Lynn Hill. As the years go by, her legend grows. She’s the must-have interviewee for any piece on women in climbing, and for good cause. We often talk about how rock climbing is male dominated, and how the potential is there for women to perform on routes that stump men. Lynn Hill is living proof. She took on a challenge that plenty of men were after, and with determination and strength plucked it for herself. First Free Ascent of The Nose? Lynn Hill. Second Free Ascent of The Nose? Lynn. Hill.

Now that I’ve wasted space introducing a climber that literally needs no introduction, let’s talk about her autobiography, Climbing Free. It covers all the major storylines you’d imagine, from her introduction to climbing, her place in the storyline of The Stonemasters, her rise to prominence in the World Cup, her famous fall, and her triumph on The Nose. I picked the book up, expecting these highlights, but it was the rest of the book that kept it welded to my hand until I finished it.

Lynn is open and frank in this book, about everything. Her struggles with her relationships and with toxic personalities. She owns the mistakes she’s made along the way. Her struggles with unfair promoters, either because she’s a woman, or because she’s not the hometown favorite. She argues against all of these not for her own benefit, but in seeking simple fairness. What touched me most was knowing that the world’s best had the same questions about what it means to be a “climber” that I have been asking myself recently.

There are some dark moments detailed in the book, not for effect, but in the interest of telling the whole story. If I were to say anything critical about the book, it’s the occasional cliche of wrapping each story up into a learning moment that together with the rest sum to the end goal, but perhaps that’s how highly driven, successful people like Lynn view life. A minor nit against a mountain of praise – I can’t remember the last time I burned through 200 pages of anything that quickly.

This book lays out why there’s only one word that needs to accompany Lynn Hill’s name.

Verdict: Buy it. Buy it here straight from Lynn. Read it. Share it.