The AAC Presents: Women in Yosemite

In 1977 Molly Higgins and Barb Eastman made history as the first all female team to climb The Nose in Yosemite National Park. With camera in tow, Molly and Barb photographed their journey up the big stone. Now, 44 years later, the slides have been scanned by The American Alpine Club Library, and organized into this story by author, climber, and long-time AAC Volunteer Lauren DeLaunay Miller.

Lauren DeLaunay Miller first joined the American Alpine Club in 2013 after being introduced to the world of rock climbing at the University of North Carolina. She worked for three years on the Yosemite Search & Rescue team while embarking on her book, Valley of Giants: Stories from Women at the Heart of Yosemite Climbing, an anthology of stories that document the history of women’s climbing in Yosemite National Park, which will be published by Mountaineers Books in spring 2022. She wears many hats in the climbing community, including that of the Vice President of the Bishop Area Climbers Coalition, the Event Coordinator for the AAC’s Bishop Highball Craggin’ Classic, the Eastern Sierra regional contributor to Accidents in North American Climbing, and a contributor to the American Alpine Journal and its podcast, the Cutting Edge. She’ll be starting in the Master of Journalism graduate program at UC Berkeley in August to continue seeking out underrepresented voices, both within the climbing community and outside of it.

If you enjoyed this story, then be on the look out for the upcoming Guidebook to Membership which will arrive in September of 2021. In it, Lauren shares her experience writing her book, and shares some incredible nuggets of Yosemite climbing history.