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University of Calgary

An Easy Day for a Lady:

A History of Women’s Climbing Literature

Sydney Stokoe

ENGL 503.30-01

For: Harry Vandervlist

December 15, 2014

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Climbing and adventure writing is a gateway for the general population to experience the

challenge and joy of outdoor sports from the comfort of their own homes. From the

climbing memoirs of Conrad Kain, Wade Davis and John Krakauer, to the outdoor tales

of Bill Bryson and Sid Marty, the stories and characters inspire people to go outside and

follow in the footsteps of the authors. These books hold the history of the struggle and

perseverance that one needs in the mountains, they allow readers of all walks of life to

put themselves in the adventurer’s shoes and feel, if only for brief moment, what it feels

like to push the limits of possibility. The body of authors producing adventure literature,

until recently, has been almost entirely male. While the historical record shows women

have been a part of the climbing community for over 200 years, it was not until recently,

that the full history of female mountaineers has been Acknowledge and published.

Representation in media is an important issue that is being discussed across mainstream

and alternative media right now. From Hollywood movies, to videogame journalism, the

exclusion of women has been a problem that has garnered attention. This is true also for

the adventure sport community. The majority of big name climbers in film festivals, and

the vast majority of winners of prestigious adventure writing awards are men. Even in our

modern era, the voices of mountain women are not being heard at the same volume as

those of their male counterparts.

Given that over 40% of the modern climbing community is female, we should

expect to see a larger number of female climbing writers. However it is important to

remember that climbing, like any subculture, does not exist within a vacuum. The social

forces at play in general societies are also at play in the climbing subculture. There is no

denying that throughout history, the experiences of women have been subject to strong

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social biases. This translates into a reduced numbers of works being produced by female

writers, and into less public awareness of the ascents being made by female climbers.

Women’s climbing history is largely reflective of the period in which they lived. Women

dealt with the same struggles in education and the workforce as they did in climbing. As

the nature of society evolved, so did the nature of climbing.

The first record of a woman climbing a large mountain was in 1808, when Marie

Paradis summited Mount Blanc, carried to the top of the mountain by her guides. She did

not write about her ascent except in letters to family. In the early days of women’s

climbing, documentation and publication was done primarily by men, many of whom

stripped the names of the female climbers from the document, or reduced them to initials

removing their gender from the article altogether (Birkett, 25). It was not until the later

part of the 19th century that women began to gain traction in the climbing world, running

their own expeditions, and producing published works. This coincided with the

emergence of the suffrage movement, which many female climbers were involved with.

The fight for suffrage came at a time when the majority of women, particularly those

born to wealthy families, did not work outside the home. The upper classes had greater

accessibility to education and greater leisure time. During the Victorian era, climbing was

an activity of science and the leisure class. Climbing in Europe was a white-collar

activity, and large expeditions to Asia or South America were undertaken in the name of

science and discovery.

Women in the early days of climbing literature were not only pushing the physical

boundaries of harsh weather and difficult travel in mountain environments, they were

pushing against societal repression and extreme gender inequality. For women in

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Victorian society to venture into the adventure sport world required no small amount of

breaking down the walls of “proper” ladylike behavior. Corsets and heavy woolen

dresses restricted movement and breathing. Some chose to remain in floor length skirts

and hats with veils, while others elected to shirk convention and move to a more modern,

and practical dress style. Fanny Bullock Workman climbed in full Victorian dress

including heavy wool skirts for her whole climbing career, while her rival Annie Smith

Peck chose to climb in bloomers. Peck’s decision to lose the skirt in favor of the more

practical outfit was considered a serious scandal.

Some woman climbers used climbing as their opportunity to express their

political values to the world, or to be financially independent, publishing accounts of

their expeditions in periodicals. This allowed women not only a way to finance their

expeditions, but a chance to be seen and recognized in the historic record alongside their

male counterparts. Annie Smith Peck and Fanny Bullock Workman, two Victorian era

climbers made an indelible mark on women’s climbing history.

While embittered in personal rivalries over altitude achievements, both Annie

Smith Peck and Fanny Bullock Workman were strong supporters of early feminist

movements, and were well known for their activities in the Women’s Suffrage

movement. Both went so far as to take photographs with banners or Newspaper headlines

declaring “VOTES FOR WOMEN” while on expedition (Brown, xii). Peck’s image was

featured in advertisements for Singer sewing machines, with the idea that women would

glue Peck’s picture into their sewing benches as a source of inspiration.

In Peck and Workman’s day, the abilities of women were vastly underestimated.

Women were seen as too weak, both physically and mentally, to carry out the tasks given

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to men. Medical professionals of the day saw mild exercise as a way to encourage

“mental stability” in women (Ernie-Steighner, 30), both Peck and Workman set forth the

idea that women were inherently strong and capable, and that their ability to climb

alongside men was proof of this. Peck included her feminist ideals in her writing, and in

interviews with newspapers. She wrote a great deal on how women should be able to

determine their own limitations, rather than being told so by men. She was quoted as

saying “That women’s sphere should be prescribed by men, that men know better what is

womanly and what we are capable than do we ourselves, has not seemed to me logical or

proper.” (Ernie-Stighner, 26). The pinnacle of Peck’s climbing career was the successful

summit of Huascaran in Peru, which at the time was believed to be the highest mountain

in South America. Following the climb, reports of her trip were published all across the

United States and Europe, heralding her as one of the top female climbers. Peck,

responded to this saying “A woman who has done good work in the scholastic world

doesn’t like to be called a good woman scholar. Call her a good scholar and let it go at

that… Don’t call me a woman mountain climber.” (Scialdone-Kimberley, 1)

At the height of her achievements, Peck was a prominent figure in suffrage

circles, providing a model of what women were capable physically. Her educational

advantages and familial prowess allowed her a voice that was taken seriously by those in

positions of power. The same can be said for Bullock, she travelled and wrote extensively

with her husband William Hunter Workman, a respected climber and scientist himself.

She was also fortunate to be born to a wealthy family, which provided her the opportunity

to gain education and teach her leadership skills that she would need in her future

endeavors, both personally and politically. At the time, climbing was an activity of the

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leisure class. The wealthy had the time and resources to devote their energy to mountain

exploration. Long expeditions were primarily scientific in nature and mountaineers were

well educated. As with their emergence in climbing, the scholarly world was also a

relatively modern option for women, and wealthier women were afforded more freedom

and opportunity to receive formal education.

