In the Shadow of the Mountain: A Memoir of Courage

It takes a ton of courage to scale Mt. Everest, more than I'll ever know in my own lifetime. And yet still, I think it took even more courage for Ms. Vasquez-Lavado to write her whole truth- even the ugly, painful, abusive and terribly sad parts. It's brave of her to be willing to share her story with raw and honest vulnerability. Thank you for building a path for others to scale their own inner mountain peaks and for showing that it is all a journey worth taking.

I was gifted this book because I'm a big hiker, but the gifter had no idea of Silvia's back story that led her to Everest. First chapter in, I knew something terrible was about to happen to Silvia (when she's a child). The first half of the book was really hard for me to get through. It was well-written, but just very heavy.But I loved all the parts about her journey up the mountain, including her journey with her team of young women. The second half of the book as she ascends the mountain was enjoyable.

n the Shadow of the Mountain is going down as one of my new all time favorites. I loved it because the mountains hold a special place in my heart, but also because it is a story of resilience, feminism, and adventure.This is a memoir of Silvia Vazquez-Lavado, the first Peruvian woman to summit Everest, and a woman who found healing in mountaineering. The book alternates between her childhood in Peru, where she was a victim of sexual assault, to her coming out in San Francisco, to finding her power and leading a group of women with similar experiences to Everest Base Camp.I was so incredibly invested in every part of Silvia’s story, and even several days later, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. The excitement of her Everest expedition paired with the raw emotion and vulnerability that came with healing her past made for such an unforgettable read. I have so many quotes underlined!It’s a heavy read, so definitely check trigger warnings before diving in. I really connected with this book because of my experiences in the mountaineering community, but I think anyone who likes adventure and stories of strong women will find just as much inspiration.If you liked the books, Wild or Educated, I cannot recommend this one enough!

I spent many years of my life actively avoiding memoirs. Ok, it was ANY non-fiction. I spent years teaching U.S. History, so I focused on non-fiction for a decent chunk of time. When I sat down to read a book, I didn’t want a true story, I didn’t want a recount of a period of history, and I certainly didn’t want to read somebody tell me about their lives. In my (incorrect, I’ll admit) mind, people that wrote memoirs had inflated views of their own importance. I have since found that I love true stories and I even enjoy memoirs (every now and then). This is one those memoirs that I very much enjoyed. A few years ago, I was part of a sports-based podcast. While we primarily focused on football, the creator of the podcast wanted to do stories about all sports (despite him only ever talking about the Indianapolis Colts). Football season doesn’t last all twelve months, so we supplemented with other, less prominent sports, and one of those was the Everest climbing season. It blew my mind that it’s possible to have a “traffic jam” at the top of the highest mountain in the world. What a bizarre concept, a long line of people, higher than most planes cruise, waiting to get to the summit. The area is called the “Death Zone,” yet you’re waiting in line like you’re at a crowded bar on a Sunday during football season. I was thrilled to read that this book follows Vasquez-Lavado’s adventure as she makes her way up the side of Everest. I knew nothing about this author prior to opening this book, and now I feel like I know her intimately. Vasquez-Lavado allows for a deep dive into a traumatic childhood; one that included an emotionally unavailable mother and an abusive father, both full of secrets. The relationships with the adults in her life makes the sexual abuse she endured for years a possibility, because the abuser was aware she wouldn’t say anything to her parents. Reading the details of her abuse wrecked me, as I’m sure it did for most readers. She recounted her childhood with such intimacy, I felt like a voyeur, like I was witnessing something I shouldn’t. Vasquez-Lavado made me feel her pain right along with her. Her ability to convey every piece of her story, along with every feeling as it was happening, was truly impressive. The book toggles back and forth between her own timeline and then her timeline for climbing Everest. She was able, after years and years of self-medicated coping, to turn her pain into a portal for helping others who have also been victimized. She took a group of women with sexual abuse in their own pasts, and guided them into ways to channel their pain (and fear, and anger, and aggression) into triumph. She explains that she agreed to take a few of these women from a village in Nepal to the basecamp in the foothills of Everest. The trek is not easy: it’s treacherous, high-altitude, and cold as hell. Along with way, they spend time discussing their pasts and futures, self-reflecting, and trying not to give up. That’s the best part of these women: they don’t give up. This next paragraph might include a few spoilers. The women make it to the base camp, where tears are shed and many hugs are given. Silvia Vasquez-Lavado says good-bye, then continues with an expedition to the summit of Everest. After six weeks of grueling climbing, she makes it to the top of the world. I held my breath until she got there. It was almost magical. My one gripe…just one thing….I wanted pictures.

I knew the negative reviews had to be wrong. Slow read?! She's climbing Mother F'n Everest. It doesn't happen in a day. And regardless, I thought it was a wonderful read webbing her past trauma, adulthood, losses, and climb to the top of the world beautifully.