1st FEMALEclimbers:Julia Archibald, PIKES peak, & bloomers!

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neebee

Social climber

calif/texas

Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 20, 2009 - 07:10pm PT

hey there all... after getting curious about what mts. or peaks are named after folks and why...
i got curious as to pike's peak:

and LEARNED more than i expected... here is some notes on pike's peak, and THEN on the first woman to climb it---and--hmmm, she was called the "bloomer girl"...

HERE WE GO:

pikes peak,

1806
President Jefferson dispatched Zebulon Montgomery Pike to
determine the Louisiana Purchase's southwestern borders. Pike set out to climb the peak on November 24. 1806 from the Pueblo area, but was forced back by a blizzard.

1820
The first recorded ascent was by Dr. Edwin James, doctor, botanist and historian, and two others from an expedition led by Major Stephen H. Long on July 14, 1820. Major Long gave the doctor's name to the mountain, but Pikes Peak soon became the official name, as shown by military maps of 1835.

1858
The first woman to climb Pikes Peak was Mrs. Julia Archibald
Holmes. She made the ascent with the Lawrence party and stayed
on top for two days. Mrs. Holmes is also known as the "Bloomer
Girl" because of the bloomers she wore while climbing the mountain

http://climbing.about.com/od/historyofclimbing/a/JAHolmes.htm

REALLY GOOD INFO, SCROLL DOWN (i will test this to see if copy and paste will be needed):

http://www.artsresource.org/index.cfm?objectid=5CA85A36-E0CA-99EC-20E72F406A34244F&mediaId=30089a.txt&dataType=Text&pictureFile=

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/aug05.html

say, she did this as a newly wed of a just a few years... what a honey moon trip...
:)

neebee

Social climber

calif/texas

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 21, 2009 - 01:37am PT

hey there all.. say, my my.... someones just GOT to check out this ol' west gal... and her mountain chore...

really is very interesting, even though she didn't do it as rock climb per say, and didn't have the style of the great gal that climbed the matterhorn....

and she does have one distinction:

she was the first here at her time, climb it, and wear bloomers at the same time...

:)

neebee

Social climber

calif/texas

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 21, 2009 - 03:35am PT

hey there, say... bump for the early gals of grit and gravel...

:)

BBA

Social climber

West Linn OR

Mar 22, 2009 - 12:58am PT

I liked the account of Hutchings who in 1886 got his wife and daughter up Mt Starr King - 1932 Sierra Club Bulletin, pg 116. Not just a hike, but some serious slithering up friction on a granite dome. They were doing some real climbing, not mere peak bagging. California girls!

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Mar 22, 2009 - 02:11am PT

Great stuff Neebee! Big time adventure in a pair of moccasins.LOL

Wayno

Big Wall climber

Seattle, WA

Mar 22, 2009 - 02:18am PT

Neebee comes through with a good one again. Didn't Nikola Tesla get up to weird science up on Pikes Peak?

Steve, I think your wife needs some help over on that other thread with you know who. I don't think she can win, even though I wish she would. (Sorry for the thread drift neebee)

Edit- Maybe not. It looks like she might have gotten the last word.