This week, The Write Question host Lauren Korn joins A New Angle host Justin Angle in MTPR’s Studio B for a conversation with Cassidy Randall, author of Thirty Below: The Harrowing and Heroic Story of the First All Women’s Ascent of Denali (Abrams Books). The three talk about the women on this mountaineering team, the cultural and social backdrop of the late ‘60s, early ‘70s, and about many of the choices Cassidy made while researching and writing this book. They also discuss gender, “The Fun Scale,” and the ethics of using personal documents (climbing journals, diaries) for public consumption.
This conversation has been edited for time.
About the book:
Grace Hoeman dreamed of standing on top of Denali, the tallest peak in North America. A doctor and mountaineer in Alaska, Grace 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 fellow climber who’d also been barred from expeditions—unless she stayed in base camp and cooked for the men—Grace came up with a defiant idea: she would organize and lead the first ever all-female ascent of the frozen Alaskan peak.
Everyone told Grace and her team that it couldn’t be done. Men had walked on the moon; women had still not stood on the highest points on Earth. Popular belief held that they were incapable of withstanding high altitudes, savage elements, and carrying heavy loads without men’s help. But these six women were unwilling to be limited by sexist beliefs. Then, when disaster struck at the worst time on their expedition, the team’s actions would decide not only their fate, but how the world would judge them—and all women’s ability to climb and survive the fiercest mountains.
About Cassidy:
Cassidy Randall is an award-winning writer who tells stories on the environment, adventure, and people who expand human potential. Her stories have appeared in Rolling Stone, National Geographic, the New York Times, TIME, Atavist, Outside, and Men’s Journal, among others. She wrote The Hard Parts with Paralympian Oksana Masters, which won an Alex Award from the American Library Association and was listed as one of the best sports books of the year by the Times. Her work has been awarded the Lowell Thomas Gold Medal in Adventure Writing, short-listed for the True Story Award, and included in The Year’s Best Sports Writing. She lives in Montana.
Mentioned in this episode:
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing (Basic Books)
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer (Vintage Books)
Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man’s Miraculous Survival by Joe Simpson (HarperCollins)
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann (Doubleday Books)
Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life by Arlene Blum (Mariner Books)
“Dream Makers: The Partners Behind 3 of the Most Epic Outdoor Feats of Our Time” by Cassidy Randall (REI Blog)
Fay by Larry Brown (Algonquin Books; Scribner)
“What an All-Female Team to Summit Denali Can Teach Us About Historic Firsts” by Cassidy Randall (Time Magazine)
Kelly Cordes and “The Fun Scale”
Cassidy Randall recommends:
The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry (Doubleday Books)
The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko (Scribner)
Rising: Becoming the First North American Woman on Everest by Sharon Wood (Mountaineers Books)
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan (Penguin Random House)
Justin Angle is reading:
The Plague by Albert Camus and translated by Stuart Gilbert (Alfred. A Knopf)
Justin Angle recommends:
Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service by Michael Lewis (Riverhead Books)
The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook by Hampton Sides (Doubleday Books)
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein (Riverhead Books)
Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water by Merc Reisner (Penguin Random House)
Lauren Korn is reading:
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (Alfred A. Knopf)
Lauren Korn recommends:
Thirty Below: The Harrowing and Heroic Story of the First All Women’s Ascent of Denali by Cassidy Randall (Abrams Books)
Denali’s Howl: The Deadliest Climbing Disaster on America’s Wildest Peak by Andy Hall (Plume)
Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon by Melissa L. Sevigny (W. W. Norton & Company)
The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko (Scribner)
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The team for this The Write Angle episode included Lauren Korn, co-host, producer, and editor; Justin Angle, co-host; and Chris Moyles, engineer, producer, and editor.
This episode is supported by Fact & Fiction, an independent bookstore located in the heart of downtown Missoula, Montana, providing books for all ages and supporting the literary community in Montana and beyond. More information can be found at factandfictionbooks.com. Support for A New Angle comes from First Security Bank, Blackfoot Communications, the University of Montana College of Business, Montana Public Radio, Consolidated Electrical Distributors, and Drum Coffee. The music for this episode was written and recorded by John Floridis and VTO and subsequently mashed-up by Jake Birch.
The Write Angle is a production of Montana Public Radio.
