title: Facing The Extreme: One Woman's Tale of True Courage, Death-Defying Survival and Her Quest For The Summit
author:  Ruth Anne Kocour 
description: Ruth Anne Kocour found herself in the middle of a brutal storm with 100-mph wind blasts and plummeting mercury. Problem was, she happened to be bivouacked halfway up North America's highest mountain, Alaska's 20,320-foot Mt. Denali (also known as Mt. McKinley). <i>Facing the Extreme</i> is her story of survival against the elements, a struggle that required every last bit of physical and mental endurance--not to mention alpine skills, resourcefulness, and luck. By the end of the storm, 11 climbers were dead. Kocour's gripping tale is one of the few of its kind written by a woman, a refreshing change of voice that reflects a changing demographic in the outdoors community.
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  >
  
  
  For Kate Collins, a wonderful editor and champion.  
  
  
  And to Gina Wachtel and Linda Marrow,  
  
  
  whom I love to pieces.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  CHAPTER 1
  
  
  
  
  
  “Do you ever wish but for a moment to go back in time?” Genevieve McInnis
  whispered as she stood in the window of the tiny tower room that had been
  appointed to her more than a year past.
  
  
  
  
  
  The summer sun was high and showed no signs of lowering in the sky, and yet
  she could sense darkness. Knew it was coming. The Montgomerys would not allow
  the injustice done to one of their own, and now the whole of the McHugh
  clan—or what was left of it—would pay the price for Ian McHugh’s daring.
  
  
  
  
  
  She should be afraid, but she’d long ago accepted her fate. Her possible
  mortality. She didn’t fear it as she once may have. There were worse things
  than death, as she’d discovered. Sometimes living took far more courage.
  Facing another day. Enduring. Those things took strength. Far more than dying.
  
  
  
  
  