October 19 – Happy Birthday, Annie Smith Peck

nPostednOctober 19, 2016

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nInn1895 American mountaineer Annie Smith Peck was 44 years old. She hadnscaled a number of mountains in Europe and the U.S., including one ofnthe most beautiful mountains in my own state, Mount Shasta. She nownstrove to climb one of the highest peaks in Europe, the world-famousnMatterhorn.

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nAtnleast two women (Lucy Walker and Meta Brevoort) had climbed thenMatterhorn in 1871, but it was a tough feat to do – and when Pecknsucceeded in reaching the summit, she might have expected a bit ofncongratulations from the press.

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nApparentlynit was way more important to discuss WHAT SHE WORE!

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nLucynWalker, the first woman to make it to the top of the Matterhorn, hadndone so wearing a white dress. The fact that Peck wore a long tunic,nclimbing boots, and a pair of pants caused a ton of attention, evenndebate.

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nAtnthe time, women were being arrested for wearing trousers (pants) innpublic. Still – mountain climbing has to be really hard in a dress!nYou’d think people would acknowledge that. But I guess only somenpeople were able to cope with such a novelty.

nPeck went on to climb many more mountains. She was the first person to climb Nevado Huascaran in Peru and also to climb one of the five peaks of Coropuna, also in Peru – the latter when she was 65 years old! She climbed her last mountain, Mount Madison in New Hampshire, when she was 82 years old.

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nPecknwasn’t just a mountaineer. She worked hard to get a universityneducation despite the fact that some universities wouldn’t allownfemale students. (She ended up earning bachelor’s and master’sndegrees, and she graduated with honors.) She majored in Greek andnClassical Languages and was fluent in French, Spanish, and Portuguesenas well as (of course) her native English. She taught at several different levels including being anprofessor at two different universities. She gave up teaching whennshe was able to make enough money on the lecture circuit and throughnher writing – mostly speaking and writing about archeology,nmountaineering, and traveling.

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nShenwas an activist for women’s rights, especially the right to vote. Shenplaced a “Women’s Vote” banner at the top of Coropuna in Peru.

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nEnjoynsome of the wisdom from Annie Smith Peck:

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n“Men,nwe all know, climb in knickerbockers. Women, on the contrary, willndeclare that a skirt is no hindrance to their locomotion. This isnobviously absurd… For a woman in difficult mountaineering to wastenher strength and endanger her life with a skirt is foolish in thenextreme.”
–nPeck,nOuting Magazine,n“PracticalnMountain Climbing,” 1901

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