Valley of Giants

Stories from Women at the Heart of Yosemite Climbing

240 pages
Publisher: Mountaineers Books
ISBN: 978-1-68051-514-5
Published: Mar 18, 2022

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Description

"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."

Contributors

Details

240 pages
Publisher: Mountaineers Books
ISBN: 978-1-68051-514-5
Published: Mar 18, 2022

Reviews

Common themes within the pieces are self-discovery, a determination to show what women can climb and the style in which they can do it. But the ways in which the contributors write about their climbing, friendships and how they explore themselves makes for a collection that differs from the standard rock-climbing anthology.
— Heather Dawe, The Alpine Journal
Miller's anthology, Valley of Giants, is a salve to this repression, a masterfully assembled collection from the many women toiling and chortling in the Big Ditch. The anthology is a coming-of-age story: of its contributors, of climbing, and of women in America.
— Shey Piper, American Alpine Journal
A much-needed anthology, this book highlights the stories of women in Yosemite from 1930 to the present. The contributions come from a wide range of climbers, a world-renowned soloist, a mother, a microbiologist, a daughter, a tribe member, a quiet expert and a first-time climber. Some stories are already famous, others are previously untold, but all add a fresh perspective to the lore of the valley. The stories build on one another, each one lends depth and history to the next, and when combined, they show how voices are strongest when they join together.
— Claire Cameron, Banff Mountain Book Competition Jury
Valley of Giants is an important thread in Yosemite climbing history. Each period is a patch and each climber is connected to one of these, forming a colourful quilt that will keep the hearts of all climbers warm as you stoke the fire of your next climbing adventure.
— Dave Barnes, Common Climber
[Lauren DeLaunay Miller's] work will expand the horizons of even those who consider themselves well-versed in Yosemite climbing history.... More than just a litany of women’s accomplishments, though, Valley of Giants expresses the wisdom its contributors achieved.
— Matt Johanson, Sacramento Bee
Editor Lauren DeLaunay Miller worked hard to earn the trust of legends, and the payoff is a delightful mix of anecdotes, introspection, and new context for past climbs.... Climbers will reap the most enjoyment from the book, but adventure is woven through every page.
— Adventure Journal
Miller is an artful curator of Valley-focused female climbing stories.... [This book is] a map of inspiration that refutes the notion that men are better suited to the vertical world of Yosemite.
— Nick Miley, California Climber
A new collection from Mountaineers Books tells the stories of women on Yosemite’s big walls.
— The Daily
Lauren DeLaunay Miller’s Valley of Giants book collects a wide range of stories from pivotal women in Yosemite climbing history — with fresh perspectives from Lynn Hill, Liz Robbins, Beth Rodden, and more. Let’s be frank: Women climbers have crushed it in Yosemite just as much as the guys.
— Sam Anderson, GearJunkie
The book makes a strong case that women have played important roles in the history of Yosemite climbing—even if, as women in the book point out, they haven’t always gotten credit for it.
— Jim Benning, AAA Westways
This book is chock-full of intrepid characters who offer a perspective that’s often groundbreaking, sometimes heartbreaking, and always fresh.
— Sierra Magazine
Lauren DeLaunay Miller’s work brings women’s stories to their rightful place, front and centre of the literary canon of Yosemite Valley.
— Dave Smart, Gripped
While the book of course features stories by well-known valley climbers such as Lynn Hill and Steph Davis, DeLauney Miller has gone to painstaking lengths to include older, more obscure – but equally important stories – as well. The result is a rich and inspiring history of female climbing and adventure in Yosemite Valley.
— Evan Phillips, The Firn Line
An engaging read, and within the sport and the framing of climbing literature and histories, an important one.
— Camille E. Meder, Women's Studies
Long overdue anthology highlights women in Yosemite climbing history
— Climbing