The Beautiful & The Beast

James Q. Martin

Posted on: July 15, 2009


In 1993 Lynn Hill made the first free ascent of the Nose, a feat no man would accomplish until 2005—the same year that Ines Papert won not only the women's difficulty division in the Ouray Ice Comp, but the men's as well. Is the term "first female ascent" still relevant? And how does a climbing photographer even begin to put together a women's photo-essay in a vertical world where gender roles keep evolving?

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