendships, tragedies, awesome experiences, avalanches, powder snow, passion, strong feelings, etc. The Edge of Never talks about the real world of freeskiing. Experienced skiers can easily notice that the author is an experienced skier too, and that he knows a lot about skiing.
The Edge of Never is written very well. I was actually surprised that the book hooked me up like Tom Clancy’s books. It started like a nuclear bomb and continued like an earth quake until the end where the circle closes. Kerig (author) is clearly a good storyteller who knows how to use a pen.
The book was never boring, although it contains a lot of detailed descriptions of skiing. For some people it might not be too much interesting to read about the niddy gitty details of Glen Plakes skiing style, but for skiing junkies like me it is actually entertaining. Also I believe some people would not be interested in reading the detailed stories of Glen Plage, Kye Petersen, Anselme Baud and other names skiing the backcountries of Chamonix. Those who know Chamonix and have skied the same runs (such as Poubelles of Aiguille du Midi and Gran Montets, Pas du Chevre and Glacier Rond) probably find it interesting because they can easily assimilate with the skiers.
The Edge of Never is fluent, coherent, correct and original reading from the world of freeskiing. It is a powerful story of the Trevor Petersen’s family saga spied with some big names of the sport (such as Glen Plake, Doug Coombs and Anselme Baud). This stuff really suits the intended audience, the skiers.
I warnly recommed The Edge of Never to anyone interested in skiing, freeskiing, Trevor and Kye Petersen, Glen Plake or Chamonix. If you love action, you can find it in this book. This book is not just a diary of skiing, it is a great, inspiring and touching story with tons of great feelings and strong passion. The Edge of Never is a great book.
If you are interested in purchasing The Edge of Never book, you can find it in Amazon. Just click the link. Price is currently $10.85
Check also the clip below. There will be a movie version of the Petersen father-son story. Release is scheduled on 2009.
6 Responses
I bought the book and I can say I did indeed enjoy it.
I actually read it through in one session – but that is not uncommon of me even with larger volumes.
The book itself is not larger than life literature that one would come back to over and over again over the years – but very interesting reading for an enthuasist skier and well worth the price.
I especially like the section whereas Kye doesn’t quite yet get that Anselme Baud is Anselme Baud…
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