3#09 Becky Coles of Project Alpine Spirit

Mountain Air

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“I love getting out there and stripping everything away so that life becomes very simple.”

In the latest episode of Mountain Air we meet Becky Coles, a Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor and expedition leader whose travels have spanned all seven continents. Through these adventures, she’s recorded numerous first ascents in locations as diverse as Afghanistan, Nepal and South Georgia in Antarctica. These and other exploits have earned her a place on Montane’s roster of sponsored athletes. And if that wasn’t impressive enough, she even has a PhD in Glacial Geomorphology (phew!).

“You can’t drive through Drumochter without admiring the drumlins.”

When considering Becky’s achievements so far, it’s sobering to note that only 6% of those that hold the Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor award are women and that she was herself only the 40th woman to achieve it. However, when not working in Sheffield, North Wales or the West Highlands, balancing skillsets and conditions and thus “solving the puzzle” of helping her clients achieve their goals in the mountains, Becky is often found pursuing her own ambitions in the European Alps and beyond. In fact, Project Alpine Spirit - ongoing since it started with a bang in the summer of 2019 - aims to become the first all-women team to climb all 82 of the alpine 4000m peaks. An ever-shifting cooperative of willing alpinists (of which Becky is the only permanent member) it currently sits at 72, with only 10 peaks remaining. They happen to be 10 of the hardest. But it has a rich history of women climbers, dating back to alpinism’s golden age in the Victorian era, to call on for inspiration - and it’s a heritage and backdrop that Becky is keenly aware of and excited to continue into the 21st century.

“If I’d had endless money I probably would have signed up to a commercial trip and been guided, but I discovered that in the UK we have lots of access to mountaineering grants...”

Elsewhere in the conversation, you’ll hear how the discovery of multiple climbing and expedition grants available within the UK was the impetus for Beck’s initial expeditions; what it feels like to make a first ascent in a remote area; and how fellow women climbers can inspire one another in a world where they’re still very much the minority.

“There are plenty of peaks that aren’t super technical, and were within my skills to attempt, and that took me to remote places in Nepal, Central Asia, the Wakhan Corridor into Afghanistan and onto South Georgia as well.”

Discover all of this and more in Mountain Air Series 3, Episode 9.

“I hate the packing, but I love getting out there and stripping everything away so that life becomes very simple.”

> https://www.roammountains.co.uk/

> https://www.instagram.com/roam.mtns

> https://montane.com/pages/rebecca-coles-athlete

> https://www.womensalpineadventureclub.com/blog/project-alpine-spirit-with-becky-coles

00:00 - Introduction

03:08 - Welcome from (temporarily) damp Sheffield, moving between North Wales, Yorkshire and the Highlands

05:10 - Being the 40th woman to gain the Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor qualification (and only 6% of the holders are women)

07:10 - A PhD in Glacial Geomorphology from the University of Sheffield, “you can’t drive through Drumochter without admiring the drumlins”, using skills to map unexplored routes and peaks across the world, a career dilemma

12:00 - Turning to guiding and “solving the puzzle” of matching clients with suitable ways to achieve their goals

15:40 - Working alongside inspiring peers: Tania Noakes “she was pretty hard to keep up with and replicate!”, being a woman in the outdoor instruction world

20:30 - “I’m probably not the right person to ask, because in some way it suited me. You need to ask the people that were put off and aren’t here.”

21:30 - Project Alpine Spirit, so far has completed 72 of the 82 Alpine 4000m peaks (the most recent being Mont Maudit) “It takes you to places you otherwise wouldn’t go.”

23:15 - Juggling multiple lists and defining the Alpine 4000ers, being inspired by Victorian women climbers

25:50 - Derailed by pneumonia and shingles, “The 10 that are left are the really hard ones”

29:37 - Surprise (and not surprising) hits of the 4000ers: perfect conditions on the Matterhorn, the Schreckhorn and other Oberland peaks adjacent to the Eiger…

36:26 - “Some are quite isolated, and it’ll be a three-day mission just to go in to get one peak, and then others like the Monte Rosa traverse where you can do 18 in four days.”

37:00 - Further ranging expeditions, “If I’d had endless money I probably would have signed up to a commercial trip and been guided, but I discovered that in the UK we have lots of access to mountaineering grants...”

39:00 - “There are plenty of peaks that aren’t super technical and were within my skills to attempt, and that took me to remote places in Nepal, Central Asia, the Wakhan Corridor into Afghanistan and onto South Georgia as well.”

40:15 - What does it feel like to make a first ascent? “Nobody has seen this view from this exact spot before. It is quite special.”

44:18 - “I hate the packing, but I love getting out there and stripping everything away so that life becomes very simple.”

45:04 - Greatest Mountain Memory: the big expeditions “where everything comes together”, a first ascent in the far west of Nepal (Lasarmula, see: https://www.sidetracked.com/a-mountain-affair/)

47:30 - All the time, money, freedom… where do you go and what do you do? Another first ascent in Greenland or Pakistan