No Mountain Too High: A Triumph over Breast Cancer

by Andrea Gabbard

Documents the expedition of seventeen women who suffered from breast cancer and climbed Argentina's Mount Aconcagua to promote awareness and raise money for education, research, and treatment of a disease that claims thousands of lives each year. Original. Tour. IP.

240 pages, Paperback

First published June 11, 1998

Reviews

[Alison Behling]

Love the topic, but the book was very long and repetitive

[Tifnie]

Oops, I forgot to write a review. This was a rather random selection and I'm not entirely sure where the book came from.

No Mountain Too High is about 15 or so women who are selected to hike Mountain Rainer with the goal to continue onward to eventually hike Argentina's Mount Aconcagua. These women are all breast cancer survivors and Aconcagua quickly becomes another challenge that looms over them.

While at times the book was endearing and each story touching, I found that the author spent too much time on breast cancer and not enough time on the emotional intensity in not only survival but on the taxing assaults of climbing a mountain that is well over 22,000 feet. I found myself skipping over descriptions of each women's ordeal (again) and wanting to reading more about their emotion struggle and courage to continue climbing. Unfortunately the author, Andrea Gabbard, kept throwing each women's cancer story repeatedly throughout the book. I would have preferred she cover it all at once and get on with the story of the challenge. As it was, it seemed to me, Aconcagua was an after-thought or a backdrop in this story.

[Laura Anne]

I did not have high expectations for this book. I found it a free books bin by chance and it's taken me too long to get only 50 pages in. I just cannot bring myself to care about this book. The writing feels stiff and informative and I can't wait to toss this book aside and read something more interesting.

[Barbara]

The actual retelling of the experience of women breast cancer survivors preparing for and then climbing a challenging mountain was an interesting topic for me. The writing itself was not inspiring, but the determination of the women was.