Within the climbing culture itself, women climbers and explorers had other

barriers to cross to be accepted within the field as being able to contribute important

thoughts and achievements to the subculture. Numerous geographical and adventure

societies existed in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The initial rejection of women from

geographic societies sparked the beginning of women’s specific climbing clubs. As time

wore on, women were not only putting up numerous notable ascents, but also

contributing greatly to the advancement of scientific expeditions in the far reaches of the

mountains. One after the other, geographic societies began to accept women fellows into

their ranks. One of the last, and perhaps the most prestigious of these societies to accept

women fellows was the Royal Geographic Society (RGS) in England.

Workman was among the first women to be granted fellowship into the RGS. The

debate over the admission of female fellows took over 20 years (Bell, 295). During this

time, the arguments being made to keep female members out reflected greater society.

Though numerous woman scholars had presented to the society, given lectures, and been

awarded great honors for their contributions to the field, Society members such as Lord

Curzon still felt that “Their sex and training render them equally unfitted for exploration,

and the genus of professional female globe-trotters with which America has lately

familiarized us is one of the horrors of the latter end of the nineteenth century.” (Bell,

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298). The eventual acceptance into the RGS marked an important point in the

legitimization of women’s climbing achievements. While there were still numerous

factors and prejudices working against them, by the early 1900s, women had carved out a

legitimate place in the history books, alongside their male counterparts.

With  the  outbreak  of  WWI,  climbing  and  travel  were  more  or  less  put  on  

hold.  The  Alps  were  the  major  testing  ground  for  new  routes  and  with  the  war  

literally  surrounding  the  mountain  range,  very  little  is  seen  in  terms  of  climbing  

achievements  made.  

  The  war  effort  brought  women  out  of  the  home  and  into  the  workforce.  

Following  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  women  were  unwilling  to  give  up  their  

newfound  independence.  Having  proved  that  they  were  capable  of  engaging  in  

occupations  previously  thought  inappropriate  for  them,  women  were  poised  to  

make  big  changes  in  many  facets  of  their  lives.  This  pioneering  spirit  transferred  

into  the  climbing  world  with  the  emergence  of  all  female  climbing  teams.    

While  the  1800s  had  been  a  period  of  exploration  and  romanticism  in  the  

mountains,  attracting  the  elite  of  society,  the  interwar  period  broke  down  societal  

boundaries,  giving  lower  classes  the  chance  to  engage  in  leisure  sport.  

Mountaineering  texts  had  once  been  rich  with  poetic  descriptions  of  the  human  

experience.  The  publications  in  the  early  1900s  were  simpler,  devoid  of  the  flowery  

language  seen  in  earlier  writing.  The  “age  of  mountain  guide  book  narratives”  

followed  the  conclusion  of  WWI  (Vause,  7).    The  “golden  era”  of  mountaineering,  the  

era  of  the  scientific  expedition,  was  over.  Very  little  was  published  by  women  during  

this  period.  It  was  not  until  after  WWII  that  woman  climbers  of  the  interwar  period  

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set  down  their  stories,  though  they  were  more  likely  to  publish  accounts  of  their  

climbs  within  their  own  lifetime  that  their  Victorian  predecessors.  Prior  to  this,  the  

works  of  female  climbers  were  not  given  the  same  attention  as  the  writing  of  men.  

Women’s  experiences  were  captured  primarily  in  personal  letters  and  newspaper  

publications,  which  were  not  anthologized  until  much  later.  It  had  been  the  rare  

exception  for  women  to  publish  books  on  their  adventures.    

In  the  Alps,  interwar  climbers  moved  towards  a  more  technically  challenging  

style  of  climbing.  First  ascents  of  major  summits  in  the  Alps  had  been  done,  so  the  

shift  towards  more  physically  and  mentally  demanding  routes  allowed  climbers  to  

continue  pushing  the  limits.    While  not  common,  it  was  certainly  accepted  for  

women  to  join  parties  of  men  take  in  these  technical  routes  both  on  rock  and  ice.    

They  were  not  expedition  leaders,  nor  were  they  considered  to  be  strong  reliable  

climbers.  Women  were  “allowed”  to  join  in  on  easier  days  with  parties  of  men,  or  to  

hire  guides  to  take  them  up  the  mountain.  It  was  not  accepted  that  a  woman  could  

make  leadership  decisions  on  technical  routes,  or  have  the  strength  and  resilience  to  

finish  a  climb  without  the  aid  of  men.  This  sparked  the  desire  for  all-­‐female  climbing  

teams.  With  2  or  3  women  on  a  rope,  decisions  were  made  as  a  team,  or  with  the  

more  skilled  person  taking  leadership,  rather  than  the  power  resting  in  the  hands  of  

the  male  participants,  regardless  of  experience.  It  created  a  more  balanced  

relationship  on  the  wall.      

Emily  Kelly,  founder  of  one  of  the  original  women’s  rock  climbing  

organizations,  The  Pinnacle  Club,  remarked  “As  in  other  walks  of  life,  women  

wanted  to  find  their  own  feet:  it  was  very  splendid  for  some  women  to  be  always  

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able  to  borrow  crutches  in  the  shape  of  a  man’s  help,  but  it  is  even  better  to  find  we  

have  feet  of  our  own  and  can  climb  some  things  as  well  as  a  man  climber.”  (Mazel,  

American  mountaineer  Miriam  O’Brien  Underhill  was  an  early  pioneer  of  all-­‐

female  climbing  teams.  She  passionately  defended    “Manless  Climbing”,  arguing  that  

a  woman  could  not  know  what  she  was  really  capable  of  until  she  climbed  a  route  

without  a  guide  or  any  other  man  on  the  rope.  Undaunted  by  the  disapproval  of  her  

male  climbing  partners,  she  went  on  the  make  a  series  of  impressive  ascents  with  

female  partners.    She  wrote  in  her  1956  book  Give  me  the  hills  “  Very  early  I  realized  

that  the  person  who  invariably  climbs  behind  a  good  leader…  may  never  really  learn  

mountaineering  at  all  and  in  any  case  enjoys  only  a  part  of  the  varied  delights  and  

rewards  of  climbing.”  (Underhill,  149)  Underhill  goes  on  to  discuss  the  inherent  

assumptions  that  went  along  with  climbing  in  the  company  of  men,  that  as  a  woman  

she  was  assumed  to  be  the  weakest  member  of  the  team  regardless  of  her  actual  

performance  on  the  route.      

