Beyond the Limits (Expedition)

The first American woman to reach the summit of Everest, describes the training, the constant danger, and the pressing threat of death

The true story of how America's premier female mountain climber harnessed her inner strength to conquer not only Mt. Everest, but her own personal crisis.

For every three climbers who attempt to reach the elusive summit of Mt. Everest, one dies trying. But in 1988 Stacy Allison became the first American woman ever to climb the world's highest peak, having triumphed over not just the mountain--a treacherous and overwhelmingly male domain--but over a devastating home life filled with domestic abuse. With each step, she got closer not just to the summit, but to throwing off the ropes that held her in a marriage dangerous to both her physical and mental well-being.

Allison's thrilling account of how she called upon the same strength and courage that took her to the top of the world to finally leave her abusive husband is a dramatic testimony to her never-say-die spirit. The power of her vision, and her quest to achieve her dreams and free herself from a life of despair, are an inspiration of the highest kind.

"Men climb mountains because they're there.' Allison...did it to see if she could measure up. And as she scales peak after peak...her self esteem soars. Braving the Himalayan death zone, the most violent blizzard in forty years, avalanches, white-outs, and being lost at 26,000 feet, Allison...conquers her own life as she conquers Everest."--Jan Goodwin, author of Caught in the Crossfire