Grace Hoeman

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Grace Jansen Hoeman (Grace Nieman) was an American doctor and mountaineer who helped pave the way for women in high-altitude climbing. Born in 1921 in Silver Beach, Washington, she spent part of her childhood in the Netherlands with her mother. Her stepfather taught her to ski at age nine. She studied medicine in Europe, earning a Bachelor of Medicine from the University of Berlin in 1944 and a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Utrecht in 1948. She trained in surgery and gynecology, survived myocarditis and tuberculosis, and later earned a Master of Public Health from Yale in 1953.

Grace returned to the United States in 1950, taught preventive medicine in Buffalo, and worked for the Erie County Health Department. She later did a residency at Syracuse University. Her first marriage ended in divorce. In 1965 she began practicing anesthesia in Anchorage, Alaska, where she started climbing more seriously. In 1966 she married climber John Vincent Hoeman.

Grace and Vin Hoeman climbed extensively in Alaska, making more than 120 ascents, including 20 first ascents, with five climbs done solo. In 1968 they reached a summit on Mount Igikpak and completed a four-person traverse of the Harding Icefield. In 1969 she climbed Mount Rainier, Orizaba, and Chimborazo; she hoped to join a Dhaulagiri expedition, but could not due to gender, and Vin died on that expedition. She then worked to finish his guide to the highest peaks in all 50 states and climbed Mount Kimball in Alaska in 1969.

In 1970 she led the first all-female Denali expedition via the West Buttress, with Arlene Blum, Margaret Clark, Faye Kerr, Dana Joan Isherwood, and Margaret Young. The group, known as the Denali Damsels, reached the summit; on the descent Grace collapsed at about 19,500 feet but was rescued by her teammates and they made it safely down.

In April 1971, while ski touring the Eklutna Glacier near Anchorage with John Samuelson and Hans van der Laan, they were killed by an avalanche. Their bodies were found later that summer. She was survived by two daughters from her first marriage and three grandchildren.