Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Crazy for the Storm: a memoir of survival by Norman Ollestad


Imagine you are 11 years old, in a plane crash in the San Bernadino Mountains and you are the only survivor. What do you do?
Norman Ollestad, was in a plane crash in 1979 where his father, the pilot and then his father’s girlfriend, Sandra are killed. Norman is only eleven, but the skills his father taught him got him off the mountain on his own.
The story starts with anecdotes about Norman and his father surfing, skiing and living on Topanga Beach in California. Hair raising adventures includes a trip to Mexico to deliver a washer to his grandparents, while outrunning the Federales after refusing to pay bribes at a checkpoint.
Norman talks about his father: “My father craved the weightless glide. He chased hurricanes and blizzards to touch the bliss of riding mighty waves and deep powder snow. An insatiable spirit, he was crazy for the storm. And it saved my life.”
YouTube has an interview with Norman Ollestad with clips after he climbed down Ontario Peak: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqLnh1biSa0


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