lady rock climbers; there's always been quite a few of them; smart the way the rope is hooked on the rock to give better leverage in case of a fall... looks like the California Sierras.... possibly Yosemite Valley
The photograph is of Lucy Smith and Pauline Ranken of the Ladies' Scottish Climbing Club c.1908 ascending Salisbury Crags, near Edinburgh.
Impressive that the only protection they had was a length of rope that was tied around each of their waists. There were no harnesses, crampons or other modern safety equipment available to them at the time.
"Lucy Smith - one of the women in the photo- was one of the founder members of the Ladies Scottish Climbing Club: the other two founders were Jane Inglis Clarke and her daughter Mabel.
They formed the club because as women, they were barred from joining the men-only Scottish Mountaineering Club , and they trained regularly on Salisbury Crags in Edinburgh .
All three women climbed extensively in Scotland and the Alps before forming the club, including the major climbing areas in Scotland such as Crianlarich, Glencoe and Skye.
And they did much of that climbing in thick, long tweed skirts, smart jackets and - of course - hats. Unlike the men's club, who wore stout boots and trousers, which must have made things easier."
So cool. I can't imagine climbing in a heavy skirt like that. I couldn't even do it as a kid in jeans and a t-shirt, on a climbing wall, with a harness! lol
@ Sarah: Amazing isn't it? That's GUTSY - in skirts, pretty standard boots and with little or no safety gear. Apparently they set up their own club because the men shouldn't let them join or be associated with theirs. "Unsuitable" for Ladies I'm guessing! But apparently not by the looks of this photograph!
6 comments:
lady rock climbers; there's always been quite a few of them; smart the way the rope is hooked on the rock to give better leverage in case of a fall... looks like the California Sierras.... possibly Yosemite Valley
The photograph is of Lucy Smith and Pauline Ranken of the Ladies' Scottish Climbing Club c.1908 ascending Salisbury Crags, near Edinburgh.
Impressive that the only protection they had was a length of rope that was tied around each of their waists. There were no harnesses, crampons or other modern safety equipment available to them at the time.
"Lucy Smith - one of the women in the photo- was one of the founder members of the Ladies Scottish Climbing Club: the other two founders were Jane Inglis Clarke and her daughter Mabel.
They formed the club because as women, they were barred from joining the men-only Scottish Mountaineering Club , and they trained regularly on Salisbury Crags in Edinburgh .
All three women climbed extensively in Scotland and the Alps before forming the club, including the major climbing areas in Scotland such as Crianlarich, Glencoe and Skye.
And they did much of that climbing in thick, long tweed skirts, smart jackets and - of course - hats. Unlike the men's club, who wore stout boots and trousers, which must have made things easier."
i didn't know all of that: amazing! but not surprising... any man who's been married a long time knows who the real authority is...
It's amazing what you can find out using Google for 5 minutes!
So cool. I can't imagine climbing in a heavy skirt like that. I couldn't even do it as a kid in jeans and a t-shirt, on a climbing wall, with a harness! lol
@ Sarah: Amazing isn't it? That's GUTSY - in skirts, pretty standard boots and with little or no safety gear. Apparently they set up their own club because the men shouldn't let them join or be associated with theirs. "Unsuitable" for Ladies I'm guessing! But apparently not by the looks of this photograph!
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