Great story of a woman dedicated to her own path, after caring for her parents. Thanks for publishing her story.
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“one of the neighbouring mountains is known as Truda Peak” - Truda Peak is a sub-peak of Mt Rogers, in the Rogers Pass, in the Selkirk Mountains. It’s 100 kms as the crow flies, and about 150 kms by road, from Moraine Lake in the Rockies. Hardly a neighbour, and I’d be very surprised if its naming had anything to do with Fay’s pique over Mt. Fay. Benham climbed seven peaks in the Rogers Pass area in the summer of 1904.
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Interesting the article stated she made sketches of her travels; how unique. Always marvel at people that take a non traditional and "different path" in life.
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In the high valleys of Nepal, my “porters” wore sneakers - I wonder what hers had on their feet. They are the heroes (make a movie).
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The only Matterhorn I ever went up is in Disneyland, and I found it pretty scary as a kid. Truda's story may not inspire me to climb a real mountain but it does strengthen my courage to meet other life challenges.
Thank you!
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Looking foward to seeing Meryl Streep play her in the movie.
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This lady is awesome.
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Thank you, NYTIMES for bringing us her story!!
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Thank you for sharing. I took away several points from this story.
There are countless untold inspiring stories like these. Second, there have been pioneers who have risked their lives and created trails for us to enjoy today. My friends and I summited Kilimanjaro earlier this month.
I should also explore more of the Canadian landscape. Lastly, we don’t need brand new and top of the line gear to explore the world around us.
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@Ali Hussein: Certainly so. My first mountain explorations were done with a WW II surplus army rucksack - not a bad design, by the way - and my father's old surveyors' boots. Left the latter a bit too close to the campfire to dry them out one evening - dried them a bit too much, alas. I will say though that modern boots do make a difference.
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What am amazing woman. I too share her wanderlust and am always inspired and enlivened to hear fantastic tails of exploration such as the life she lived. Well done nyt for bringing her story into the modern age, maybe it will inspire more people to leave their comfort zones and find out the world ain't such a bad place after all.
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fascinating read. the Overlooked series is shining a needed light
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I love the idea of "Overlooked", and this is a great example, so warmly written, with obvious affection for Truda, never a "nettling presence"!
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No knock on Gertrude Benham intended. However, over a 50-odd year career, I ascended more than 600 alpine peaks, many of them highly technical, including a few in the Himalaya and Andes, as well as many in the Alps and western North America. Further, my wife, an accomplished alpinist in her own right, was one of my climbing partners on almost 500 of those. I can send you a copy of her obituary as well as a pre-publication copy of mine.
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