Description
When Dorothy Pilley first began climbing in the 1910s, female mountaineers were seen as a dangerous liability, their achievements ignored, unrecorded or disbelieved. Undeterred, Dorothy proved herself on the vertiginous slopes of Wales, Scotland and the Lake District before tackling rock faces in the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Rockies, Mount Fuji and the Himalayas. Her tireless championing of fellow women climbers and her own trailblazing example helped establish female alpinists as serious mountaineers with impressive records on bravery, skill and endurance.
First published in 1935, Climbing Days tells 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.
We’ll be joined by Dorothy’s great-great Nephew Dan Richards and celebrated author Samantha Harvey to discuss this forgotten classic of 1920s mountaineering literature. Dan and Sam will then expand the conversation out to draw interesting equivalences in their own lives and writing, using Dorothy’s book as a springboard for a wider discussion about creative approaches to problems and challenges in life and work, process, research, enchantment, making sense and taking joy of the world around above and beyond us.
Tickets cost £6 and include a glass of wine or a soft drink and £2 off the book.
