Frauen im Aufstieg: Auf Spurensuche in der Alpingeschichte by Ingrid Runggaldier (review)

Women and mountaineering—is this really an untold story, as some of the reviewers of Ingrid Runggaldier’s book Frauen im Aufstieg: Auf Spurensuche in der Alpingeschichte claim? “Women” plus “Mountaineering” yielded more than 300 hits in WorldCat, the “World’s Largest Library Catalogue.” However, a search among German-language books revealed that this publication does indeed cover “her-stories” that have not been explored and published before.

The book is impressive—by its size, its 327 pages and its weight; by the large number of excellent pictures; and by its contents: exciting narratives about more than fifty women who were in some way involved in mountaineering. Many more are mentioned or referred to only briefly, as the long index of persons, containing numerous women, reveals.

Runggaldier tells the stories of the pioneers: of Henriette d’Angeville, for instance, who was the second woman to reach the summit of Mont Blanc in 1838; and of Lucy Walker, for decades a dedicated climber who in 1879 was the first woman to climb the Matterhorn. The gender order in the nineteenth century and the construction of women as the “weaker sex,” as well as Western societies’ norms and ideals of femininity, made it difficult for women to engage in activities that were considered men’s domains and take part in dangerous adventures such as exploring new dimensions and climbing seemingly inaccessible mountains. Mountaineering was always—and may still be today—considered to be a demonstration of masculinity. Men feared that the aura of mountain climbing, the glory of superhuman achievement, would pale if the “weaker sex” proved to be capable of the same feats. Mountaineering contributed decisively to the reproduction of the traditional gender order, and it took many decades and numerous brave, hardy, and highly skilled women to prove that mountains can be women’s domains. The pioneers of women’s mountaineering, e.g., Elizabeth Main and Amelia Edwards, belonged to the upper classes and could spend time and money on their eccentric hobby. Some of them were feminists and interpreted mountain climbing as an act of women’s liberation. Thanks to its in-depth investigations, the book includes biographies of many mountaineering pioneers for whom we previously only knew the names.

After World War I hiking in the mountains became popular among the masses. Elite mountaineers “conquered” Alpine peaks, detected new routes, and conducted expeditions, for example, in the Himalayas. Runggaldier has shown that some of the best mountaineers of this period were women: Mary Varale, Eleanor Noll-Hasenclever, Paula Wiesinger-Steger, and Loulou Boulaz were among the crème de la crème of mountain climbers. Not reliant on guides or male comrades, they were able to climb alone or with other women.

The increasing number of women mountaineers, as well as their ever greater achievements, is one side of the story; the prejudices, the various forms of resistance, and their problems of gaining acceptance is the other. Both sides are covered in this book, which presents numerous examples of discrimination but also includes the increasing achievements of the female mountaineers.

Although the focus of the book is on female mountain climbers, Runggaldier also presents the stories of women who were in some way involved with mountains: the women living in mountain villages, landladies of mountain huts, female porters, photographers, and geologists as well as female authors who shared their feats and impressions with their readers. The stories about “women and mountains” are illustrated with excellent pictures that bring to life the history of women and their activities in the mountains. Looking at these pictures, we understand the difficulties of climbers who were handicapped by long skirts and corsets, and we feel their joy of having reached the summit.

Runggaldier spent ten years researching and collecting material that allowed her to write a book that is not only very entertaining but also meets the requirements of historical science. The endnotes, containing the results of long and...