Timeline
Over the 100 years of the Pinnacle Club, a lot has changed and our members have contributed widely to the climbing communities. Here's a selection of our most notable moments.
1921
March 26: The Pinnacle Club was officially inaugurated.
Founding members Dorothy Pilley, Lilian Bray and Annie (known as Paddy) Wells make probably the first independent all-female ascent of a peak in the Alps, the Egginergrat (3367m). Although a modest route, as they themselves admitted, it was groundbreaking in that they had no male companions or guide.
Pictured: Founder member Lilian Bray on Portjengrat, Swiss Alps, 1921
1928
Lilian Bray joins sisters Sarah (known as Biddy) and Emily (known as Trilby) Wells to make the first all-female traverse of the Cuillin Ridge on Skye.
Pictured: the Cuillin Ridge. Credit: Richard Lizzimore.
1932
The club acquires a lease on a deserted cottage in Cwm Dyli. This fulfils a long-held aspiration for the club to help it achieve its second aim: to bring together all women interested in climbing. The hut is named after the club’s founder, Emily (Pat) Kelly and will be purchased in 1988, though indoor toilets and a shower won’t be installed until 1995.
1935
Brenda Ritchie leads Longland’s Climb on Clogwyn du’r Arddu, making her the first woman to lead a route on this now renowned cliff below the summit of Snowdon.
Founding member Dorothy Pilley publishes her autobiography Climbing Days, which chronicles, amongst other adventures, her first ascent of the North-North West Ridge of the Dent Blanche in Switzerland.
In 2016 her great-great-nephew Dan Richards publishes a biography of Dorothy, also called Climbing Days.
1941
Nea Morin makes the first ascent of her eponymous route Nea (grade VS 4b), a classic climb of the Llanberis Pass. Earlier (1933) Nea had also joined her sister-in-law and another French friend, both elite climbers, to make the first all-female traverse of the Meije, in the Dauphine Alps.
Pictured: Nea belays her daughter Denise Evans (still a Pinnacle Club member) on the route Nea. Credit: John Cleare.
1953
Gwen Moffat, who joined the club in 1949 and is still a member today, becomes the first British woman to qualify as a mountain guide and worked in Britain and the Alps, making her living through the sport. Brede Arkless (joined 1984) becomes the second British female guide in the 1960s and the first international mountain guide around the same time.
Pictured: Gwen Moffat at the summit of Stob Coire nan Lochan, Glencoe, in 1957. Credit: JR Lees.
1959
Three club members join the international Cho Oyu expedition to the Himalaya: Eileen Healey (then President), Dorothea Gravina, and Margaret Darvall. It is the first all-female expedition to attempt a peak of this altitude — Cho Oyu is the sixth highest in the world at 26,867 ft — but it ends in tragedy when leader Claude Kogan, another climber and two Sherpas die following two separate avalanches. Dorothea Gravina takes over as leader to enable the team’s descent. Eileen Healey makes a film not widely publicised at the time but since re-edited and aired on the BBC in 2014.
Pictured: the mountaineers and porters before departure. Credit: Micheline Rambaud via Wikimedia Commons.
1961
Gwen Moffat publishes her best-selling autobiography, Space Below My Feet. In the 1970s, she starts writing crime fiction, in particular the Miss Pink series featuring Melinda Pink, a middle-aged magistrate and climber; and 11 mysteries set in the American West. She publishes her last novel, Gone Feral, at the age of 83.
Pictured: the 1976 Penguin edition of Space Below My Feet.
1962
Six members take part in the Jagdula expedition to the Himalaya: Dorothea Gravina, Josephine Scarr, Barbara Spark, Nancy Smith, Denise Evans (Nea Morin’s daughter) and Pat Wood. Their aim is partly to counter the adverse criticisms levelled at women climbers after the failure of the 1959 Cho Oyu expedition. They make the first ascent of four peaks including Lha Shamma, at just over 21,000 ft.
Josephine Scarr’s book about the expedition, ‘Four Miles High’, came out in 1966, and has been republished by the Pinnacle Club for the club's centenary, with footage from the expedition edited for an accompanying film. Josephine Scarr, now Peacock, rejoined the Pinnacle Club in 2019 having spent the majority of her life in Australia.
Pictured (L-R): Nancy Smith, Jo Scarr, Denise Evans, Barbara Spark, Pat Wood and (seated) Dorothea Gravina in Nepal, 1962.
