The Accidental Adventurer

Book excerpt: Barbara Washburn never set out to become a mountain pioneer, but she wasn't content to be a stay-at-home wife either. After marrying explorer Bradford Washburn in 1940, Barbara's fearless determination to be with her husband resulted in her historic ventures into the uncharted mountains of Alaska. With no mountain climbing experience she only knew that as a woman in a party of men, she'd have to measure up. She did. She became a history maker & a role model for women. Her most famous achievement was her 1947 ascent of Mount McKinley & this was just the beginning. Barbara was an award-winning teacher--one of the first in remedial reading. She was a devoted mother of three who faced criticism for defying convention by leaving her children with family to travel to remote Alaska. And in the decades that followed she helped map the Grand Canyon, took a safari in Kenya & made many trips to China & Nepal in an effort to gain permission for the first arial mapping of Mount Everest. Her accomplishments, amazing by today's standard, were virtually unheard in the 40s & 50s & earn her an important place in the history of woman & exploration.