OT: Into the Wild bus removed
https://news.yahoo.com/wild-bus-removed-alaska-trail-022023534.html
The iconic bus that has been sitting in the Denali National Forrest for almost 60 years which became a popular (and dangerous) tourist destination for fans of Christopher McCandless has been removed. The bus (and story of Christopher McCandless) became famous with the release of the book 'Into The Wild' in 1996. A decade later, Sean Penn wrote and directed the movie with a stellar soundtrack by Eddie Vedder.
Personally, I think this was a good move. There were too many people putting their lives in danger - not too mention the lives of the search and rescue teams as well.
Thought I'd share this for those who were unaware of this news.
Really great article.when it came out. Then read the book and saw the movie. It is amazing that bus has been there for so long.
Yep. Throughout the years, the bus has taken a lot of damage to it (both natural and human). It was only a matter of time before the bus completely fell apart - or was removed. Sounds like locals of the Stampede Trail are happy to see it gone.
Regardless of what you think of his motivations/actions/beliefs, the story of Christopher McCandless is endlessly fascinating and equally tragic. Penn romanticized it a bit too much. I regard the book as the definitive account. (The movie does has some of the best ensemble acting ever filmed though, IMO, Catherine Keener takes the belt).
John Karakauer is one of my favorite authors. He has so many good books
John Krakauer, and Into the Wild, in a way, also has a loose connection to UM: Krakauer wrote the original article on McCandless for Outdoor magazine in either '92 or '93 (I can't recall which), and the book Into the Wild soon followed. A couple years later, he climbed Mt. Everest for another Outdoor story, and survived one of the deadliest storms to hit the mountain while climbers were attempting to summit. He wrote Into Thin Air as his account of the disaster, which Lloyd Carr read before the 1997 football season. Coach Carr used the metaphor of climbing Mt. Everest as a theme for the adversity the team would face that season, and Krakauer even came out to speak with the team during summer camp.
The original Outdoor article by Krakauer was riveting, as was his full book on McCandless.
However, that didn't keep me from constantly blurting out loud "what a fucking dumbass" as I read both pieces.
I haven't read the book or the original article, thought the movie was a comedy due to the sheer number of times I said "fucking idiot" and laughed while watching it.
Few books have kept me as captivated as “Into Thin Air.” I stayed up until 4 am reading because I couldn’t go to bed without finishing it.
Of course this was during my junior year at UM and staying up until 4 am was something that happened on a semi regular basis back then as opposed to the Herculean accomplish it would be for me today.
I read that book in Nepal. Basically every English language bookstore has 20 copies. But my God what a gripping read.
Into Thin Air is his best book by a mile. I have probably read that book 4 times, beginning to end.
Eh... I actually think _Under the Banner of Heaven_ is better.
I think that is the only non fiction book I read before I got to college. Couldn't put it down.
Many other people do not regard it as the definitive account. Krakaeur is a great story teller. It is less clear that he is a great non-fiction writer.
https://www.adn.com/books/article/fiction-jon-krakauers-wild/2015/01/10/
He created a story based on accounts from Chris' journal and interviews with people who knew him. It's not a biography.
Alaska doesn't revere the story the way many in the rest of the country might and the Anchorage Daily News (ADN) is clearly an Alaska based news outlet, so of course they'd be critical.
The diary is pretty short. 11 fairly short entries covering his time in Alaska.
1 the day he left - April 28
3 about the moose episode
4 about him getting weaker
1 about his attempt to leave
2 others
Clearly he filled in an awful lot of blanks.
https://intothewild2016.wordpress.com/
Into Thin Air also has some significant controversy surrounding it’s veracity. I really enjoyed both books snd would wholeheartedly recommend them, but they need to be taken with a grain of salt
Yes, created a story.
I LOVE Krakauer's books(Under the Banner of Heaven is another good one), but I have to take the perspective of it being a little like the Bryson books of there being some fiction mixed in. This is especially true of the events around Into Thin Air, to say that there's some controversy around that book is an understatement, although I think a lot of it comes down to the lessons from Rashomon(the same thing can happen, but people interpret it in so many different ways figuring out the truth is nearly impossible).
The movie Everest doesn't paint a flattering picture of him at all and it mostly comes from Beck Weathers' perspective.
I thought that portrayal was unfair as hell. Krakauer, despite being an experienced climber, wasn’t a professional high altitude climber and he wasn’t one of the leaders of the Everest expedition team.
He was in a situation where he was fighting for his own survival just like anyone else and these attempts to blame him for some of the deaths by friends and family of the deceased are petty and ridiculous.
Yeah, he has been scapegoated by Fischer and Boukreev there. They both acted recklessly, continuously. Krakauer had no job in that circumstance but to keep himself alive.
Rashomon effect I suppose. I thought the portrayal was fair in that it showed his actions, if it came across poorly, well...
