A Book Review by Mike Nash, a member of the Caledonia Ramblers

Two new biographical books were published in 2025 by women climbers seeking personal validation and relief, in climbing, from a dysfunctional childhood in one instance, and a relationship trauma in the other. Superficially similar, they are strikingly different stories.

‘Enough: Climbing Toward a True Self on Mount Everest’ by Melissa Arnot Reid (New York, 2025) is the story of a highly accomplished professional guide and high-altitude mountaineer who was not shy about using female charm to progress in a predominantly male field, all the time fighting for professional parity.

According to the publisher’s abstract, it is “…a journey of overcoming where the mountain’s highest peaks can only be reached by traversing the dark crevasses of the soul.” Despite its title, the book is not about Mount Everest, which serves merely as a backdrop for some of Reid’s story.

The book is more about her inner journey from a troubled childhood with a dysfunctional mother and a predatory D.A.R.E. officer to the highest achievements in guiding and mountaineering. It speaks unashamedly about the many people she used, and was used by, in a traditionally male-dominated world rife with gender inequalities.

‘Enough: Climbing Toward a True Self on Mount Everest’ by Melissa Arnot Reid

As she struggled with inner demons, insecurities, cast-off boyfriends, a discarded fiancé, and divorced first husband, Reid went on to summit Everest six times, the last as the first American woman to do so without supplementary oxygen. She went on to marry a second time, have two children, found a Himalayan charity that helps families of indigenous mountain workers killed on the job, and is in demand as a public speaker and talk show guest. Reid is a good writer, opens herself to her readers, pulls no punches with the men in her personal and professional life, while seeming to tread that tricky line quite well. As she notes in a TV interview, those characters in the book who might take issue with something she writes about them also know all the things that they did or said that she didn’t put in the book. She also knows how to structure a book, as it slowly builds and becomes harder to put down right up to the last chapter.

‘Turn to Stone: A Memoir’ by Emily Meg Weinstein

‘Turn to Stone: A Memoir’ by Emily Meg Weinstein (New York, Sept 2025) is about another woman’s journey amidst rock-climbing communities of the U.S. and Canada (Squamish) after escaping a potentially deadly relationship in New York.

According to the publisher, it “…chronicles one woman’s ascent—on walls of stone and within herself—as she faces her demons and finds freedom and power in the raw and wild adventure of rock climbing.” The publisher notes go on to say that it is “raw and dark, but also funny,” sentiments I agree with.

Weinstein is an excellent writer; her book is forthright and filled with accounts of her progression as a rock climber, and of what are ultimately dead-end relationships with often younger male climbers.

One unexpected plus was that this was a fantastic book for learning the language of rock climbing: I probably learned more from this book than all of the others I have read combined. Weinstein strips away the language mystique around rock climbing and bouldering as she patiently and simply explains every expression and nuance. Refreshing! As a young Jewish woman from New York, while climbing in Utah, she also unleashes her strongly held pejorative views on patriarchal, organized religions. Also refreshing.

‘Enough’ and ‘Turn to Stone’ are both good reads.

Mike Nash is a member of the Caledonia Ramblers club.

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A bit about Mike Nash, the book review contributor:

Mike Nash is the author of Outdoor Safety & Survival (Rocky Mountain Books 2012), The Mountain Knows No Expert – George Evanoff [1], Outdoorsman and Contemporary Hero (Dundurn 2009), Exploring Prince George – A Guide to North Central B.C. Outdoors (Rocky Mountain Books 2004, 2007), and Outdoor Safety and Survival in British Columbia’s Backcountry (self-published 2007). As well, Mike has written over 500 newspaper and magazine articles on outdoor-related topics including a ten-year northern perspective column for Cloudburst (1990s) and a ten-year newspaper column that led to his first book about Prince George and north central BC.

Mike was a government-appointed board member of British Columbia’s Forest Practices Board (2008-2014), a board member with the Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program for the Peace Region (2007-2015), and a government-appointed lay councillor for the Association of BC Forest Professionals (2002-2005). He was an independent member of the Prince George Land and Resource Management Plan (1993-2005) and as part of that process he was a principal proponent of several new protected areas (now parks) in the mountains east of Prince George. He represented the FMCBC in the Herrick Creek Local Resource Use Plan (1991-2005) and British Columbia’s Commercial Backcountry Recreation Policy (1991-1993). Mike has also been involved with many other local and regional committees and advisory groups over the past 30 years.

Mike’s long interest in outdoor and workplace safety began with five years as a volunteer with Prince George Search & Rescue soon after moving there, and culminated with his most recent book. Along the way, he has presented and guest-lectured many outdoor safety seminars for the University of Northern BC, the College of New Caledonia, and others.

Mike was a registered member of the British Computer Society (MBCS) for many years, and before moving west in 1978 he was the supervisor of communications software for Air Canada in Toronto. Giving up big city life for the northern outdoors, he rounded out a 33-year career in information technology with a 20-year stint working as a systems analyst for the forest industry in Prince George.

[1] George Evanoff was a northern regional director and instructed avalanche courses for the FMCBC. George died in a grizzly bear encounter in the mountains east of Prince George in late October 1998.