It consists of two kids, the Ice Climbers, Popo, and Nana, as they climb to the top of an icy mountain filled with enemies such as Topis and Polar Bears to stop the evil condor at the top. Some braver souls climbed in their bathing suits, which fully covered a woman's arms and legs and were made of flannel. Ice Climber (, Aisu Kuraim) is a game for the NES. There were, however, a few other options. Nothing like making your way to 15,000 feet in a sodden wool dress. They were heavy and restrictive and tended to drag in the snow. Women climbing in the 1800s and the early 1900s had to choose between wearing something practical but scandalous (or even illegal), or wearing something acceptable socially but that made climbing harder.įor many years women climbed in dresses which included several layers of slips and petticoats underneath. At worst, they could be arrested or fined just for wearing pants. Women who didn't adhere to a pretty narrow standard of what was acceptable faced, at minimum, social ostracization and damage to their reputations. Social convention regarding how women are dressed is still a topic of debate today, but in the late 1800s and early 1900s these conventions were incredibly rigid. The history of what women wore when climbing is an integral part of women's participation in the sport. Women faced the same challenges and dangers as men while climbing, but for many years they faced them by necessity in clothing that made their work much more difficult. We're looking at the narrow options available to women in the early days of climbing and what that meant for women climbers. In honor of Women's History Month, we're focusing on women for the second installment of our blog posts about early climbing. These chapters were often called "For the Lady Mountaineer."
Many instructional books on climbing and mountaineering from the 1920s included a chapter or two, written by women, about what clothing and equipment aspiring female climbers should use, as well as the usual tips and instructions for avoiding frostbite and preventing a fall.
A brief history of early climbing attire for women