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The Harrowing and Heroic Story of the First All-Women's Ascent of Denali
by Cassidy Randall
The gripping story of a group of female adventurers and their treacherous pioneering ascent of Denali in 1970.
Cassidy Randall draws on extensive archival research and original interviews to tell an engrossing, edge-of-the-seat adventure story about a forgotten group of climbers who had the audacity to believe that women could walk alone in extraordinary and treacherous heights.
Grace Hoeman dreamed of standing on top of Denali. The tallest peak in North America, the fierce polar mountain loomed large in many climbers' imaginations, and Grace, a doctor in Alaska, 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 climber in California named Arlene Blum, 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," as the team called themselves, that it couldn't be done: Women were incapable of climbing mountains on their own. 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 sexists 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, they could either keep their wits and prove their mettle, or die and confirm the worst opinions of men.
"The prejudices, intimidation, and exclusion of the male-dominated sphere of mountaineering affected, angered, and motivated each of the Denali Damsels differently, but readers will be left in awe of the women's enthrallment to the sport, their determination, and the bittersweet spirit of their life-changing experience. An entrancing tale of a harrowing adventure." ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"It never ceases to amaze me how experiences in the mountains are metaphors for life, especially when they include tough interpersonal dynamics, illness, rescue, and extreme physical challenge. Cassidy Randall's excellent research and writing makes Thirty Below a captivating dive into the members of the six-woman Denali team. You'll wonder what will happen next, why the world didn't seem to notice, and how any of us might have chosen to show up in the same situation." ―Kit DesLauriers, professional ski mountaineer and author of Higher Love
"Randall weaves a gripping tale of survival on North America's highest peak, with a twist—the first all-female climbing team had to brave far more than the mountain to make their summit. A portrait of cutting-edge alpinism and complicated sisterhood, Thirty Below recalls climbers pushed to the limit, and beyond. It's a piece of Denali history every mountaineer should know." ―Caroline Van Hemert, author of The Sun is a Compass
This information about Thirty Below was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Cassidy Randall is an award-winning writer who tells stories on the environment, adventure, and people who expand human potential. Her stories have appeared in Rolling Stone, National Geographic, the New York Times, TIME, Atavist, Outside, and Men's Journal, among others. She wrote The Hard Parts with Paralympian Oksana Masters, which won an Alex Award from the American Library Association and was listed as one of the best sports books of the year by the Times. Her work has been awarded the Lowell Thomas Gold Medal in Adventure Writing, short-listed for the True Story Award, and included in The Year's Best Sports Writing. She lives in Montana.
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