To the Summit [Paperback]

Margo Chisholm (Author), Ray Bruce (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1998

Raised in a privileged and protected world of private schools and posh clubs, Margo was a seriously over weight alcoholic with a $1,000 a week cocaine habit when she turned her life around and got clean, sober, and fit. Early in her addictions, she became friends with Jonathan Wright, an accomplished professional photographer and dedicated adventurer and climber who invited Margo to join him on a trek into his beloved Himalayas-a feat Margo knew she was both physically and emotionally incapable of performing. Years later, Jonathan's memory would help sustain her on her quest for a seemingly impossible dream that his life had inspired: to become the first woman in history to scale the highest peak on each of the Earth's seven continents.

In 1988, Margo climbed her first two mountains -- summiting Mt. Kenya and the awesome, intimidating Mt. Kilimanjaro. An "ordinary" middle-aged woman with no formal mountaineering training and no previous experience, she had met and triumphed over the toughest demands and conditions that Nature could provide. But that was just the beginning. Spurred on by her newborn love affair with the world's loftiest peaks and most beautiful and inaccessible places, she pushed herself even further, taking on increasingly greater climbing challenges as she pursued more difficult and dangerous goals under the most harrowing of circumstances. And somewhere along the way-amid magnificent wildernesses of towering pinnacles and breathtaking, ice-covered vistas-Margo Chisholm realized she had reached a summit deep within herself; a place in the heart and soul where she discovered the pride, fulfillment and inner peace she had always longed for.

This is the true story of one woman's remarkable journey from self-doubt and despair to the top of the world-a moving and inspiring tale of exhilarating adventure...and the astonishing strength of the human spirit.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

After beating bulimia and the twin addictions of alcohol and cocaine, climbing mountains would probably seem like a walk in the park. For Margo Chisholm, author of To the Summit, her quest to become the first woman to climb the highest mountain on each continent--known to the mountain-climbing community as "the Seven Summits"--was her victory march. Traveling from Africa to Antarctica to the Himalayas, Chisholm chased her dream, scaling mountain after mountain, with only Everest eluding her.

Coauthored with Ray Bruce, Chisolm's story is an inspiring one. Even her failure to reach Everest's summit becomes a triumph of acceptance. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Chisholm chose mountain climbing and adventure travel as a means to overcome dysfunctional behavior that included bulimia and alcoholism. Between 1988 and 1993, she climbed six of the Seven Summits (the highest peaks of the seven continents) and was the oldest woman (42 years) to climb Mt. Vinson in the Antarctic. Her two attempts on Mt. Everest were turned back just before the summit push. The joy and techniques of climbing are acknowledged, but Chisholm is better at communicating the difficulties of changing emotional attitudes and of growing psychologically. Buy for substance-abuse support programs rather than for mountaineering collections.?Paula M. Strain, Rockville, Md.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 327 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (April 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380788845
• ISBN-13: 978-0380788842
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,031,361 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A story of courage, February 17, 2000

By 

Rachelle Disbennett-Lee, PhD - See all my reviews

This review is from: To the Summit (Paperback)

If you are looking for a book that will motivate and inspire, this is it. This book is filled with inspiration and the message that one can make changes and choices in their life. Margo shares from her heart and soul and takes us on a fabulous journey of triumph.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book I've read so far about mountaineering, August 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: To the Summit (Paperback)

Margo is a special person who has given many people the inspiration to accomplish their dreams. This book was very difficult to put down. I'm now in the process of reading Margo's book again, just in case I missed something the first time around. The most stimulating reading for anyone who has dreams of accomplishing the challenges in their lives. Thanks Margo, for writting this book. Not only has your book inspired me,but it has also given me confidence that was beyond my wildest dreams!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sexual Abuse and Everest, September 13, 2006

By 

Hamilton Moore - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To the Summit: A Woman's Journey into the Mountains to Find Her Soul (Hardcover)

Like all well edited books, Chisolm and Bruce begin with the hook; Chisholm is beset with a violent, deep, wracking cough on the slopes of Everest during her 1992 summit bid. We've got to read the whole book to find out if she made it; the book is worth the read.
For misogynistic, macho, morons, Chisolm lets us know what she felt being a paying client in adventure climbing, an activity predominately run and participated in by men.
For drug addicts, alcoholics, and fatsos, we learn much about Chisolm's recovery and its relationship to her climbing.
For those of us who wonder about the background of those who write climbing books, we learn that Chisholm was sexually abused by her maternal grandfather, was told she was lying about it by her mother, sought and failed to be the first woman to climb the 7 summits, and could squat lift 175 pounds. We even learn some about an affair she had.
Superhuman leaders of expeditions write most climbing books. Chisolm didn't start climbing until she was in her 40's. She doesn't write of harrowing escapes, dashing rescues, and first ascents. What she does is write everywoman's view of climbing the seven summits. She says a mantra while she climbs, she has committee meetings in her head, and she has written a remarkable and thoroughly enjoyable saga of striving to make her place in the world filled with glowing and vivid descriptions of the beauty and pain of the seven summits, the closeness of death and the reality of debilitating injury occurring within a few feet of where she stood.
We can learn much from this woman and, for those of us who will never make a bleeding edge ascent, see how we might achieve some portion of what she accomplished within 5 years of leaving addiction, obesity, and inactivity behind.