Evelyn McNicol (née Camrass; 11 October 1927 – 15 April 2021) was a Scottish obstetrician and explorer. She was among the first recorded Western "all-women" Himalayan mountaineering expedition.

Early life and education

McNicol was a medical doctor, and graduated from

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

in 1952. She was president of the University of Glasgow mountaineering club from 1950 to 1951. She was a member of the Ladies Scottish Climbing Club. In 1954 she took part in an early expedition to the Lyngen Peninsula in Norway. The other mountaineers from the

Ladies' Scottish Climbing Club The Ladies' Scottish Climbing Club was founded by Jane Inglis Clark, her daughter Mabel, and Lucy Smith at a boulder near Lix Toll, Perthshire in 1908. It now has about 120 members and is the oldest active climbing club exclusively for wome ...

were Cynthia Marr, Elizabeth "Betty" Stark and Elma Wrench.

The Scottish Women's Himalayan Expedition

At age 28, McNicol (then Evelyn Camrass) was the youngest member of the first recorded all-women mountaineering trip to the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

, along with

Monica Jackson Monica Jackson (16 September 1920 – 7 April 2020) was a Scottish climber and part of the first non-male expedition to scale the Jugal Himal in the Himalayas. Early life and education Monica Jackson was born in Kotagiri and grew up in the Bi ...

and Elizabeth Stark. The three explored the mostly unmapped region of

Jugal Himal The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

. It was claimed as an all-women expedition although they used male Sherpas once in the Himalayas. In Spring 1955, McNicol, Jackson and Stark sailed to India, from which they flew to

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

. The expedition lasted three months, arriving and returning at Kathmandu on 10 April 1955 and 1 June 1955 respectively. During this expedition they explored the previously unmapped Phurbal Chyachumbu glacier, and made the first ascent of Gyalgen Peak, a 22,000 feet mountain on the border of Nepal and Tibet, which they named after their head Sherpa. On 11 May 1955, Stark and Jackson reached the summit of Gyalgen Peak, but McNicol was suffering altitude headaches and remained at their last camp. She later climbed a ridge close to the group's base camp, from which she made corrections to their

Survey of India The Survey of India is India's central engineering agency in charge of Cartography, mapping and surveying.

map. From 2002-2003 the

Scottish National Portrait Gallery The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. The gallery holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Co ...

had an exhibition called ''On Top Of The World'' which included pictures of McNicol and her team.

Personal life

After the 1955 expedition, McNicol returned to Scotland, to her role as on

obstetrician Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...

in Edinburgh. She married and had three children. She no longer mountaineered, but still enjoyed hillwalking in Scotland with other former Glasgow University climbing club members.

References

External links

Evelyn McNicol interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:McNicol, Evelyn Female climbers Scottish sportspeople 1927 births Scottish mountain climbers Scottish explorers Female explorers 2021 deaths Alumni of the University of Glasgow