The perfect Mother’s Day gift, Joanna Croston’s (@2steep ) "Mountaineering Women" seeks to remedy women’s elision from historical narratives of climbing. From the Amazigh (Berbers) of Morocco’s Atlas Mountains to the Inca Empire and the European Alps, women have long traversed some of the world’s most forbidding mountainscapes. The book also includes sections on champion ice climber Ines Papert, who would often bring her baby Manu to her early competitions, and Alison Hargreaves, whose career exposed enduring stigmatism against climbing mothers. Despite their enduring contributions to the sport, women have often been consciously underrepresented in mountaineering literature. In this compelling and richly illustrated volume, Croston works to redress that erasure by celebrating twenty trailblazing women mountaineers from around the globe.
In reflecting on the cultural significance of motherhood, we would also be remiss to overlook the place mothers occupy within the artistic canon. In "Acts of Creation," Hettie Judah (@hettiejudah ) offers an incisive and intersectional exploration of maternity in art history. From prehistoric goddess artifacts to contemporary works that examine motherhood through the lenses of queerness, reproductive justice, and alternative family structures, Judah turns her analytical gaze toward a subject whose artistic representations—and whose creators—have so often been marginalized or rendered invisible altogether.
#womenmountaineers #womenclimbers #artandmotherhood #mothersday
In 1975, an avalanche tore through Camp 2 on Mount Everest, burying Junko Tabei and her team beneath tonnes of snow and ice. She lost consciousness. The route was destroyed. The expedition hung in the balance.
It should have ended there. But it didn’t. Four days later, she could walk again. Twelve days later, she stood on the summit — becoming the first woman in history to reach the top of the world.
A story of survival, pressure, and persistence against everything pushing back.
Read the full story in @newmountainmag Issue 03 Originally published in ‘Mountaineering Women’ by Jo Croston (@2steep )
#newmountainmag #print
📖 What stories have been left out of the history of climbing?
In this episode, Joanna Croston, director of the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival, shares the untold stories of pioneering women climbers and the process behind bringing them to light.
We talk about the challenges of documenting climbing history, the balance between well-known and overlooked voices, and how storytelling shapes recognition and legacy.
From mentorship and community to the evolving role of women in climbing, this conversation explores the people and perspectives that have quietly shaped the sport.
🎧 Full episode out now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Link in bio.
#climbing #womenshistory #storytelling #mountainlife #personaldevelopment adventureculture
