In the Shadow of the Mountain: A Memoir of Courage

When Silvia’s mother called her home to Peru, she knew something had to finally give. A Latina hero in the elite, macho tech world of Silicon Valley, she was privately hanging by a thread. She was deep in the throes of alcoholism, hiding her sexuality from her family, and repressing the abuse she’d suffered as a child.

Her visit to Peru would become a turning point in her life. Silvia started climbing. Something about the brute force required for the ascent―the restricted oxygen at altitude, the vast expanse of emptiness around her, the risk and spirit and sheer size of the mountains, the nearness of death―woke her up. And then she took her biggest pain to the biggest mountain: Everest. “The Mother of the World,” as it’s known in Nepal, allows few to reach her summit, but Silvia didn’t go alone. She gathered a group of young female survivors and led them to base camp alongside her, their shared strength and community propelling her forward.

This is a remarkable story of heroism, one which awakens in all of us a lust for adventure, gratitude for the strong women in our lives, and faith in our own resilience. Silvia has climbed the Seven Summits, beginning with Kilimanjaro, in 2005, and finishing with Denali in 2018. Her story is planned to become a film.