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.
Praise
“Thirty Below is fast paced, with incredible characters who make you appreciate how far mountaineering (and society in general) has progressed in the last fifty years 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
“Climbers climb a peak because ‘it’s there.’ But these six athletes had an additional reason: No team composed entirely of women had ever reached the rooftop of North America. For them, seizing the grail involved not only overcoming the usual physical and organizational challenges of a dangerous ascent, but also upending a host of ingrained perceptions that had long suffused this most macho of sports. The saga of how they pulled off their historic feat is an immensely enjoyable read—part Into Thin Air, part Thelma and Louise."
—Hampton Sides, New York Times bestselling author of In the Kingdom of Ice and The Wide Wide Sea
“I couldn’t put it down.…The stakes are as high as Denali itself, and Cassidy Randall’s prose carries the reader with the unstoppable force of an avalanche. Chilling and exhilarating by turns, Thirty Below is a testament both to the indomitable power of nature and the strength of human will.”
—Melissa L. Sevigny, author of Brave the Wild River
“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
“Cassidy Randall’s Thirty Below rivals the best mountaineering writing in existence, including that of Jon Krakauer and David Roberts. Randall brilliantly chronicles the historic first all-women’s ascent of Denali, during the ‘hypermasculine’ climbing milieu of the early 1970s. The prose is as gritty and courageous as the trail-breaking women she writes about. Filled with both tragedy and triumph, Thirty Below is a riveting, breathtaking read.”
—Buddy Levy, award-winning and bestselling author of Empire of Ice and Stone, Labyrinth of Ice, and R
"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 (Starred Review)
