Comprehensive book of women's alpinism from the first hikes undertaken by ladies in the 16th century to the most famous contemporary mountaineers tells the story of the most important women who, like male mountaineers, were enchanted by the beauty, attraction and danger of the mountains. Reinhold Messner describes in a captivating style the attempts, records and victories of women who, like men, became conquerors of all fourteen 8000 women, and he accompanies his book with a number of unique photographs.