Betsy White started climbing in 1955 at 17 years-old and has since traveled and climbed in over 60 countries, from the Americas to the Middle East, Europe to Africa, and beyond. She and her husband Gene explored the Pakistani ranges widely, having been stationed there in the 1960’s by the Peace Corps. In 1980, the only woman on a self-funded expedition to Makalu on the Nepal-Tibet border, White spearheaded a historic high-alpine rescue when a fellow climber fell ill with cerebral edema at 22,000ft.

A passion-project of AAC Past President Jim McCarthy and Tom Hornbein—themselves mountaineering legends by any standard—the American Alpine Club’s Legacy Series pays tribute to the visionary climbers who made the sport what it is today and stands as a commitment to securing their legacies.