August  of  1929,  Underhill  and  her  partner  Alice  Damesme  made  the  first  all-­‐

female  ascent  of  The  Grepon,  a  peak  in  the  French  Alps.  The  route  was  considered  

challenging  by  contemporary  standards  and  the  two  women  successfully  summited,  

passing  a  party  of  men  on  route.  Following  their  ascent,  French  climber  Etienne  

Bruhl  stated  “The  Grepon  has  disappeared…  Now  that  it  has  been  done  by  two  

women,  no  self-­‐respecting  man  can  undertake  it.”  (Underhill,  169).  Bruhl’s  

statement  reflects  that  despite  the  headway  in  women  were  making,  and  the  

increasing  number  of  female  climbers,  they  were  not  yet  accepted  as  “true”  

mountain  athletes.    

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There  was  little  encouragement  from  climbing  publications  for  women  

climbers.    The  Alpine  Journal  treated  Underhill  and  Damesme’s  lead  on  the  Grepon  

as  an  anomaly,  stating,  “Few  ladies,  even  in  these  days  are  even  capable  of  

mountaineering  unaccompanied”  (Pilley,  130).    While  their  presence  in  the  

mountains  was  certainly  growing,  there  was  still  an  expectation  that  woman  

climbers  were  dependant  on  men.  

Predating  Underhill’s  achievements,  British  climber  Dorothy  Pilley  declared,  

“Women  could  and  should  take  full  responsibility  for  climbs  within  their  power”  

(Pilley,  131).  She  and  fellow  climbers  Lilian  Bray  and  Annie  Wells  made  several  

ascents  in  the  Saas  Fee  region  of  Switzerland  without  male  companions.    Though  

these  climbers  were  not  particularly  difficult,  it  was  the  first  record  of  women  

engaging  in  technical  climbing  without  the  leadership  of  men.    

While  both  Pilley  and  Underhill  wrote  on  the  personal  ambition  of  climbing  

with  an  all  female  team,  there  was  a  shift  from  the  broader  politics  of  Women’s  

rights  seen  in  earlier  writing.  With  the  emergence  of  women  in  the  working  world,  

and  British  and  American  suffrage  achievements,  the  focus  of  women’s  struggle  for  

equality  transitioned  to  an  individual  level.  Leading  trips  of  their  own,  taking  charge  

of  the  route  finding  and  planning  aspects  of  a  climbing  trip  pushed  women  to  

discover  much  more  than  their  physical  strength.    This  was  the  beginning  of  

women’s  move  to  equality  in  the  climbing  world,  mirroring  the  achievements  they  

had  made  in  greater  society.    

The  1950s  were  an  important  period  in  mountaineering  history.  With  WWII  

over,  it  was  once  again  possible  for  climbers  to  climb  far  off  mountains.  Sir  Edmund  

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Hillary  claimed  the  first  ascent  of  Mt  Everest  in  1953  as  part  of  a  British  expedition.    

It  was  a  time  of  possibility  and  innovation  in  general  society  as  well  as  the  

mountaineering  world.  Women  in  the  workforce  during  WWII  engaged  in  activities  

that  were  previously  thought  to  be  impossible  or  unsuitable  for  them.  Women’s  

climbing  clubs  were  now  well  established,  and  it  was  understood  that  women  were  

capable  to  undertaking  increasingly  greater  challenges  in  the  mountains  as  well  as  

daily  life.    

Sir  John  Hunt,  the  expedition  leader  for  the  1953  Everest  ascent  spoke  out  in  

support  of  women  climbers  engaging  in  high  altitude  expeditions.  After  receiving  a  

letter  from  two  young  women  who  wrote  him  with  their  aspirations  of  being  the  

first  women  to  summit  Everest,  Hunt  said  “of  all  the  thousands  of  letters  which  I  

have  received,  I  think  this  has  given  me  the  most  pleasure.“  (Williams,  159).    Hunt’s  

comments  reinforced  what  women  climbers  already  knew  to  an  audience  much  

wider  than  their  local  climbing  club.  This  positive  attention  from  high  profile  male  

climbers  gave  them  the  validation  they  needed  to  be  taken  seriously  by  those  

outside  of  their  own  circles.      

In  1955,  the  British  Mountaineering  Council  granted  guiding  certifications  to  

a  woman,  Gwen  Moffat,  for  the  first  time.  Moffat,  was  a  reflection  of  changing  times.  

She  was  a  rambunctious,  lower  class  woman  living  a  bohemian  lifestyle.  This  was  a  

far  cry  from  the  upper  class  intellectual  that  had  populated  the  climbing  world  prior  

to  the  wars.  The  climber  of  the  1950’s  was  a  fringe  personality  who  had  given  up  the  

conveniences  of  typical  life  to  live  in  the  mountains.  They  were  driven  by  passion  

and  a  need  for  physical  expression.  While  women  were  exploring  new  freedoms,  

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there  was  still  a  social  expectation  of  being  caregivers  and  housewives.  Moffat  

defied  convention  taking  her  life  into  her  own  hands.  

She  lived  most  of  her  life  in  poverty,  married  and  divorced  twice  and  lived  a  

free  wheeling  bohemian  lifestyle.  An  army  deserter,  she  moved  between  communes  

and  life  on  the  road.  Climbing  became  her  passion,  and  guiding  was  the  only  

occupation  that  captured  her  for  long  enough  to  earn  a  steady  living.  She  was  also  a  

prolific  writer,  publishing  35  books  over  her  lifetime.  After  her  first  book  –  a  

climbing  memoir  titled  Space  Beneath  my  Feet–  she  went  on  to  write  a  series  of  

detective  stories  centered  around  a  woman  climber/detective,  Melinda  Pink.  

Although  women  were  becoming  more  visible  in  the  workforce,  Moffat  undertook  

the  challenge  of  becoming  a  guide  at  a  time  when  “Women  were  not  free  to  abandon  

their  ‘domestic  duties’  whenever  they  felt  like  it  and  rush  off  to  the  hills.”  (Birkett,  

78)  Despite  the  sacrifices  she  made  to  her  personal  relationships  Moffat  made  it  

clear  that  women  could  be  as  free  as  men.    

