Lucy Walker (climber)

Lucy Walker ( * 1836, † September 10, 1916 in Liverpool) was a British mountaineer, the first woman climbed the Matterhorn in 1871.

Life

Your career as a mountaineer Walker began in 1858 on the advice of a doctor to relieve her rheumatism with hiking. Along with her father, Frank Walker and her brother Horace Walker, both members of the British Alpine Club, she made regular hikes in the Alps. Together with his brother and father as well as the guides Jakob and Melchior Anderegg succeeded Lucy Walker on July 21, 1864, the first ascent of Balmhorns. In 1866 she boarded the first woman to the Wetterhorn in 1868 and 1869 the Liskamm the Piz Bernina.

As for the men also, the Matterhorn, however, was the most coveted summit of that era. Several ladies were on the mountain road, with particularly the American mountaineer Meta Brevoort was one of the favorites for the first woman to climb. When Walker learned from the project meta Brevoorts, she engaged again Melchior Anderegg. On July 22, 1871 had come: A telegram reached the newspaper offices, after which Lucy Walker had been the first woman on the summit of the Matterhorn. Meta Brevoort met the same day or shortly thereafter in Zermatt and disappointed heard the message. A few weeks later, her first exceedance of the horn from Zermatt to Breuil. Although the two women competed basically, appreciated and admired them today.

Since the time at the Alpine Club no women were admitted as members, Walker appeared in 1907 in the newly formed Ladies' Alpine Club one. 1913 to 1915 she was vice-chairman of the club.