Since the 1850s, women have come to the Colorado mountains under their own steam. Robertson recounts the experiences of some of these independent, courageous women and their successes. Julia Archibald Holmes, a suffragist and the first woman on record to climb a Colorado mountain (Pikes Peak, 1858); Susan Anderson, a physician who tended the folks in Fraser Valley until she was 80 years old; and Coral Bowman, who started an American school of technical climbing, are among the mountain women included in the book.

 

Robertson's superbly crafted will introduce readers to the achievements of women that they perhaps never knew existed through a fascinating historic perspective. Climbers and skiers will enjoy stories of those who participated in a dangerous sport requiring much skill and courage. Highly recommended for regional history and women's history/achievement collections.

 

Since the Pikes Peak gold rush in the mid-nineteenth century, women have gone into the mountains of Colorado to hike, climb, ski, homestead, botanize, act as guides, practice medicine, and meet a variety of other challenges, whether for sport or for livelihood. Janet Robertson recounts their exploits in a lively, well-illustrated that measures up to its title, The Magnificent Mountain Women. Paperback, as New.