Moffat’s  status  as  a  certified  guide  was  a  recognition  of  the  perceived  ability  

of  women  by  the  male  professional  class  of  mountaineers.    Since  men  held  the  

powerful  positions  in  mountaineering  society,  their  acceptance  of  women  into  the  

professional  body  of  climbers  was  very  significant.  While  she  faced  some  initial  

resistance  from  clients,  her  career  was  successful  overall.    After  instructing  her  first  

course,  Moffat  noted  that  “I  was  not  longer  a  woman  with  a  reputation,  but  an  

instructor  with  a  technique  superior  to  theirs,  and  now  we  could  settle  down  to  

work.”  (Moffat,  235)    

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Moffat  was  not  the  only  pioneering  female  climber  in  this  time  period.  In  

1955,  Monica  Jackson,  Elizabeth  Stark  and  Evelyn  Camrass  undertook  the  first  all  

women’s  expedition  in  the  Himalayas.  As  Jackson  says  in  the  book  Tents  in  the  

Clouds  “I  should  like  to  make  it  clear  that  the  ‘first  ever’  aspect  was  quite  

unpremeditated.  It  was  not  until  our  plans  had  already  begun  to  take  shape  that  it  

occurred  to  us  that  we  were  creating  a  precedent.”  (Jackson,17).    These  three  

women  were  not  professional  climbers.  Jackson  was  a  freelance  journalist  and  

mother,  Stark  a  doctor,  and  Camrass  a  teacher.    Upon  applying  for  their  climbing  

permits,  Stark  remarked”  it  occurs  to  me  too  that  it  is  not  laughable  to  write  ‘  

Housewife’  as  occupation  when  applying  for  permission  to  climb  in  the  Himalaya.  It  

is  a  sedentary  job  which  keeps  one  in  poor  training.”    

Stereotypes  of  feminine  weakness  plagued  their  initial  application  for  

climbing  permits.  They  were  treated  with,  as  Jackson  put  it    “A  good  deal  of  

prejudice”  (Jackson,  17)  Although  women  had  climbed  in  the  Himalayas  before,  this  

would  be  the  first  time  there  were  no  western  men  on  site.  There  were  concerns  

over  interactions  between  western  women  and  local  men.    One  critic  of  their  

planned  expedition  “They  might  be  first  class  climbers,  but  these  was  no  guarantee  

that  they  could  cope  with  a  drunken  Sherpa.”  (William,  162).  The  success  of  their  

expedition  proved  it  was  possible  for  women  to  earn  the  respect  of  Sherpas  and  

climb  side  by  side  without  problems.    

As  women  became  more  and  more  successful  at  high  altitude  and  at  the  far  

reaches  of  the  great  mountain  ranges,  the  ideas  about  what  the  “ideal”  climber  

looked  like  was  changing.  The  idea  that  climbing  was  a  man’s  endeavor,  or  that  

14  

women  climbers  were  outliers  had  become  outdated.    As  Jackson  stated  “There  is  no  

ideal  shape  or  size  or  a  man  when  it  comes  to  Himalayan  climbing  –  as  witnessed  by  

the  diversity  of  the  Everest  and  Kanchenjunga  team.  But  it  may  well  be  that  a  small  

woman  scores  at  great  heights  if  she  is  wiry  and  spirited.”  (Jackson,  115)  

In  the  years  that  followed  Jackson’s  expedition,  numerous  other  all  female  

teams  made  their  way  into  the  Himalayas.  More  and  more  women  were  entering  the  

sport  of  climbing,  and  they  were  excelling  at  higher  levels.    The  horizon  looked  very  

wide  for  women  in  mountain  sports.    

Between  1953  and  1960,  each  of  the  14  eight-­‐thousanders  (peaks  over  

8000m  in  altitude)  had  been  summited  by  men.  However,  it  was  not  until  the  1970s  

that  women  began  to  reach  for  their  own  height  records.  Prior  to  the  1970s  the  

women’s  altitude  record  was  held  by  Claude  Kogen,  who  reached  7600  m  on  Cho  

Oyo  in  1954.  Women  did  not  pass  the  8000  m  for  another  20  years,  when  a  team  of  

Japanese  women  climbed  Manaslu  (8156  m)  in  1974.  While  the  height  race  was  over  

for  men  in  1953,  with  the  successful  summit  of  Mt  Everest  by  Sir  Edmund  Hillary,  it  

was  only  beginning  for  women.    

The  world  of  high  altitude  mountaineering  was  beginning  to  break  open  for  

women,  but  not  without  a  great  deal  of  resistance.  The  attitude  held  by  high  profile  

climbers  like  Reinhold  Messner  and  Edmund  Hillary  considered  female  climbers  

irresponsible  mothers  and  wives,  whose  presence  was  a  distraction  from  the  bonds  

of  manhood  they  sought  in  the  mountains  (“Annapura”,  2,  7,  67).  Messner  even  

ommited  the  names  of  Alison  Chadwick-­‐Onysziewicz  and  Vera  Watson,  who  fell  to  

their  deaths  on  Annapurna  in  1978,    out  of  his  book  Annapurna:  50  Years  of  

15  

Expeditions  to  the  Death  Zone,  despite  mentioning  their  deaths  (Rak,  142).  It  was  

under  this  pervasive  sexism  that  women  set  forth  to  make  altitude  records  in  the  

Himalayas.    

Arlene  Blum,  a  prominent  American  climber  and  scientist  wrote  two  books  

on  her  climbing  experiences.  Annapurna,  A  Woman’s  Place  Published  in  1980  details  

Blum’s  1978  expedition  to  Annapurna.  Her  2005  memoir  Breaking  Trail  delves  into  

Blum’s  childhood  and  growth  from  a  novice  climber  to  an  elite  mountaineer.  Both  

books  focus  on  the  challenges  she  endured  as  a  woman  in  the  climbing  world.  

Breaking  Trail  also  details  her  work  as  a  scientist  and  PhD  student  in  America  in  the  

1960s  and  70s.  

The  expedition  outlined  in  Annapurna  was  the  first  all  women’s  expedition  to  

the  remote  Nepalese  mountain.  It  acts  not  only  as  a  trip  report,  but  also  as  a  feminist  

dialogue  of  the  way  in  which  woman  climbers  were  perceived  and  treated  in  the  

1970s.  This  book  is  still  considered  to  be  “the  most  sustained  discussion  of  gender  

politics  that  can  be  found  in  any  expedition  account.”(Rak,  131)    

Blum  had  previously  applied  to  take  part  in  1969  American  expedition  to  

Koh-­‐i-­‐Marchech,  a  remote  peak  in  Afghanistan  and  was  told  that  “One  woman  and  

nine  men  would  seem  to  be  unpleasant  on  open  ice,  not  only  in  excretory  situations,  

but  in  the  easy  masculine  companionship  which  is  so  vital  a  part  of  the  joy  of  an  

expedition.”  (“Annapurna”,  1)    

This  was  not  the  first  time  that  Blum’s  gender  was  the  reason  for  her  rejected  

application.  The  trip  leader  on  the  Koh-­‐i-­‐Marchech  expedition  made  sure  to  let  her  

know  that  her  climbing  ability  and  personality  were  not  the  issues  of  contention.  

