"Long overdue anthology highlights women in Yosemite climbing history." –
Climbing Magazine
2023 Women Writing the West WILLA Literary Award Finalist in Scholarly Nonfiction
2023 Independent Publisher Book Award Silver Winner in Anthologies
2022 Banff Mountain Book Competition Climbing Literature Winner
2022 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist in Women's Studies
Contributors include Lynn Hill, Steph Davis, Liz Robbins, Beth Rodden, Kate Rutherford, Katie Brown and more
Introduction by Mari Gingery
Author is deeply connected with the Valley community through her work with Yosemite Search and Rescue (YOSAR)
Though long overlooked, women have always been at the center of Yosemite—climbing, crafting equipment, and establishing new routes. In
Valley of Giants
, editor and climber Lauren DeLaunay Miller pulls together journal excerpts, original essays, interviews, archival materials, and memorable firsts that span the past century of climbing in the Valley.
This first-ever collection of both famed and untold stories from women at the heart of Yosemite climbing gathers almost 40 contributors, from Bea Vogel who forged her own pitons to Molly Higgins who participated in the first all-female ascent of the
Nose
on El Capitan to Liz Robbins who established routes in Yosemite Valley during the Golden Age. Astonishing Stonemasters like Lynn Hill, as well as many other notable climbers, including Steph Davis, Kate Rutherford, Beth Rodden, Chelsea Griffie, Libby Sauter, and more share their recollections of the exhilaration they felt up on the wall and the determination it took to get there. As Mari Gingery, one of the first women to climb the
Shield
on El Cap, writes in the foreword, "the stories feature a medley of intrepid female characters" who "offer fresh perspectives."
Organized into five distinct eras in Yosemite climbing history, this groundbreaking anthology captures a range of stories from heartbreaking losses to soaring joys, trip reports of significant ascents to moments that convey the larger essence of the Valley—and what it means to call this iconic place "home."