MOUNTAINEERING -- Barbara Polk Washburn, first woman to climb the highest peak in the United States, died in Massachusetts on Sept. 25 at the age of 99.

The climb of Mount McKinley was less about breaking barriers than about building a relationship with her husband, the Boston Globe reported.  "I had no real feeling about being a pioneering woman on a serious Alaskan expedition," she said in a story about the climb. "I only knew that as the only woman, I had to measure up."

Her husband, Henry Bradford Washburn Jr., was an American explorer, mountaineer, cartographer and photographer. He led several first ascents in Alaska, including a 1951 ascent of McKinley's West Buttress, which proved to be the safest route to the 20,320-foot summit. In the 1970s, Washburn led the first extensive mapping of the Grand Canyon.  He established the Boston Museum of Science.

The 1947 McKinley expedition took 70 days and gained 14,600 foot of elevation to the mountain's summit and highest point in North America.

Barbara told the Boston Globe that she had trained for the climb by pushing a baby carriage.

She was involved in many organizations and was honorary director of the Grand Circle Foundation.

Her 100th birthday would have been in November.