16  

Earlier  in  her  climbing  career,  she  had  requested  to  join  a  party  to  Denali,  in  Alaska  

and  was  refused  on  the  basis  that  “Women  aren’t  emotionally  stable  enough  to  

handle  [high  altitude].”(“Breaking  Trail,”  56).  Blum  went  on  to  plan  her  own  trip  to  

Denali  in  1970  in  the  company  of  5  other  women.  They  became  the  first  all  female  

party  to  summit  the  mountain,  pulling  off  a  daring  rescue  of  a  member  of  their  party  

who  fell  ill  near  the  summit,  a  feat  that  had  previously  been  considered  impossible  

at  such  high  altitiude.  

Blum  was  a  part  of  many  mixed  gender  expeditions  all  around  the  world,  

those  expeditions  she  was  allowed  on,  she  was  still  dealt  with  gender  

discrimination.  During  an  expedition  to  Peru,  she  became  very  ill  during  a  climb.  Her  

slow  pace  and  fatigue  was  blamed  on  being  a  “weak  woman”.  Even  after  being  

diagnosed  with  Hepatitis,  her  team  mates,  including  her  soon-­‐to-­‐be-­‐ex  boyfriend  

John  Hall,  stood  by  their  prior  comments  that  women  were  unfit  to  join  groups  of  

men  at  high  altitude.  Hall  admitted  that  Blum  was  a  strong  climber,  but  still  held  the  

idea  that  women  were  inherently  weak  and  unfit  for  high  altitude  travel.  Blum  and  

Hall’s  relationship  ended  after  the  incident  in  Peru.  

The  challenges  that  she  faced  in  the  climbing  world  mirrored  her  

professional  work.  As  a  woman  scientist  in  the  1970s,  Blum  had  difficultly  finding  a  

faculty  and  an  advisor  supportive  of  her  PhD.  She  fought  hard  to  be  taken  seriously  

as  an  academic,  but  faced  constant  ridicule  that  she  was  “trying  to  find  a  smart  

husband”  in  her  difficult  physics  courses  (“Breaking  Trail”,  29  )  .  Although  she  found  

individuals  who  were  supportive  of  her,  the  institutions  of  both  academia  and  

climbing  were  generally  set  against  the  advancement  of  women.  In  1966,  while  

17  

searching  for  an  advisor,  Blum  was  informed  that  MIT  had  never  granted  a  PhD  in  

her  field  (physical  chemistry)  to  a  woman,  and  according  to  one  professor,  they  

never  would.  She  was  the  only  woman  in  her  class,  and  her  faculty  building  at  MIT  

didn’t  even  have  a  ladies  bathroom  (“Breaking  Trail”,  29).    

Applications  for  large-­‐scale  expeditions  out  of  country  needed  support  from  

the  American  Alpine  Club  (AAC).  In  1978,  The  AAC  was  reluctant  to  give  permission  

for  an  all  women’s  team  to  attempt  Annapurna.  Although  the  AAC  did  eventually  

consent  to  their  expedition,  Blum  notes  that  very  few  women  were  granted  the  

opportunity  to  take  part  in  AAC  expeditions  in  the  years  that  followed  

(“Annapurna”,  244)  

The  Annapurna  expedition  was  funded  in  part  by  a  book  deal,  which  turned  

into  Annapurna,  a  Woman’s  Place,  and  the  sale  of  T-­‐shirts  bearing  the  slogan  “A  

Woman’s  Place  is  on  the  Top  –  Annapurna.”  Her  expedition  put  Irene  Miller  and  

Vera  Komarkova  on  the  summit  of  the  mountain,  but  cost  two  women,  Alison  

Chadwick-­‐Onysziewicz  and  Vera  Watson  their  lives.  Annapurna  is  known  as  the  

deadliest  of  the  8000m  peaks,  with  a  32%  fatality  rate.    

Blum’s  contributions  to  the  world  of  mountaineering  were  immense.  Her  

writing  is  still  held  to  be  an  important  testament  to  the  power  of  women  climbers,  

and  the  struggles  they  faced.    Women  climbers  now  held  the  power  to  show  the  

world  what  they  were  capable  of.  Though  both  the  climbing  and  professional  world  

were  wracked  with  institutionalized  sexism,  women  were  rising  to  the  top  little  by  

little.  

18  

Climbing  objectives  had  become  increasingly  difficult,  and  athletes  began  to  

specialize.  Strong  technical  rock  climbers  emerged  alongside  high  altitude  

mountaineers.    Lynn  Hill  emerged  at  the  top  of  the  technical  climbing  field  in  the  

1970’s  and  80’s,  one  of  the  few  women  to  be  considered  one  of  the  Yosemite  

“Stonemasters”.  The  Stonemasters  were  a  small,  tightly  knit  group  comprised  

almost  entirely  of  men  whose  hard  climbing,  rebellious  behavior  and  lack  of  concern  

for  personal  wellbeing  became  legendary  stood  at  the  forefront  of  Yosemite  

climbing.  Hill,  nicknamed  “Little  Herc”  for  her  strength  and  small  stature,  found  a  

place  amongst  the  Yosemite  hard  men  and  went  on  to  break  more  climbing  records  

than  any  other  woman  in  the  history  of  the  sport  (Vause,  54).  At  the  pinnacle  of  her  

career,  Hill  puts  up  the  first  free  ascent  of  the  classic  Yosemite  test  piece,  The  Nose  

route  on  El  Capitan  in  1994,  earning  her  a  place  in  climbing  history.  She  was  the  first  

person,  man  or  woman  to  free  the  Nose.    

  At  5’1”,  Hill  was  considerably  shorter  than  most  other  hard  climbers  in  the  

1980’s,  or  today  for  that  matter.  In  her  memoir  “Climbing  Free”  Hill  writes  about  the  

expectations  of  women  as  the  “weaker  sex”.  Her  successes  on  a  difficult  boulder  

problem  prompted  one  male  climber  to  say  “Gee,  I  can’t  even  do  that”,  as  though  

being  a  woman  predisposed  her  to  being  a  weak  climber.  (Hill,  43)  Even  in  the  late  

1980’s,  Alfred  Mummery’s  belief  of  all  climbs  becoming  “an  easy  day  for  a  lady”  was  

still  held  by  many  in  the  climbing  community.    

