Women in climbing history.

The Alps in the nineteenth century

Marie Paradis of Chamonix reached the summit of Mont Blanc in 1808, though accounts say her companions helped carry or drag her over the last stretch and the ascent was never formally recognised. Henriette d'Angeville is usually credited as the first woman to climb it under her own power. A Wellcome Collection catalogue record (seen as a search summary) and Wikipedia give her ascent as 4 September 1838. ExplorersWeb's 2021 anniversary article gives 1809, which does not fit her birth year of 1794 or 1795; we give 1809 as ExplorersWeb's claim, against the other two. The full story is on early mountaineering.

Lucy Walker reached the summit of the Matterhorn on 22 July 1871, six years after Edward Whymper's party, and became the first woman to do so (swissinfo.ch and The Great Outdoors, seen as search summaries). Some of the press reaction was hostile; one paper called mountain climbing "no woman's work".

In the United States, the National Park Service's climbing history lists Sally Dutcher as the first documented woman to climb Half Dome, in October 1875.

Clubs of their own

Some early clubs admitted only men, and women also formed clubs of their own.

Wikipedia says Le Blond was president of the Ladies' Alpine Club from 1907 to 1912 and Lucy Walker from 1913 to 1915. A Countryfile article, seen as a search summary, says Walker founded and led the club. We give both; Wikipedia's account makes Walker its second president, not its founder. Wikipedia says the Pinnacle Club was founded by the wives of two members of the Climbers' Club.

A search summary of the American Alpine Club's women's history timeline records Junko Tabei of Japan as the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, in 1975. The exhibit page itself could not be opened.

El Capitan in the 1970s

Beverly Johnson and Sibylle Hechtel made the first all-female ascent of El Capitan in 1973, by the Triple Direct, which joins the lower Salathe Wall, the Muir Wall and the upper Nose (Gripped, Adventure Journal and Wikipedia, seen as search summaries). The timing is given differently:

• Sources give the month of the Triple Direct climb as September, October or simply autumn 1973.
• An archived Wikipedia El Capitan article says Johnson first climbed El Capitan by the Nose with Dan Asay in June 1973; other accounts place the Asay climb within her autumn 1973 season.

In October 1978, according to Wikipedia and Adventure Journal (seen as search summaries), Johnson spent about ten days alone on El Capitan's Dihedral Wall, in what is described as the first solo ascent of El Capitan by a woman.

Lynn Hill and the Nose

Lynn Hill finished second among women at Sportroccia in 1986, behind Catherine Destivelle, according to Wikipedia. Destivelle won the women's event at three of the four Sportroccia competitions, in 1985, 1986 and 1988; Nanette Raybaud won in 1989. See competition climbing.

Gripped (10 January 2024) says Hill and Simon Nadin tried to free the Nose in 1989 without success. In 1993 Hill, with Brooke Sandahl, made the first free ascent of the Nose over four days, the first person of either sex to do it. Gripped records her remark at the top as "It goes, boys!"

On 19 September 1994 Hill and Steve Sutton started up the Nose, and Hill freed it in about 23 hours, the first free ascent in a day (Gripped; PlanetMountain, seen as a search summary). The American Alpine Journal later published a retrospective titled "1994. El Capitan Nose Route Free in a Day".

The grade of the crux pitch, Changing Corners, has moved: Gripped says Hill first graded it 5.13b, and that the consensus since has settled at 5.14a.

Grade firsts by women

LaCrux published a list of landmark ascents by women on 21 September 2025. These are the entries it gives, with corroboration where we found it:

The first 9b+ by a woman

LaCrux reported on 9 April 2025 that Brooke Raboutou of the United States had climbed Excalibur (9b+), near Arco in Italy, as the first 9b+ by a woman. LaCrux notes that Laura Rogora had earlier been credited as the first woman to climb 9b/+ with Erebor, but that route was downgraded to 9b after Adam Ondra climbed it, so LaCrux gives the 9b+ first to Raboutou. The date is given three ways: LaCrux's 2025 report says she went back to the route in March 2025, LaCrux's June 2026 article dates the ascent to April 2025, and a search summary of UKClimbing gave Saturday 5 April 2025.

LaCrux reported (8 June 2026) that Janja Garnbret made the first female ascent of Bibliographie (9b+) at Ceuse, France, on 6 June 2026, which it calls the second 9b+ by a woman.

LaCrux's 2025 list also names Katie Lamb's ascents of The Dark Side and Box Therapy as the first 8C+ boulder by a woman, and Barbara Zangerl's 2025 flash of Freerider on El Capitan as the first flash of that route by anyone. Those entries rest on LaCrux alone, it credits Lamb's first 8C+ to two different problems, and we could not confirm them. The hardest ascents being made now are on notable ascents.