A historic achievement occurred on July 6, 1970 when a group of six women became the first all-female team to reach the peak of a mountain higher than 20,000 feet when they reached the summit of Denali. While they were not one of the first females to reach this peak (Barbara Washburn was in 1947), it was still an amazing accomplishment. The stories of each of the women and the harrowing experience they had while climbing are told in this excellent book by Cassidy Randall.

All six women – Grace Hoeman, Arlene Blum, Margaret Clark, Margaret Young, Faye Kerr, and Dana Isherwood – were established climbers with various amounts of experience. Grace organized this team after losing her husband Vin to the mountains and failing to reach the peak of Denali on an earlier attempt. Her experiences and determination to reach the summit makes for excellent reading, even if a bit slower than the later parts of the book. This is also the case for the other five women – all have excellent stories about their mountaineering experience and their personal lives captured by Randall.

At this time, mountaineering was a sport dominated by men and overcoming the sexism and belief that women were not capable of scaling such mountains was a huge motivation factor for the “Denali Damsels” as they became to be known. It was such a strong belief for them that at times they would refuse assistance from other climbing teams’ male members because they felt by doing so, it was reinforce the incorrect notion that women could not accomplish this without assistance from men. This view about female climbers was pervasive at this time and that is a topic visited frequently by Randall. It really makes the accomplishment even more impressive.

While the stories of each woman were great to read, their climb up Denali was even better. Randall wrote this part of the book much like an adventure novel, complete with drama and subplots. Will the team make it? Will Grace, who became extremely ill, survive? Will the team overcome their differences and squabbles that inevitably hit all climbing teams? This latter question was especially noteworthy given the way they assembled and their different backgrounds and nationalities. And of course, we know the answer to the first question. That doesn’t take away the excitement a reader will experience when picking up this book about a extraordinary achievement that is finally getting the recognition it deserves.

I wish to thank Abrams Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

This expedition was not the triumph I expected but it was an amazing accomplishment against all odds. I found the first half of the book a bit slow but the account of their ascent up Denali was gripping and seemed very well researched.