Despite  all  of  the  headway  made  by  strong  female  climbers  over  the  past  100  

years,  the  attitude  that  women  shouldn’t  be  able  to  perform  at  the  level  of  men  was  

pervasive  in  the  climbing  culture.  While  women  like  Hill  were  able  to  carve  out  

19  

comfortable  niches,  filled  with  supportive  partners  and  friends,  the  climbing  

community  was  still  not  a  wholly  welcoming  place  for  women.  As  Hill  put  it  “I  was  

often  disappointed  by  sexist  attitudes  outside  the  climbing  scene,  but  it  made  me  

even  more  annoyed  to  see  them  among  climbers.”  (Hill,  44)  

Hill  left  an  important  legacy  for  American  climbers  to  follow.    In  1990,  she  

climbed  “Masse  Critique”  In  Cimai  France,  becoming  became  the  first  woman  to  

climb  5.14.  Even  by  modern  standards,  this  was  a  very  noteworthy  achievement  as  

there  are  only  a  handful  of  climbers  who  climb  that  hard,  few  of  them  women.    

Climbing  has  always  been  about  pushing  the  boundaries  of  possibility.  As  the  

altitude  race  came  to  an  end,  with  the  successful  summit  of  all  14  peaks  over  8000  

m,  climbers  began  focusing  on  increasingly  difficult  objectives.  These  objectives  

carry  with  them  a  great  deal  of  inherent  risk.  While  technical  face  and  crack  

climbing  like  Hill’s  achievements  top  the  scales  for  difficulty  of  movement,  there  is  

another  metric  for  hard  climbing.  Difficult  mountaineering  and  alpine  routes  carry  

far  greater  risk  of  avalanche,  unprotected  falls,  bad  weather,  and  complications  with  

altitude.  These  big  alpine  ascents  in  the  Himalayas  are  still  important  to  the  history  

and  development  of  climbing.    

For  some,  the  risk  of  death  in  high  places  was  not  worth  the  reward.  Hill  

herself  was  once  an  accomplished  alpinist  as  well  as  a  hard  technical  climber,  but  

removed  herself  from  the  alpine  environment  saying,  “The  high  mountains  are  dead  

places.  Nothing  lives  up  there.  I  understand  the  adventure  and  the  pristine  beauty  of  

going  to  them,  but  it’s  not  worth  the  risk  and  discomfort  –  or  the  hurt  that  it  brings  

to  the  people  who  are  close  to  you  if  you  die.”(Coffey,  13)  Hill’s  decision  to  return  to  

20  

technical  rock  instead  of  alpine  climbing  was  based  partly  on  her  desire  to  start  a  

family  and  her  risk  reward  decision  placed  her  family  first.    

The  need  for  balance  between  climbing  and  family  is  a  pressure  that  is  under  

much  more  scrutiny  for  women  than  it  is  for  men.    Jennifer  Jordan,  Author  of    “  

Savage  Summit”,  a  biography  of  the  first  five  women  to  summit  K2,  discusses  the  

way  in  which  the  media  discussed  the  death  of  Alison  Hargreaves  on  K2  in  1995,  

painting  her  as  a  bad  mother,  rather  than  a  fallen  hero  “In  the  weeks  after  her  death  

climbers,  columnists…  came  out  of  the  wood  work  to  opine  about  her  ‘obsession’  

with  climbing  K2…about  her  ‘selfishness’  in  choosing  the  mountain  over  

motherhood”  (Jordan,  261).  Motherhood  in  this  context  seems  to  carry  a  greater  

weight  than  fatherhood.  Women  are  considered  irresponsible  to  leave  a  child  

behind,  but  male  climbers  rarely  have  their  families  brought  into  the  conversation.  

Maria  Coffey  wrote  in  her  book  Where  the  Mountain  Casts  it’s  Shadow  “  When  George  

Mallory  disappeared  on  Everest,  he,  too,  left  a  wife  and  small  children  behind,  yet  

this  did  nothing  to  dint  his  heroic  image.”  (Coffey,  73)    

Some  woman  climbers  make  the  decision  to  choose  climbing  over  family  by  

deciding  not  to  have  a  family.  Legendary  polish  alpinist  Wanda  Rutkiewicz’s    love  for  

the  mountains  ended  both  of  her  marriages,  but  she  understood  the  sacrifice  she  

was  making.  Rutkiewicz  had  no  children,  which  allowed  her  to  continue  to  focus  on  

her  alpine  pursuits  without  the  criticism  that  faced  climbing  mothers.  “  I  cannot  

resist  the  mountains,”  She  said  once,  “So  I  have  chosen  the  single  life.”  (Mcdonald,  

273).  Rutkiewicz  described  her  relationship  with  the  mountain  to  her  close  friend  

Marion  Feik  “When  I’m  up  in  the  thin  air,  suffering  at  every  step,  I’m  able  to  reach  

21  

deep  into  my  inner  self,  and  in  those  moments  I  have  a  certainty  that  someone  is  

helping  me.”  (McDonald,  256).  This  a  common  sentiment  among  high  altitude  

climbers,  something  Bernadette  McDonald  describes  as  “A  rational  acceptance  of  

danger,  combined  with  the  psychic  bond  to  a  benevolent  higher  power,  that  elusive  

third  man.”  (McDonald,  257).    

Though  a  general  acceptance  of  women  in  the  elite  of  mountain  sports  has  

grown,  there  is  still  a  disconnect  between  what  it  means  to  be  a  climber  versus  what  

it  means  to  be  a  man  or  woman  in  society.  In  climbing,  there  is  an  understanding  

that  sacrifices  need  to  be  made  to  succeed  on  the  mountain.  There  is  a  general  

understanding  amongst  climbers  that  the  top  athletes  get  to  where  they  are  because  

they  were  willing  to  sacrifice  everything  else  to  get  to  the  top.    

There  are  still  different  expectations  between  genders;  women  remain  

connected  to  family  at  their  core,  whereas  men  are  seen  as  more  distant.    Societies  

expectations  for  mothers  to  place  their  families  first,  and  fathers  to  continue  “in  the  

trenches”  is  reflected  back  in  the  climbing  culture.  The  media  loves  the  idea  of  

female  climbers  at  the  top  of  their  game,  but  there  is  disconnect  between  the  idea  of  

high  performance  climbing  and  the  sacrifice  that  is  required.  The  idea  that  female  

climbers  should  be  able  to  perform  at  high  level,  but  still  put  their  family  first  is  not  

equally  placed  on  male  climbers.  It  had  been  settled  that  women  were  physically  

and  mentally  capable  of  climbing  at  a  high  level,  the  criticism  had  moved  away  from  

her  own  abilities,  and  landed  on  how  her  climbing  affected  those  around  her.  There  

seemed  to  be  a  progression  from  criticizing  core  abilities,  in  favor  of  others  around  

her.  It  seemed  that  women  were  not  only  responsible  for  being  strong  enough  for  

22  

themselves,  but  also  strong  enough  for  everyone  around  her.  She  is  responsible  to  

her  partner  on  the  mountain,  her  partner  at  home  and  her  children.  Men  are  

frequently  rewarded  for  “leaving  it  all”  on  the  mountain.  They  are  expected  to  

soldier  on  through  the  death  of  others,  issues  with  relationships,  and  spending  vast  

amounts  of  time  away  from  their  families.  Perhaps  we  have  reached  a  point  where  

rather  than  women  being  too  harshly  judges,  men  are  not  criticized  enough.  

