One of the world’s greatest climbers, US athlete Beth Rodden is known for many things. She holds the record for hardest first ascent of a crack climb by a woman, and has achieved numerous notable free climbs on El Capitan. In recent years she has become known for her commentary and advocacy around body image and equality in climbing. In 2000, at just 20 years old, she was one of four climbers, including her then-boyfriend Tommy Caldwell, kidnapped for six days in Kyrgyzstan, bringing her an extra level of fame she never wanted.
Beth’s newly released memoir A Light Through the Cracks: A Climber’s Story had been on her mind for nearly a decade—with the story she needed to tell evolving and changing over the years—before it was published in May this year. At VL we were stoked to chat to Beth about the book, and excited to bring you an excerpt.
What made you want to write the book, and why now exactly?
As a professional climber I always felt like I should write a book—as your career goes on it’s a box to check.
After my divorce, then becoming a mum, and overcoming injuries, [my idea for the book] changed from what I thought I should do, into what the book I would have needed at different points of my life would be.
I’ve gained so much strength and felt so seen though other people sharing their stories, and I think this is the type of book that I would have really latched onto, and that would have given me a lot of support.
When I started climbing, a lot of the books and dialogue in the community was very black and white, and depicted the typical hero’s journey—you rise, you fall a little bit, and you rise stronger. It was shiny and packaged, you know that type of thing.
I would have liked—and I do like—hearing people’s stories with all the nuances in life, all the in-between
