Mimi Zieman blazes an unlikely journey from the daughter of Jewish immigrants raised in an Orthodox community in New York City, her father the sole survivor of the Holocaust from his family, to the doctor and only woman on an Everest expedition as a 25-year-old medical student from the Bronx.
Her team of six attempts a new route up the remote East Face of Everest in Tibet without supplemental oxygen, Sherpa support, or chance for rescue. When three climbers disappear during their summit attempt, Zieman reaches the knife edge of her limits and digs deeply to fight for the climbers’ lives and to find her voice.
Weaving Judaism, feminism, and medicine in a riveting adventure story, Zieman recounts her immigrant family experience, her time on an Israeli Kibbutz, and how she spontaneously hosts a Seder for her Everest team. Her compelling narrative attributes her reproductive rights advocacy to her father’s values, and her unyielding feminism to the strength of her mother and grandmother, creating a tale that is as dramatic as it is inspiring.
![](/themes/custom/jbc_theme/images/logo.png)
Nonfiction
Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor’s Unlikely Adventure
- From the Publisher
September 1, 2023
Discussion Questions
![](/sites/default/files/images/book_covers_donate.png)
Jewish literature inspires, enriches, and educates the community.
Help support the Jewish Book Council.