Climbers  are  well  aware  that  big,  dangerous  ascents  are  done  for  entirely  selfish  

reasons.  There  is  no  money  and  only  moderate  fame  in  these  hazardous  climbs.  The  

only  reason  that  a  climber  pushes  for  the  summit  against  this  level  of  adversity  is  

because  they  want  to.    

In the last several years, technical climbing has moved into the mainstream.

Climbing classes are easily accessible, and most major urban centers have at least one

indoor climbing facility. Climbing is no longer limited to individuals who are willing to

give up the comforts of home and live in the backcountry or on the road. Even those who

live far from mountains or cliff bands can get into the climbing scene. Adventure sport

film and book festivals have multiplied and grown in popularity.

Over 40% of modern climbers are female. The gender division across the

climbing community is becoming increasingly equal. Women’s specific courses are

offered at most gyms, and high profile climbers like Jen Olson and Steph Davis offer

women’s climbing seminars for beginner and intermediate athletes. Despite the

groundwork being laid for recreational climbers, the upper reaches of the sport remain a

male dominated space. Since it’s inception in 1992, only one woman, Japanese climber

Kei Taniguchi, has ever won the prestigious Piolet D’or mountaineering award.

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Taniguchi was awarded the Golden axe in 2009 for the first ascent of the South East face

of Kamet, a Himalayan peak standing 7756m high. Bernadette McDonald is the only

woman author to win the grand prize at the Banff Book festival since 1995. McDonald

was honored in 2011 for her book “Freedom Climbers”, a history of Polish mountaineers.

Sponsors also tend to favor men over women. Only 9 of Petzl’s 36 sponsored team

athletes are women, the Same can be said for The North Face, who’s female athletes

make up less than 30% of their Roster. Sanuk Footwear, who sponsors primarily climbers

and snowboarder’s fare even worse, only 3 of their 24 team athletes are women. For a

sport whose athletes so dependent on corporate sponsorship, this is appalling. Companies

are less likely to offer lucrative sponsorships to women, which in turn make it

considerably more difficult for women to finance high profile ascents. The same holds

true for other sporting organizations. In 2009, funding for the Canadian Biathlon team

was slashed in half. This resulted in the Women’s national team coach losing his job,

leaving the women’s team without a coach. The number of sports for women for the

following Olympic games was cut in half. The women’s team had to fundraise their way

to the Olympics in 2010, in part with calendar sales. No spaces were cut from the men’s

team that year.

With the advent of the Internet, women climbers and writers of all levels have

been more likely to publish their stories online, creating their own online communities in

the process. Crush Crux, The Gription, Girl Beta and other blogs produced by women,

allow for a gendered discussion of climbing culture. Discussion on these platforms offers

insight into women-specific challenges that are associated with climbing. Relationships

and motherhood are frequent topics, which are less often discussed in mainstream, or

24  

predominantly male climbing narratives. The freedom of expression afforded by the

Internet has allowed for the publication of narratives that had not been heard in the past.

Women have been pushing the limits in alpine and technical climbing of all

disciplines. Gerlinde Kaltenbruner successfully summited all of the 8000’ers without

supplemental oxygen, in 2011; Hazel Findley became the first British woman to send E9

grit stone, in 2013; and Sasha Diguilian cracked the 5.14d grade for women in 2011.

Pamela Pack is widely considered to be among the best American off-width climber,

male or female; and Steph Davis, free soloist and BASE jumper has shown that women,

too, are capable of the mental tenacity required for ropeless climbing. She became the

first, and possibly only, woman to free solo 5.11+ with her ascent of The North Face of

Castleton Tower in 2008

Modern female climbers are clearly performing at very high levels, but it is still

sometimes difficult to engage in a community that views femininity as weakness, or

something that doesn’t belong in adventure sport. Top female free-soloist Steph Davis

said in her memoir High Infatuation “I felt that I was often figuratively patted on the head

– excessively praised for this that weren’t really that impressive, by real climbing

standards, just because I was a decent looking girl. But at other times, when I did do a

particularly good climb, I sometimes encountered a surprising degree of negativity. It was

as if there was a certain place for me as a woman” (Davis, 40). Davis’ 2007 book

includes not only details of some of the high points of her climbing career, but also

outlines the effect that a life of climbing has had on her personal relationships. One thing

she makes note of in particular is the dynamic of climbing with men, particularly with a

group of men. She tells the story of climbing a wall in Yosemite with 2 men. Rather than

25  

discussing who would take on the crux pitch, it was assumed (by her partners) that one of

the men would take the lead. She wrote, “I wasn’t going to argue… but fumed as I

jumared the line, asking myself if I should have brought a climbing resume up El Capitan

“(Davis, 40).

Davis’ sentiment is echoed in a blog piece written by climber Georgie Abel,

published on Touchstone Climbing Incorporated in 2013, titled “What Girls Think

(About Climbing with Dudes)” which included conversations with 100 different female

climbers of all skill levels about attitudes that have encountered with male climbing

partners. The frustration that women feel with male climbers stems from a tendency to

make assumptions about what women are capable of mentally and physically. The

general sentiment is that there is tendency to either assume that women are incapable, or

to “attribute their strength to something other than their strength” (Abel, 2013).

