Women on High: Pioneers of Mountaineering

In 1808 a spirited French maidservant shocked society by doing what most people of the day thought impossible for a woman - she scaled Europe's highest peak, the legendary Mont Blanc in the French Alps. While the next one hundred years found society clinging to stifling Victorian perceptions of women as frail,
delicate creatures in need of male protection, a band of courageous women boldly rejected this limiting mantle. Bucking convention, these daring pioneers hiked up their skirts, set their sights far above, and took their place atop some of the world's highest peaks.

Rebecca Brown's Women on High chronicles the lives of these inspiring women, some whose stories are known, but others whose stories - until now - have been lost to history. With superb storytelling and detailed research, Brown vividly brings to life such unforgettable women as Meta Brevoort, one of the first American mountaineers in the Alps, Lucy Walker, the first woman to ascend the fabled Matterhorn, Dora Keen, an intrepid explorer of Alaska's wild interior, and a remarkable host of others.

But Women on High is much more than a retelling of first ascents and summits climbed. Brown delves into the heart of what compelled these women to break with tradition and travel above and beyond where women - and most men - had gone before. The quest for independence, search for spiritual and personal fulfillment, and longing to step outside proscribed gender boundaries are only a few of the motivations that inspired these women - much as they still do today.

As the author traces the evolution of female mountaineering through the Victorian era and into the early decades of the 1900s, she illuminates the very real social and physical boundaries women had to overcome - whether social norms that dictated a woman's place as in the home, corsets that exerted as much as seventy pounds of pressure on their midsections, or long skirts that caught on rocks and crags as women climbed harrowing slopes. In the process, Brown's riveting portraits of these pioneers of mountaineering reveal how their astonishing ascents of the world's highest summits are as extraordinary today as they were more than one hundred years ago.

Women on High delivers stories of danger and daring and determination, stories that will captivate anyone- historian, climber, and armchair adventurer alike - who simply loves a good story.

In 1808 a spirited French maidservant shocked society by doing what most people of the day thought impossible for a woman: She scaled Europe's highest peak, the French Alps' legendary Mont Blanc. Following on the heels of this remarkable achievement, a small band of courageous women boldly rejected the Victorian idea of women as frail, delicate creatures and bucking convention, hiked up their skirts and claimed their place atop some of the world's highest peaks.

Women on High chronicles the lives of these inspiring women as author Rebecca Brown uncovers the heart of what compelled them to break with tradition and aspire to heights that women, and most men, had never reached before.

From the Alps to the Himalaya to Alaska's wild interior, Women on High delivers stories of danger and daring and determination, stories that will captivate anyone- historian, climber, and armchair adventurer alike - who simply loves a good story about the mountains.

These tales of courageous women of centuries past will captivate anyone who loves a good story of the mountains. In Women on High, Rebecca A. Brown traces the lives and achievements of the inspiring women of mountaineering's early days, who bravely bucked convention to pursue a passion for standing atop the world's highest places. Defying Victorian perceptions of women as frail, delicate creatures, these bold women traveled above and beyond where women--and most men--had gone before.

More than a retelling of first ascents and summits climbed, Women on High delves into the heart of what compelled these women to break with tradition to pursue these high peaks: the quest for independence, the search for spiritual and personal fulfillment, and the longing to step outside proscribed gender boundaries. Brown's riveting portraits of these pioneers of mountaineering reveal how their astonishing ascents of some of the world's highest summits are as extraordinary today as they were more than one hundred years ago.

Rebecca A. Brown is editor of The Courier in Littleton, New Hampshire. A regular contributor to AMC Outdoors, Northern Woodlands, and other outdoor and conservation-related publications, she is also a correspondent for New Hampshire Public Radio and has won numerous awards for her writing. A lifelong outdoorswoman, she lives in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire.

1) Maria Paradis 2) Henriette d'Angeville 3) Doing the Mountains Jolly 4) Lucy Walker 5) Meta Brevoort 6) Elizabeth Le Blond 7) An Easy Day for a Lady 8) Women of the White Mountains 9) Annie Smith Peck 10) The Apex of America 11) Fanny Bullock Workman and Dora Keen Afterword: The Next Generation: Miriam O'Brien Underhill