William Cecil Slingsby (1849–1929) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

mountain climber and alpine explorer from Carleton, North Yorkshire. Born in Bell Busk, near

Gargrave Gargrave is a large village and civil parish in the Craven district located along the A65, north-west of Skipton in North Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the very edge of the Yorkshire Dales. The River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool ...

, Yorkshire, Slingsby first visited

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

in 1872 and fell in love with the country. He has been called the discoverer of the Norwegian mountains, and the father of Norwegian

mountaineering 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 ...

(insofar as he seems to be the first who actively pursued climbing in Norway and was the first person on several mountains). Together with Norway's early skilled mountain climber

Kristian Bing Kristian Magdalon Bing (30 May 1862 – 6 July 1935) was a Norwegian jurist, author and mountaineer. He is commonly credited for re-introducing the tradition of celebrating Olsok (1897) and reviving it as an annual ceremony commemorating the ...

(1862–1935), he is considered to have been a pioneer explorer of

Jostedalsbreen Jostedal Glacier or is the largest glacier in continental Europe. It is in Vestland county in Western Norway. Jostedalsbreen lies in the municipalities of Luster, Sogndal, Sunnfjord, and Stryn. The highest peak in the area is Lodalskåpa at a ...

, the largest glacier in continental Europe. Slingsby is perhaps most famous for being the first on "Storen", or Store Skagastølstind ( in 1876, the third highest mountain in Norway. It was considered impossible to climb then, but Slingsby defied popular notion and climbed the mountain, for the last part alone. Slingsby also attempted to climb the 1392 metres tall and highly steep Stetind in Narvik, but his attempt ended up as a failure, as he never made it to the peak of the mountain. Slingsby would later describe this mountain as the ugliest one he had ever seen. His crossing of the Keiser Pass, Norway, on skis in 1880 also helped inspire the sport of

ski mountaineering Ski mountaineering (abbreviated to skimo) is a skiing discipline that involves climbing mountains either on skis or carrying them, depending on the steepness of the ascent, and then descending on skis. There are two major categories of equipmen ...

. He also spoke and wrote strongly about several other mountains for example

Slogen Slogen is a mountain rising up from Hjørundfjorden in the municipality of Ørsta in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The mountain is located just west of the municipal boundary with Stranda and just north of the nearby mountain Jakta. Many fa ...

. His classic book on climbing in Norway, ''Norway: the Northern Playground'', was first published in 1904 and republished in 1941. A new edition was released in 2003. The latest edition was published in March 2014. Slingsby was an honorary member of Norsk Tindeklub and of the

Norwegian Trekking Association The Norwegian Trekking Association ( no, Den norske turistforening, DNT) is a Norwegian association which maintains mountain trails and cabins in Norway. The association was founded on 21 January 1868 with the scope "to help and develop tourism i ...

. He had five children; the youngest, Eleanor Winthrop Young, was herself a climber and a co-founder of 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 ...

, a women's climbing association. Cecil died on 23 August 1929 in a nursing home at

Hurstpierpoint Hurstpierpoint is a village in West Sussex, England, southwest of Burgess Hill, and west of Hassocks railway station. It sits in the civil parish of Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common which has an area of 2029.88 ha and a population ...

, in

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

. He is buried in the churchyard at Carleton-in-Craven.

Selected works

* W.C. Slingsby ''Norway: the Northern Playground'',
''Norway, the northern playground; sketches of climbing and mountain exploration in Norway between 1872 and 1903''
Publisher: D. Douglas Edinburgh, 1904

References

External links

''Pioneering climber was a legend in his own lifetime'' - The Craven Herald & Pioneer (1 March 2012)

Slingsby, William Cecil - The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

By Walt Unsworth {{DEFAULTSORT:Slingsby English mountain climbers English explorers 1849 births 1929 deaths