A 97-year-old Penrith woman officially opened an exhibition celebrating the 100th anniversary of the UK’s only national rock-climbing club for women.
Gwen Moffat is the longest standing member of the Pinnacle Club and she opened the exhibition at Sticklebarn at Langdale yesterday with the club’s youngest member, 27-year-old Milena von Muhlen.
Gwen, who joined the club in 1949, was the first British woman to qualify as a mountain guide in 1953.
The event also coincides with the 60th anniversary of the publication of Gwen’s autobiography, Space Below my Feet,
The club boasts over 20 members based in Cumbria.
Other club members who attended the event included Stella Adams and Alison Cairns from Kendal, who joined in 1979 and 1985 respectively and Mandy Glanvill and writer and fell-runner Julie Carter from Keswick, who joined 1986 and 1994.
Mandy and Julie recently completed the Lakeland Classic Rock climbs, in a single unsupported journey on foot, the first all-female team to achieve this iconic rock-climbing challenge.
Gwen, Stella, Alison and Mandy are among 24 club members whose life stories have been recorded and preserved for posterity in the British Library Sound Archive in London, as part of their first dedicated oral collection on rock climbing.
The free exhibition will be open free to the public during normal Sticklebarn opening hours until November 14.