Fascinating sure, Tragic...Dunno(my operating theory is that he decided to commit suicide and that a lot of his problems were self-inflicted). Through reading the book I found McCandless to be kind of a jerk and while, you never want to see someone die like that, I never understood romanticizing him.
I've honestly never understood the appeal of the story. I found myself annoyed and saying "dumbass" often while reading it.
I haven't read the book but saw the movie. I didn't get it either. I thought he was kind of an idiot to be honest. "I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm gonna do it anyway and be free." I forget exactly how it was framed since I saw 13 years ago, but he didn't want to listen to advice from people who actually knew what they were talking about. I saw it when I was 23, so it's not like I was some old man complaining about how the kids these days don't listen. Kinda fitting there were people putting themselves in great danger and even dying to venerate him instead of learning from his example.
He clearly had an emotional disturbance. That is what Krakauer gets at that Penn did not. The kid wasn’t right in the head, at all. Possibly like acute schizophrenia. He needed professional help and impactful, effective parenting, neither of which he received. Yes, it was basically suicide. No, it doesn’t make it any less tragic. More, actually.
I might be mistaken, but I believe I read an article that mentioned that Penn wanted to start making the movie many years before it came out - but the delay was that he needed the McCandless family sign-off. I think once they agreed to let him make the movie, they had some say in how Chris would be portrayed. Because, if you read the book, you'll get a different vibe when it comes to Chris.
I couldn't agree more about the soundtrack. There's some really great songs on there. "Society" is incredible. I find myself humming that often.
"Hard Sun" is a really good cover of the Indio original.
Sad, but also understandable. The bus should be put in a museum now
Great idea. The Henry would be a good spot for it.
They have top men working on it right now.......Top men.
This article does a good job of laying out Chris' actual cause of death and vindicates Chris a little too by providing evidence that he did not misidentify the potato plant seeds that became a part of his diet. The field book he had identified that plants as non-toxic, but further analysis proves they are. Seeds contain a neuotoxin that slowly causes paralysis and the disorder called lathyrism. Chris may have starved to death, but only because of his paralysis and not because the toxin inhibited his metabolism. Chemical analysis that confirmed the presence of the toxin was done at U of Michigan.
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/how-chris-mccandless-died
Very interesting read. I can't really judge it, but it seemed like a compelling argument/data.
Glad they took action and took the bus out if it was becoming a hazard(Although as a big fan of finding quirky stuff in the wild it makes me sad to see something quirky get destroyed, takes some of the character out). Now the question becomes if the kind of people who are determined to go looking for the bus will care, or if they're just going to make a pilgrimage to the site.
Imagine people will still make the pilgrimage. At least for a while. Would be nice if they built some kind of memorial, but seems likely that won't happen since the whole point of removing the bus was to discourage people from crossing the rivers where people were drowning.
Unfortunately too many people were following McCandless’ example and venturing into very hostile wild territory, without being adequately prepared/informed, so they could see the bus.
Great book though. And the name Alexander Supertramp is epic.
"Over the years, several people making pilgrimages to the bus became injured or stranded. Two drowned in river crossings. In April a stranded Brazilian tourist was evacuated, and in February five Italian tourists were rescued."
Imagine being so stupidly unprepared that you kill yourself in a lamebrained attempt to reach the final resting site of another stupidly unprepared idiot who intentionally put himself in harm's way and starved to death.
that GIF is a good representation of Michigan fans heading into the Big House to see them play OSU
I started watching the movie and got bored with it. I couldn't really understand why the story was so captivating, honestly. I really enjoyed Krakauer's other books like Into Thin Air, and another one I read about Mormon murderers, but I've never been able to get myself to pick this one up. Maybe I'm just dense ?♂️.
Have read the book and have seen the movie a few times. Both good . The movie has a really solid cast . I think Hal Halbrook got a much deserved Oscar nomination out of it form the top of my head . William Hurt and Marcia Harden (who plays Chris's parents) quietly put on very good performances in it
100% agree about the cast.
Removing a monument to an unprepared dumb-dumb who got himself killed because too many unprepared dumb-dumbs revere him and try to follow his footsteps, lololol
Good thing we got rid of that Jefferson Davis monument that was causing all the trouble.
Where are all the complaints about how this is erasing our history?
Is this virtue signalling?
Is preventing people from killing themselves by trekking into the woods on a pilgrimage nanny state overreach?
Seems to me that all the complaints that apply to the removal of positive portrayals of slave owners, racists and confederate rebels would also apply to this bus. Why are all the usual suspects silent?
Shut up ya dumbass.
I thank you for your thoughtful and well reasoned commentary. You have a wonderfully articulate and descriptive argumentative style. Though we may have different points of view, it truly is a pleasure to converse with you. I imagine that you are a fine young gentlemen and that you are a credit and an asset to your community. I do hope that we can engage in similar thoughtful conversations in the future.
I heard that he could have crossed the raging river a few miles upstream. It seems he wanted to die