Set in Malibu and Mexico in the late 1970s, the book captures the earthy surf culture of Southern California; the boy's conflicted feelings for his magnetic father; and the exhilarating tests of skill in the surf and snow that prepared young Norman to become a fearless surfer and ski champion—which ultimately saved his life.
In February 1979, just as he was reaping the rewards of his training, a chartered Cessna carrying Norman, his father, his father's girlfriend, and the pilot, crashed into the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California and was suspended at eight thousand feet, engulfed in a blizzard. Norman's father, his coach and hero, was dead, and the 11-year old Ollestad had to descend the mountain alone and grief-stricken, through snow and ice, without any gear. This is his remarkable story, in his own words.
"Beyond the immediate rush of entering this dramatic autobiographical narrative, something amazing begins to emerge from the violence and passion of eleven-year-old Ollestad's life. What the book ultimately reveals - and what remains in the end - is a genuinely tender relationship between a boy and his father."
Norman Ollestad was thrust into the world of surfing and competitive downhill skiing at a very young age by the father he idolized. In 1979 he survived a plane crash that took the lives of the other three passengers, including his father, who was a former child actor and an FBI agent. Ollestad studied creative writing at UCLA and graduated from UCLA Film School. He lives in Venice, California and is the father of an eight year-old son.
