The Accidental Adventurer: Memoirs of the First Woman to Climb Mount McKinley

by Barbara Washburn, Lew Freedman (With)

Overview

Barbara Washburn never set out to become a mountaineering pioneer, but she wasn't content to be a stay-at-home wife, either. In 1947, defying social convention, Washburn became the first woman to climb Alaska's Mt. McKinley. She accompanied her husband--famed explorer, mountaineer, and photographer Bradford Washburn--on other expeditions to Alaska, the Grand Canyon, and Mt. Everest, while raising three children at their home near Boston.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780945397915
Publisher:	Epicenter Press (WA)
Publication date:	03/01/2001
Pages:	196
Sales rank:	1,106,748
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.51(d)

About the Author

Barbara Washburn was born in 1914. A graduate of Smith College, she married mountaineer-explorer-mapmaker Bradford Washburn in 1940. Six years later, climbing with her husband, she became the first woman to reach the summit of 20,320-foot Mount McKinley, North America's highest peak. The mother of three, she also became one of the nation's earliest remedial reading teachers, and received awards in several fields of endeavor.

Lew Freedman is a former Alaska resident who spent 17 years at the Anchorage Daily News as sports editor and columnist. The author of 58 books, Freedman is a graduate of Boston University with a degree in journalism and he earned a Master's degree from Alaska Pacific University. He currently resides in Indiana with his wife Debra.

Table of Contents

	Preface	6
	Introduction	9
1	The Education of a Young Girl	13
2	A Year in France	19
3	Love and Marriage	27
4	North to Alaska	35
5	A First Ascent	45
6	Soul-Searching	55
7	The March Up Mount Hayes	63
8	Joy at the Summit	71
9	Wartime Separation	77
10	The Challenge of McKinley	85
11	To High Camp	93
12	The Blizzard	99
13	On the Roof of North America	107
14	Mixed Emotions	119
15	A Night on Top	127
16	Motel Camping	135
17	The Grand Canyon	143
18	A Map of Everest	153
19	Tourists with a Purpose	159
20	'Something Terrible'	165
21	Audience with the King	173
22	A Shimmering Light on Everest	179
23	The View into Heaven	187
	Index	191

Editorial Reviews

"An outstanding account of fully realized feminism well before it became a movement."

--Fearless Reader

"Washburn's charming memoir The Accidental Adventurer is a delightful account of decades of expeditions... [Barbara] has led an extraordinary life and we only wish she had written more."

--The Explorers Journal

From the Publisher