Elfrida Mary Pigou (February 28, 1911 – July 30, 1960) was a prominent

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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, an ...

and pioneer with many

first ascent In mountaineering, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books) is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First mountain ascents are notable because they en ...

s to her credit. She was born in Vernon,

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, the daughter of Meynell Henry Pigou and his wife Lilian Maud Mackenzie and spent her childhood in the

Okanagan The Okanagan ( ), also known as the Okanagan Valley and sometimes as the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is part ...

region of British Columbia. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

in 1931. In 1949 she began a climbing career in the mountainous regions of BC and

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

that made her perhaps the most distinguished female climber of her generation in Canada. Pigou became a member of the

Alpine Club of Canada The Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) is an amateur athletic association with its national office in Canmore, Alberta that has been a focal point for Canadian mountaineering since its founding in 1906. The club was co-founded by Arthur Oliver Wheeler ...

in 1948, and this served as her introduction to the world of mountains climbing. Over the next several years she made ascents of many of the tallest mountains in BC, including Mount Raleigh, Mount Gilbert, Homathko Peak and Mount Essex. She also did several rock climbing first ascents in

The Bugaboos The Bugaboos are a mountain range in the Purcell Mountains of eastern British Columbia, Canada. The granite spires of the group are a popular mountaineering destination. The Bugaboos are protected within Bugaboo Provincial Park. Geography The ...

, some with

Fred Beckey Friedrich Wolfgang Beckey (14 January 1923 – 30 October 2017), known as Fred Beckey, was an American rock climber, mountaineer and book author, who in seven decades of climbing achieved hundreds of first ascents of the tallest peaks and best ro ...

. She also volunteered for the Mountain Rescue Group which at that time was under the Alpine Club's jurisdiction. On May 12, 1957, while on a spring ascent of

Mount Slesse Slesse Mountain, usually referred to as Mount Slesse, is a mountain just north of the United States, US-Canada border, in the North Cascades, Cascade Mountains of British Columbia, near the town of Chilliwack. It is notable for its large, steep lo ...

near

Chilliwack Chilliwack ( )( hur, Ts'elxwéyeqw) is a city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Chilliwack is surrounded by mountains and home to recreational areas such as Cultus Lake and Chilliwack Lake Provincial Parks. There are numerous outdoor ...

with Geoffery Walker and David Cathcart she discovered the wreckage of TCA Flight 810 which had gone missing in December 1956. Pigou and several local mountaineers, including Paddy Sherman and "Fips" Broda had surmised that Slesse was the most likely site of the crash of flight 810. On July 30, 1960, while on an attempt to ascend

Mount Waddington Mount Waddington, once known as Mystery Mountain, is the highest peak in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. Although it is lower than Mount Fairweather and Mount Quincy Adams, which straddle the United States border between Alaska ...

, she and climbers Joan Stirling, John Owen and Derrick Boddy went missing. Two days later a party from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

came across the site of their camp on the Bravo Glacier which had been obliterated by a large ice and snow avalanche 140 metres wide and at least 3 metres deep. The bodies of all four climbers were left in place, and a memorial was erected nearby on the south shoulder of Mount Jeffery by the Alpine Club. On March 28, 1967, Mount Elfrida was named in her honour.

First ascents

This is a partial list of first ascents * Mount Larrabee Washington State, first winter ascent 1958 * Mount Cradock, 1953 * Mount Gilbert 1954 * Mount Essex 1955 * Homathko Peak 1955 * Chimney Rock 1957 * Mount Poland 1958 * Tombstone Tower 1958 * Cloudcap Peak, Washington State, Center-West route, 1960

Notes

References

* O'Keefe, Betty and MacDonald, Ian, Disaster on Mount Slesse, Caitlin Press, 2006, * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pigou, Elfrida 1911 births 1960 deaths Canadian mountain climbers Mountaineering deaths Canadian sportswomen Sport deaths in Canada Accidental deaths in British Columbia Sportspeople from British Columbia People from Vernon, British Columbia Female climbers

First ascents

See also

Notes

References