topic:"Biography" found 2 records - Research Collections - Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies

Abstract: In this funny and gritty debut memoir, praised by Outside, Sierra, Alpinist, and more, Jan Redford grows from a reckless rock climber to a mother who fights to win back her future. As a teenager, she sets her sights on the improbable dream of climbing mountains. By age twenty, she’s a climber with a magnetic attraction to misadventures and the wrong men. Redford finally finds the love of her life, an affable Rockies climber. When he is killed in an avalanche in Alaska, a grieving Redford finds comfort in the arms of another extreme alpinist. Before long, they are married, with a baby on the way. While her husband works as a logger, Redford tackles the traditional role of wife and mother. But soon, she pursues her own dream, one that pits her against her husband. End of the Rope is Redford’s telling of heart-stopping adventures, from being rescued off El Capitan to leading a group of bumbling cadets across a glacier. It is her laughter-filled memoir of friendships with women in that masculine world. Most moving, this is the story of her struggle to make her own way in the mountains and in life. To lead, not follow. (from Counterpoint Press website)

Contents: First climb -- On the rocks -- Lion's layback -- The rescue -- Speed ruts -- Learning to roll -- Bugaboo -- World's toughest milkman -- Fragile ice -- We're gathered here today -- Aberdeen -- Show no fear -- Climbing girlfriend -- The final last straw -- The memo -- In the arms of a mountain -- The underwear drawer -- Teetering on the edge -- Pink wedding dress -- The waiting -- Miracles -- Into the shadows -- Back on the sharp end -- Yodel village -- You lead, I'll follow -- Carsick -- Die young, stay pretty -- Grant's lunch -- Fractured -- Playing dead -- Mama spiders -- Remember the lilac -- Power surge -- Leaving Chaba -- Only four years -- One little "non" -- Second chances.

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1 website

Responsibility: Junko Tabei and Helen Y. Rolfe, translated by Yumiko Hiraki and Rieko Holtved

Subjects: Mountaineering; Mountaineers Women; Mountaineers, Japanese; Biography

Abstract: "A collection of personal stories and reflections based on the memoirs of Junko Tabei, the first woman to climb Mount Everest and the Seven Summits. Honouring High Places is a compelling collection of highlights from Junko Tabei's stirring life that she considered important, inspiring and interesting to mountaineering culture. Until now, her works have been available only in Japanese, and RMB is honoured to be sharing these profound and moving stories with the English-speaking world for the first time. The collection opens on Mount Everest, where the first all-women's expedition is met with disaster but pushes on against all odds. The story then shifts to the early years of Tabei's life and reflects on her countryside childhood as a frail girl with no talent for sport, and cultural expectations that ignored her passion for mountains. With reminiscences of the early days of female climbers on Everest, the deaths of fellow mountaineers, Tabei's pursuit of Mount Tomur, a cancer diagnosis, and efforts to restore a love for nature in the surviving youth of the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in 2011, this beautifully curated collection of essays captures the essence of a notable time and the strength of character of one of the 20th and 21st centuries' female mountaineering pioneers."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents: Author's note; Introduction by Setsuko Kitamura; Chapter 1 - avalanche!; Chapter 2 - the meaning of mountains; Chapter 3 - Annapurna III; Chapter 4 - Mount Everest; Chapter 5 - to the top ofthe world; Chapter 6 - the route; Chapter 7 - finalists; Chapter 8 - South Col; Chapter 9 - the summit; Chapter 10 - endgame; Chapter 11 - women on Everest; Chapter 12 - Mount Tombur, Pobeda Peak; Chapter 13 - Aconcagua; Chapter 14 - Carstensz Pyramid; Chapter 15 - mountains of later life; About Junko by Masanobu Tabei; A son's tribute by Shinya Tabei; Beyond mountains by Setsuko Kitamura; Life chronology; Glossary; Acknowledgements; References; Index

Notes: Winner of the Mountaineering History category at the 2018 Banff Mountain Book Competition Awards

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