What a great article on women’s achievements throughout the history of climbing. Link here

And-about-oh-how-times-have-changed:

In 1838:

French aristocrat Henriette D’Angeville, outfitted with six porters, six guides, and a 14-pound outfit including multiple layers, a petticoat, and a feather boa, summited Mont Blanc and proclaimed herself the first woman to do so. She did this with flare, releasing a carrier pigeon and popping open champagne on the summit.

So much for the idea that climbing was always a dirtbag life!

And after a highly anticipated climb had been famously first ascended yet again by „the weaker sex“, a guy in 1929 remarked:

The Grépon has disappeared. Now that it has been done by two women alone, no self-respecting man can undertake it. A pity, too, because it used to be a very good climb

And so times have changed. I guess self-respecting man simply couldn’t keep up with what climbs they were allowed to do and which ones not. So they just gave up on the whole idea and only climbed for climbing’s sake. As if that hadn’t been the purpose all along.