Ladies' Alpine Club
| Ladies' Alpine Club (LAC) | |
|---|---|
| sport | Rockclimbing |
| Founded | 1907 |
| Place of foundation | London |
| Association headquarters | London , UK |
| Official languages) | English |
The Ladies' Alpine Club ( LAC ) was an Alpine club . It was founded in 1907, originally under the name Lyceum Alpine Club , as an interest group of the "Lyceum Club for Working Women" in London by Elizabeth Le Blond . The main reason for the founding of the Ladies' Alpine Club was the fact that the London Alpine Club stubbornly refused to accept female alpinists into its ranks.
In 1910 the association, which at that time already had 50 members, decided to leave the Lyceum Club and found its own club with its own bar in the London borough of Marylebone . The first honorary president was Queen Margarethe of Italy , who herself had climbed many Alpine peaks. From 1913 to 1915, the eminent alpinist Lucy Walker was the club's second chairman. The LAC was strongly oriented towards its male counterpart and regularly invited the President of the Alpine Club and prominent members as guests of honor. A gesture that the men's club did not reciprocate because its premises were to be reserved for men.
Similar to the Alpine Club, the admission procedure to the exclusive LAC was very restrictive. Only “ladies” who had practical knowledge of mountaineering, contributions to science, art or literature of the mountain regions and were sponsored by two members could be proposed for election. Especially after the First World War , the origin of the LAC members was very international and was not limited to female climbers from the British Commonwealth , but also included female climbers from France , Italy and Switzerland , such as Loulou Boulaz , who was an honorary member. In the 1920s, in keeping with the spirit of the times, the LAC concentrated on activities outside the Alps, especially the Himalayan expeditions of the time.
Since 1974 the club has allowed women as members, with which the Ladies' Alpine Club in 1975 merged into it. Denise Nea Evans was the first woman president of the Alpine Club from 1986 to 1987.
Mountain guide monument
The mountain guide monument in St. Niklaus Dorf honors u. a. Alpinists of the Ladies' Alpine Club as guests of the St. Niklaus mountain guides.
literature
- Fergus Fleming: Up. The first conquests of the Alpine peaks. Piper, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-492-24751-2 .
- Tanja Wirz: summiteers. A gender history of alpinism in Switzerland 1840–1940. Hier + Jetzt, Baden 2007, ISBN 978-3-03919-033-1 .