1968
Nea Morin publishes her autobiography, A Woman’s Reach, “a story that could have been from a John Masters novel or a Carol Reed movie: an unconventional childhood, Alpine odysseys, close shaves, a French resistance husband, a widowed mother of two... less than 300 pages long and there was an awful lot of action to cover.” (Jeff Connor, UK Climbing)
1980
Eight Pinnacle Club members — all still members today — visit the Miyar Nala area in the Himalaya. They climb 14 peaks, of which 13 are first ascents, including Steph’s Peak, the highest at 19,300 ft and Half Dome, 19,000 ft.
Pictured: Angela Soper standing; L-R sitting: Stella Adams, Jean Drummond, Steph MacDonald (formerly Rowland), Sheila Crispin, Sheila Cormack, Jay Turner. Credit: Denise Wilson.
> Read a newspaper article about the expedition (opens in a new window)
1984
The club, supported by the British Mountaineering Council (BMC), runs an international women’s meet in North Wales, with 40 women taking part. Jill Lawrence makes the first female ascent of an iconic climb in the Llanberis Pass - Right Wall, graded E5. She is the first woman to lead a climb of that difficulty. Three other women on the meet make an ascent of the route soon after: Catherine Destivelle and Christine Gambert from France and Rosie Andrews from the USA.
Pictured: Jill Lawrence, the first woman to lead E5. Credit: John Cleare.
> Read more about the 1984 Women’s International Climbing Meet
1988
Shirley Angell publishes her book Pinnacle Club: A History of Women Climbing.
“I suppose I wrote Pinnacle Club because I have such a strong belief that everybody is individual, interesting and important. History is so inclined to pick on some names at the expense of others, and even in literature the well-known words of obscure writers are liable to be attributed to their better-known contemporaries, So here I was, on a crusade to redress the balance.” — Shirley Angell, A Great Effort, Pinnacle Club Journal no. 21, 1988-90.
1989
Rhona Lampard leads the first British all-women expedition to an 8000m peak: Gasherbrum II (in the Karakorum range in the Himalayas). Club members Brede Arkless, Becky Thorp and Geraldine Westrupp are part of the team of seven Brits, with Polish climber Wanda Rutkiewicz adding an international element. Rhona and Wanda reach the summit.
Pictured: Rhona Lampard and Wanda Rutkiewicz: high camp on Gasherbrum II.
> Hear audio stories about the Gasherbrum expedition and more
2009
The book Presumptuous Pinnacle Ladies, edited by Margaret Clennett, is published. This fascinating collection of early club journal articles tells the unfolding story of women on rock, from the early 1900s to the late 1930s.
2015
Claire Carter and Jen Randall make the film Operation Moffat, inspired by Gwen’s autobiography and including interviews with her. The film wins seven awards at international film festivals.
Gwen Moffat and Angela Soper become the first female Honorary Members of the BMC.
> Read more about Gwen Moffat and watch Operation Moffat
> Read more about Angela Soper
2016
The club organises another International Meet in north Wales, which brings together 80 women from 24 different countries — some as far afield as Japan, Iceland and New Zealand — aged 20 to 63, with participants chalking up personal bests at all grades from Severe to E7.
Pictured: the International Women’s Climbing Meet, 2016. Credit: Jessie Leong.
2021
In 2021, our centenary year, we adapted our plans around Covid regulations and safety measures to run:
— A Women’s Trad 100 event in North Wales in September
— A Centenary Challenge expedition — a three-week road trip taking in many of the most classic climbs in England, Scotland and Wales
— Introductory meets for prospective new members
— Exhibitions in Langdale, Buxton and London
— Lots of online events and launches of films and books
Pictured: members celebrating the centenary in a very modern way!
2022 and beyond
A team had planned an expedition to Kyrgyzstan in 2021; this will hopefully be feasible in 2022, along with our celebration dinner.
The club has never stood still and has always supported the wider development of women in climbing. Our focus for the next few years will be on diversifying our pool of potential members by supporting under-represented groups of women to participate and enjoy outdoor activities, and rock climbing in particular. Our newly launched Pinnacle Club Centenary Sponsorship Fund will support women to get started and develop their rock climbing outside who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity.
> Learn more on our What’s Next page
Pictured: Sue Logan at Lanyon Quoit, Cornwall. Credit: Val Hennelly
Further reading
If you'd like to learn more, we've also compiled a list of the club’s firsts and notable achievements.