A Place Among Giants: 22 Seasons at Denali Basecamp

by Lisa Roderick

Twenty two years of love, triumph, and tragedy on North America's tallest mountain.

Lisa Roderick had already forged an unlikely path, from growing up on a farm in Connecticut to driving the Alaska Highway to start a new life in the 49th state. What happened next—a series of events leading her to spend more time in the Alaska Range than possibly any living human—is even more remarkable. In Alaska, she fell in love with the land, the mountains, and a mountain climber, and soon became swept up in a series of climbing adventures that culminated in her managing the basecamp on Denali, North America's tallest mountain.

A tragic plane crash would galvanize Lisa's commitment to protecting Denali's aviators, and she would spend the next 22 seasons living on a massive Alaskan glacier in one of the world's harshest mountain climates. Lisa faithfully executed her duties, providing weather observations for pilots, coordinating flights, and keeping order in the camp, while facing constant worries for the safety of her glacier pilot brother, Paul, and her mountain climber husband, Mark, as they each navigated the myriad hazards of the Alaska Range.

Lisa's story is not just about mountains, flying, or climbing. It is a portrait of more than two decades on Denali and the climbers, pilots, and park service rescuers with whom she shared her adventures during her historic and remarkable tenure.

Genres: Mountaineering, Climbing, Memoir

300 pages, Paperback

Published November 5, 2024

Reviews

[Zoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m excited to be one of the first reviews for this wonderful memoir. I randomly selected this book from the climbing section at the bookstore and it was just as captivating as I’d hoped. Lisa Roderick beautifully retells her years in an unimaginably demanding position and memorializes many late companions with such love and care. This was heart-wrenching at times but ultimately quite inspirational, absolutely worth a read.

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful story telling. Throughly engaging. Kept my interest the whole way. I enjoyed reading this after our trip to Alaska.

[Riley Hester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeeeeez incredibly inspiring and powerful story. Beautifully told and also does a good job highlighting how scary and emotionally taxing a career in mountaineering can be. And some good woman on mountains representation💪💪💪

[McKenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

So. Cool. Truly inspiring and badass, especially as a fellow outdoorswoman. An easy read but I really enjoyed this book nonetheless and think of mountaineering and Alaska in a different way now. So proud of Lisa’s accomplishments and what she did for representing women in the outdoors. Very glad I read this book. I’m sad that it’s over now!

[Reading_with_juls · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read for the thrill seekers in your life.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely incredible memoir - well written and captivating.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Lisa is a person with many talents and she put them all to work in her important work at Denali basecamp. Goodreads lists the book as having 300 pages when it's actually close to 500 pages. I highly recommend this book for mountaineers, armchair mountaineers and anyone who wants to learn more about the mountain weather that Denali creates that can make the difference between surviving or not.

[Solange · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lisa took me along with her as her fly on the tent wall, apprentice and camp fire confidant, from elevation 358 to Denali's 20,310.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loooooove this! Probably the best one to start learning about Denali

[Dani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lisa is an incredible woman! I feel like I got worlds closer to understanding what a badass she truly is through reading about her life experiences as the base camp manager. I read this book a few months before moving to Talkeetna to take a job as a pilot in the Alaska range, and I feel that this book prepared me for what I was about to experience. She captured the environment, the characters, and the operations really well and I am always impressed by her story and the amount of time she worked as the base camp manager. Go Lisa!!!