Hilary Oliver, who writes primarily for The Gription but is frequently featured on

Adventure Journal and other publications, has written numerous pieces discussing the

gendered expectations placed on female outdoors athletes. Her 2013 post on Adventure

Journal “Do These Booty Shorts make my Female Empowerment Look Fat” tackles the

fine line that women are expected to tread between showing pride in an athletic body, and

becoming a sex object. Many mainstream adventure sports publications showcase female

athletes in a way that takes away their credibility as athletes, focusing instead on their

bodies.  Numerous  media  outlets  have  drawn  criticism  for  their  portrayal  of  female  

athletes  including  Freeskier  magazine,  Tracks  surfing  magazine  and  Sports  

Illustrated  among  others,  for  removing  female  athletes  from  their  sport  when  

publishing  photos  and  articles  about  them.  In  2013,  Freeskier  magazine  published  a  

26  

piece  titled  “10  Hottest  Women  in  Freeskiing.”  The  photos  chosen  to  accompany  the  

article  took  many  of  the  athletes  out  of  their  sport  setting  to  focus  on  their  physical  

appearance.  Lynsey  Dyer,  top  performing  skier  and  founder  of  SheJumps.com,  a  

women’s  social  media  platform  focused  on  outdoor  sports,  was  featured  in  the  

article  wearing  a  bikini  on  a  beach.  In  fact,  5  of  the  10  women  in  the  article  were  

pictured  in  swimsuits  or  lingerie.    Dyer  responded  with  an  open  letter  to  free  skier  

on  her  Facebook  page.    “Though  I  don’t  have  a  problem  wearing  a  biking  or  

celebrating  being  a  girl,  many  legitimate  skiing  photos  have  been  available  to  

Freeskier  Magazine  if  would  have  only  asked.  However  they  used  an  image  without  

rights  or  permission  in  a  blatant  objectification  of  some  of  the  legitimate  members  

of  the  Freeskiing  family  in  exchange  for  page  views.”  (Dyer,  2013)  Dyer’s  scathing  

comments  resulted  in  her  own  photo  being  changed  in  the  online  article.   Taking the

female athlete out of her sport setting removes her physically ability or mental tenacity

from the picture. It no longer matters that she can stomp double back flips, or has sent

some of the most aesthetic lines captured on film, she becomes the image that we project

in the media. As Oliver puts it “Sometimes I just want to trail run or sport climb without

thinking about the message I’m sending to the men around me.” (Oliver, 2013)

Young  girls  in  this  generation  now  have  strong,  adventurous  women  to  look  

up  to  in  their  sports.  Allowing  for  the  equal  representation  of  genders  in  print  

media,  magazines,  film  and  books  is  important  to  give  legitimacy  to  the  feats  being  

performed  by  strong  female  athletes.  In  2014,  Dyer  went  on  to  produce  an  all-­‐

women’s  ski  film,  which  debuted  to  sold  out  crowds  in  October  2014.  Dyer’s  Film,  

Pretty  Faces,  was  the  first  all  female  ski  film  and  was  produced  by  crowd  sourcing  

27  

on  kick-­‐starter,  rather  than  being  funded  by  major  corporate  sponsors.    Much  like  

the  climbing  world,  skiing,  while  a  relatively  young  sport,  is  40%  female,  with  a  male  

dominated  top  tier.    In  2013  only  14%  of  athletes  in  ski  films  were  female.  

Over  the  course  of  history,  women  have  consistently  fought  back  against  

assumptions  of  their  capabilities.  In  the  1800’s,  they  proved  that  female  body  was  

strong  enough  to  handle  harsh  weather  and  high  altitude.  In  the  early  1900’s  they  

showed  that  women  could  climb  on  their  own,  unaided  my  men.  Post  war,  all-­‐

women  large-­‐scale  expeditions  to  the  Himalayas  showed  that  women  were  capable  

of  great  leadership  and  planning  in  the  mountains.  By  the  mid  1900’s,  Arlene  Blum  

proved  that  women  could  be  at  the  forefront  of  both  climbing  and  science.  Lynne  

Hill  and  other  strong  technical  climbers  broke  up  the  Yosemite  boys  club  and  made  

history  on  hard  technical  routes.  Steph  Davis  opened  the  door  to  free  soloing  and  

BASE-­‐jumping,  and  women  climbers  everywhere  took  to  their  keyboards  to  create  

an  online  community  of  supportive  and  inspiring  women  all  over  the  world.  Women  

climbers  have  come  a  long  way  from  Mt  Blanc  in  1808  to  competing  on  the  world  

stage  in  2014.    This  is  not  to  say  that  we  have  reached  the  pinnacle  of  gender  

equality  in  modern  times.  Certainly  there  are  still  improvements  to  be  made  with  

representation  in  the  media  by  improving  the  ratio  of  men  to  women  to  closer  

reflect  the  actual  make  up  to  the  community,  and  by  portraying  women  in  a  way  that  

allows  them  to  be  taken  seriously  in  a  sport  setting.  While  gross  numbers  of  female  

climbers  have  increased  dramatically  in  the  last  decade,  the  majority  of  mountain  

guides  and  outdoor  professionals  are  still  male,  and  female  adventurers  do  not  

receive  the  same  recognition  for  their  achievements  as  their  male  counterparts.    

28  

The  Internet  age  has  opened  up  great  possibilities  for  female  athletes  to  

showcase  their  accomplishments  both  through  writing  and  film.  Women  athletes  

are  taking  matters  into  their  own  hands,  as  they  have  always  done,  to  fight  for  equal  

representation  and  acceptance  in  the  climbing  community.  With  top  tier  female  

sports  people  like  Lynsey  Dyer  pushing  for  increases  in  women’s  coverage  in  action  

sports  film,  and  high  profile  athletes  encouraging  young  women  to  get  outside  and  

push  the  limits,  the  next  generation  of  female  athletes  has  a  lot  to  look  forward  to.    

Thanks  to  the  hard  work  of  numerous  female  athletes  and  outdoor  people,  we  have  

created  an  international  community  of  supportive  adventurous  women.  What  we  

need  is  for  the  corporate  sponsors,  and  other  powerful  people  to  step  up  and  take  

the  issue  of  gender  balance  seriously.  Right  now,  the  people  who  are  the  most  vocal  

about  creating  positive  change  in  our  community  are  small  groups  of  women  relying  

on  donations  and  crowd  sourcing  to  bring  the  issue  to  light.  While  this  is  a  positive  

step  in  the  right  direction,  what  we  need  is  for  mainstream  adventure  sports  media  

to  take  this  to  the  next  level  and  create  an  equal  space  for  women  to  excel  at  the  top  

tier  of  the  sport.    

 

 

 

29  

References  

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Bell,  Morag;  and  McEwan,  Cheryl.  “The  Admission  of  Women  Fellows  to  the  Royal  

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Blum,  Arlene.  Annapurna:  A  Woman’s  Place.  San  Francisco:  Sierra  Club,  1980.  Print  

 

Blum,  Arlene.  Breaking  Trail.  Orlando:  Harcourt,  2005.  Print  

 

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Davis,  Steph.  High  Infatuation.  The  Mountaineers:  Seattle  2007.  Print.  

 

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30  

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Oliver,  Hilary  “Do  These  Booty  Shorts  make  my  Female  Empowerment  Look  

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