British first ascents

One of the earliest documented first ascents by a Pinnacle Club member is the ascent of Hope on the Idwal Slabs by Emily Daniell on 14 August, 1915. This ascent opened up the whole cliff and Holly Tree Wall above.  In the Lake District Nancy Eden-Smith made a first ascent on Pillar in 1923 and in 1925 Mabel Barker made the 4th ascent of Central Buttress on Scafell. In Scotland the earliest recorded first ascent by a Pinnacle Club member was an ascent by Dorothy Pilley of Cioch West, Sron na Ciche, Skye in 1919.  In 1928 Lilian Bray and the Wells sisters became the first women to traverse the Cuillin Ridge on Skye.

With the acquisition of the Emily Kelly Hut in 1932, members began a much more thorough exploration of the climbs in the Snowdon and Ogwen district and more first female leads followed. Brenda Ritchie became the first woman to lead Longland’s Climb on Clogwyn d’ur Arddu in 1935 and Curving Crack, also on “Cloggy,” in 1936. It was in 1941, on an exploratory day in the Llanberis Pass with John Menlove Edwards, that Nea Morin made her first ascent of the route she called ‘Nea’ on Clogwyn y Grochan.   Another landmark came in 1961 when Jo Scarr became the first woman to lead Cenotaph Corner, also in the Llanberis Pass.

Advances in British women’s rock climbing in the 1970s and 80s

Jill Lawrence came onto the climbing scene in 1974 and very soon after made first ascents of routes graded E4 with Peter Livesey, including the first free ascent of Resurrection on Dinas y Gromlech and Fingerlicker at Tremadog.  

In 1976 Jill Lawrence and Gill Price climbed Eroica at Pentire Head.  This marked another significant development in British women’s rock climbing — a first female ascent of a route graded E2. At the time of ascent Eroica was graded E2 5b as there was a point of aid; it is now graded E4 6a.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s Jill Lawrence and Gill Price were both making early female ascents of hard routes, laying a foundation for what evolved in the 1980s. In 1980 Gill Price made the second female ascent of Left Wall at Dinas y Gromlech, graded E3 5c at the time of ascent (Catherine Destivelle had climbed it earlier in the same year). Gill was invited to write about the route and her ascent in Ken Wilson’s book ‘Extreme Rock’.

At the French Ladies‘ Meet in 1980, Jill Lawrence climbed Vulcan E3 and Void E3 with Catherine Destivelle and from there went on to lead T.Rex E3 and Citadel E4 at Gogarth.  After a year in the USA, Jill returned to the UK and led Resurrection in 1983 and Cream in 1984.

In the years 1983-84 Gill Price and Mandy Glanvill climbed a number of routes graded E4 in North Wales and Pembroke. In North Wales they climbed Zukator E4 6b, Atomic Finger Flake E4 6b and Resurrection E4 6a, the latter two routes being first female ascents. In Pembroke they made first female ascents of Tangerine Dream and Trevallen Pillar, both E4 6a.

In the Lake District in 1984, Gill Price and Jill Lawrence were filmed climbing Empire E3 6a at Raven Crag, Thirlmere for a Channel 4 TV series, Lakeland Rock, with Chris Bonington, which was aired in 1985. This was another notable event for British women’s climbing as few, if any women had ever appeared on television climbing extreme rock climbs. In the summer of 1984 Gill Price and Jill Lawrence also made the first female ascent of Nagasaki Grooves E4 6b, Great End in the Lake District.

The International Women’s Meet of 1984

This was a highly significant event, marking exciting developments in women’s climbing. The meet brought some of the best women climbers in the world together in North Wales. Well over a hundred Extreme leads were made; at least thirty were E3 or harder.  The highlight was May 29th. The place was Dinas y Gromlech. All stances and ledges were occupied. There were leaders on Left Wall, Resurrection, Cenotaph Corner, The Thing.  All women, with women waiting to climb.  Rosie Andrews and Jill Lawrence flipped a coin for first lead on Right Wall. Jill won the toss and became the first woman to lead Right Wall E5. For Jill, “success on Right Wall was a brilliant personal achievement and the fulfilment of an ambition.  It was also a highly significant step in the history of British women’s rock climbing” (Women Climbing: 200 Years of Achievement, Bill Birkett & Bill Peascod, 1989).

On the same day (29th May, 1984) and to avoid the rush for Dinas y Gromlech, Gill Price and Mandy Glanvill headed for Vivian Quarry to climb Comes the Dervish, graded E5 6a at the time of ascent, quietly making a first female ascent. 

After the great advances in British women’s rock climbing in the 1980s, attention turned to Scotland.  In 1987 Angela Soper and Cynthia Grindley made the first female ascent of the Old Man of Hoy in Orkney.  In the years 1992-94 several new routes were established in Scotland.  Gill Ollerhead (later Nisbet) made first summer ascents on Ben Eighe and Liathach and first winter ascents on Creagan a’Choire Etchachan. More recently Pinnacle Club teams have made first summer ascents in Mingulay, 2014  (Glanvill, Carter, Watkins, Clay, Stewart, Reynolds and Jones), Mull 2017 and Torridon 2018 (Carter and Glanvill).