A light through the cracks - Beth Rodden

Beth Rodden is one of the best female rock climbers of all time, from first free ascents on El Cap to putting up the hardest single pitch in Yosemite valley (that took 11 years for anyone to be able to repeat). Her book is an honest, humble and vulnerable peek into the complexities of being a professional athlete, of growing up in the spotlight of a sport that both makes and breaks her, and ultimately her ability to find herself again.

From the publisher:

Renowned rock climber Beth Rodden’s inspiring memoir is about overcoming devastating trauma, refusing to be held hostage by fear, and taking a leap toward healing. Beth Rodden is twenty years old and already an elite rock climber when a climbing excursion in Kyrgyzstan escalates into a nightmare. Beth, her boyfriend, and two other climbers are kidnapped by militant rebels.

After six harrowing days of hiding, marching, and dodging gunfire, they miraculously escape captivity. But fear follows Beth home, and pushing past it becomes a fixation. She and her boyfriend, Tommy, train obsessively, achieving rock-climbing greatness and conquering each groundbreaking goal they set, all the while burying the terrors of Kyrgyzstan deep inside.

Then comes an unexpected breaking point. For Beth, a woman at the top of her profession, the only way to overcome the anxiety that still controls her is to let go of the lifeline she’s been clinging to. Blowing up her successful and familiar life, Beth clears a path to a new one—a healthy new normal beyond the anxieties of the past and the myopic pursuit of athletic perfection.

Charting a powerful journey of ambition, hope, love, physical and emotional endurance, and the true fulfilment of being oneself, A Light through the Cracks is Beth’s story of climbing up and through life.