Ramblings of a Deltiologist

These wonderful photographs just arrived in the post. Believe it or not, they got here quicker from abroad than the Christmas presents I ordered a week ago in this country! Anyway, they are all stuck in what appears to be a page from a scrapbook. On one side are photos from the UK and on the other are the pictures shown here. The pictures are unnamed so I need to do some serious detective work, but I think they were all taken in Switzerland. If anyone knows the mountains, please let me know. It was quite common to go by donkey to a certain point on the Mount Blanc trail. Some people say it was a bit of a swindle by the locals so they could get as much money as possible out of the rich Victorian visitors. This picture shows the standard 4 men roped configuration used to traverse glaciers. I am guessing these people were experienced as it was normal to have a lot more guides.  This picture is a real find - women mountaineers! From their dresses, I would guess it to be 1880s. I see a ...

I have in my possession a series of Ladies' Alpine Club Yearbooks. They really are thrilling as they show the development of the club at a time when women were really taking themselves off to the hills, ditching their skirts to wear breeches, and leading groups of men and women on difficult climbs all over the world. Along with articles written by members, there are other sections of interest. My favourite bits are the minutes of their meetings, information on the Club Room and Club Badge, details of climbs and expeditions completed by members and the full list of members with their addresses in each journal. I picked up the 1925 yearbook ready to extract a good bit and stumbled across this in the Climbs and Expeditions, 1924 section: Miss HILDA HECHLE - Scrambles for painting purposes at Pointe d'Orny,Aiguille du Tour, Catogne, Fenetre d'Arpette and Cabane de Bertol. Now, I failed to mention previously that the Ladies' Alpine Club yearbooks also contain a section cal...

I am slowly reading all my Ladies' Alpine Club journals, well, technically they are yearbooks. I have read 1925 and 1926. I have 1925-1933 to read, so I still have a few weeks to go. I will post the Dorothy Pilley articles as I come by them. Anyway, one of the things I like about the journals / yearbooks, is that they have additional information in them, like minutes of their meetings and lists of members with their addresses. In one of them I noticed a Winnipeg address. Now this is surprising when you think the only hill in Winnipeg is garbage hill, which is actually, so I am led to believe, made out of garbage. So, here is the name and address of the 'Winnipeg' branch of the Ladies' Alpine Club: Parker, Miss Jean, 116, Niagara Street, River Heights, Winnipeg, Canada (1911, Vice President. 1922-24) Miss Jean Parker became a graduating member of the The Alpine Club of Canada in 1906. She participated in the July 13th third climb of Mt. Wapta, by way of the we...