The First Female Mountaineers (part 2)

The following an adaptation from my new book, Ramble On: A History of Hiking:

Henriette d'Angeville and Anne Lister are considered to be the first true female mountaineers. Less than a month after Lister’s ascent of Mont Vignemale, discussed yesterday, Henriette d'Angeville would become the second female to stand atop Mont Blanc in France. This ascent was made with great fanfare, both before and after her return from the mountain. Despite the enthusiastic response from the people of Chamonix, Henriette was persuaded to draft a will after several friends and relatives warned her that her endeavor was dangerous, foolish and unladylike. Though she also suffered from a serious bout of altitude sickness while ascending the Grande-Côte, d'Angeville refused help from her guides. After struggling for four hours in a “state of agony,” as reported by Henry Gribble, d'Angeville stood atop Mont Blanc on September 4, 1838, and became the first woman to reach the ice-capped summit without assistance. Upon her return to the valley a cannon was fired, and a celebratory dinner and gala were held in her honor - with Marie Paradis in attendance. This feat inspired other European ladies to take to the mountains in the years and decades that would follow.

While Mont Blanc was d'Angeville’s first major alpine ascent, she continued to climb until the age of 69. The Oldenhorn, a rugged 10,246-foot peak in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland, was her final excursion. Afterwards, d'Angeville famously quipped, “The Oldenhorn is my twenty first Alpine ascent, and will probably be one of the last; for it is wise at my age to drop the alpenstock before the alpenstock drops me.”

You can read more about the pioneers of hiking in Ramble On: A History of Hiking.

The First Woman to Climb a Major Peak

On July 14, 1808, Marie Paradis, a hotel maid from Chamonix, often described as a peasant, became the first woman to climb a major peak after successfully ascending Mont Blanc in France. Ever since then, historians and mountaineers have looked down upon Paradis with contempt and scorn, claiming she only climbed the 15,774-foot mountain for money, or that she needed excessive assistance from her guides to reach the summit. But were these pundits correct in their assessments? The details of the controversy and why they developed, as well as the actual facts surrounding the event are detailed in Ramble On: A History of Hiking.