Climbing Days

A forgotten classic of 1920s mountaineering literature; Dorothy Pilley broke new ground for women in a sport dominated by men with her true account of adventure, endurance and daring

Dorothy Pilley was a pioneer of women’s climbing a hundred years ago. She founded a club celebrating women’s climbing and - starting in Wales, the Lake District and Skye - she went on to climb the major mountain ranges of Europe throughout the 1920s. She was instrumental in helping to take women on a mountain from being seen as a dangerous liability on the rock to serious mountaineers with impressive records on bravery, skill and endurance.

First published in 1935 and reissued in 1965, the book is a daredevil tale of adventure, near-death slips and rapturous achievement in high places, interleaved with moments highlighting the particular challenges of being a woman in a sport seen as the province of men.

Dorothy Pilley (1894-1986) was the first climber to scale the north-north-west ridge of the Dent Blanche in Switzerland, a feat she achieved in 1928. She was a trailblazing mountaineer who led the way for women’s climbing and co-founded the Pinnacle Club for women in 1921. She climbed ridges and sheer faces around the world, creating a legacy that is admired to this day. She was a journalist and writer, publishing her memoir, Climbing Days, in 1935