Uncoiling The Ropes Clare Sheridan

A compelling memoir from one of Ireland's most accomplished climbers. The highs and the lows that the life of a mountaineer involves is beautifully told in this biography.

Uncoiling The Ropes Clare Sheridan

1970s in Ireland was not a time when Rock Climbing was even considered to be a sport! All Clare Sheridan heard was: ‘Girls don’t climb.’

But in an era when there was no shortage of voices telling women how they should behave, Clare wasn’t listening. Fresh out of convent boarding school, Clare was determined to venture onto the crags and see the world from a different perspective.

Uncoiling The Ropes Clare Sheridan

Rock Climbing quickly became her passion, and Clare’s drive for adventure was matched only by her courage. She was soon recognised as a pioneering leader by the top climbers of the day, not least Belfast mountaineer Calvin Torrans, the love of her life, who she met on her first trip to the Alps. They have been climbing together ever since, tackling difficult routes on high mountains all over the world and achieving a succession of lofty first ascents on Irish cliffs, even as they raised a family of three.

Uncoiling The Ropes Clare Sheridan

In this beautiful memoir, Clare paints in vivid detail the fears, the triumphs and the losses of a lifetime of heart-stopping adventures. Highly engaging and disarmingly honest, Uncoiling the Ropes gives a rare insight into the experience of a woman who has beaten her own path through the male-dominated world of mountaineering.

With its reflections on risk and courage, motherhood, self-belief and the joy of living fearlessly, this thought-provoking memoir is a powerful read for climbers and non-climbers alike.