Dorothy Pilley Richards (16 September 1894 in

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

– 24 September 1986 in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

) was a prominent

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, a ...

. She began climbing in Wales and joined the Fell & Rock Climbing Club, later helping found the

Pinnacle Club The Pinnacle Club is a women's rock climbing club based in the United Kingdom, founded in 1921. History The Pinnacle Club – the UK’s only national rock-climbing club for women – was founded in 1921 by Pat Kelly (climber), Emily Kelly (know ...

in 1921. In the 1920s, she climbed extensively in the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

, Britain, and North America after her marriage to educator,

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. ...

and

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate par ...

ian Ivor Richards. In 1928, she made the celebrated first ascent of the north north west ridge of the

Dent Blanche The Dent Blanche is a mountain in the Pennine Alps, lying in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. At -high, it is one of the highest peaks in the Alps. Naming The original name was probably ''Dent d'Hérens'', the current name of the nearby D ...

in the Swiss Alps, with Joseph Georges, Antoine Georges and her husband, which she described in her well-regarded memoir, ''Climbing Days'' (1935). Pilley's great-great-nephew Dan Richards has written a biography of her, published by

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel ...

in 2016 and also called ''Climbing Days''. Norbury, Katharine (26 June 2016)
Book of the Day: Climbing Days by Dan Richards – review
''The Guardian''

References

Sources

*Dorothy Pilley (Mrs. I. A. Richards), ''Climbing Days'' (London: Bell, 1935) *Carol A. Osborne
"Richards , Dorothy Eleanor (1894–1986)"
in the ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', Oxford University Press, 2004

Gallery

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Dorothy Pilley English mountain climbers 1894 births 1986 deaths Female climbers People from Camberwell