Thirty Below: The Harrowing and Heroic Story of the First All-Women's Ascent of Denali

Summary

THE GRIPPING STORY OF A GROUP OF FEMALE ADVENTURERS AND THEIR TREACHEROUS, PIONEERING ASCENT OF DENALI IN 1970

Grace Hoeman dreamed of standing on top of Denali, the tallest peak in North America. A doctor and mountaineer in Alaska, Grace had come close to the top, only to be turned back by altitude sickness and a storm that took the lives of seven fellow climbers in one remorseless blow. Other expeditions denied her a place because of her gender, and when a letter arrived from a fellow climber who’d also been barred from expeditions—unless she stayed in base camp and cooked for the men—Grace got a defiant idea: she would organize and lead the first ever all-female ascent of the frozen Alaskan peak.

Everyone told the “Denali Damsels” that it couldn’t be done. Men had walked on the moon; women still had not stood on the highest points on Earth. But these six women were unwilling to be limited by doubters and misogynists. They pushed past barriers in society at large, the climbing world, and their own bodies. And then, when disaster struck at the worst time on their expedition, the team’s actions would decide not only their fate, but how the world would judge them—and all women’s ability to climb and survive the fiercest mountains.

Author Cassidy Randall draws on extensive archival research and original interviews to tell an absorbing, edge-of-the-seat adventure story about this forgotten group of climbers who had the audacity to believe that women could walk alone in such extraordinary heights.

“Thirty Below is fast paced, with incredible characters, and exciting all the way to the end. This is a gripping story that’s worth telling, and Randall has done a great job in bringing it to life.”—Alex Honnold, professional climber and author of Alone on the Wall