Fanny Bullock Workman Brief Life of a Feisty Mountaineer: 1859-1925 by Thomas H
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VITA Fanny Bullock Workman Brief life of a feisty mountaineer: 1859-1925 by thomas H. pauly t a 1907 meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, in Lon- tance to altitude sickness. Above 18,000 feet, climbers commonly don, William Hunter Workman, M.D. 1873, spoke of his re- experience intensifying dizziness, weakness, and the threat of fa- Acent expedition into the Nun Kun area of the Himalayas. In tal edemas. These effects can fell the strongest yet bypass those introducing Workman, the society’s president said that only three with far less stamina, thus diminishing the advantages men rou- climbers to date—Workman, his wife, and another RGS mem- tinely enjoy in other sports. Fanny’s naturally slow pace made ber—had pushed beyond 23,000 feet. Because the RGS allowed swift ascents impossible, so her assaults had to be carefully women into meetings as invited guests, the president explained planned with routes she could manage and multiple overnight Fanny Workman’s conspicuous absence by noting that she was do- camps, allowing her to acclimate to higher elevations and replen- ing “something more arduous than climbing 23,000 feet”: giving 30 ish her energy. Ironically, her own limitations revealed to her this lectures on her mountaineering successes in 37 days. Following her cornerstone principle of high-peak mountaineering. seventh and final trip into the Himalayas, the RGS included her in She then immersed herself in writing her conquests up in books the first group of women to be awarded membership. quite different from her previous works in their affectation of sci- The Himalayan expeditions affirmed Fanny Workman’s ambi- entific expertise. Initially she offered lengthy discussions of the tion and daring, but it was her numerous publications and their newest scientific instruments she had used, but increasingly she attentiveness to “glaciation” and “other scientific directions” that gravitated toward technical aspects of “glaciation.” After she and earned respect from the RGS. Nevertheless, Workman herself was her husband cracked the 23,000-foot barrier, she moved quickly to fiercely competitive and intent upon setting records: she believed establish them both as the foremost authorities on thin air. In one that the best way to win recognition for her accomplishments article, she attacked a rival’s claim to have achieved the highest was to campaign for a more precise definition of mountaineering overnight camp: following an indignant assertion that his aneroid achievement and insist upon better monitoring. barometer had been smashed, she huffed, “In these days, when a Wealth and status had greatly aided young Fanny Bullock’s mountaineer is expected to ascertain heights attained by means of exceptional enthusiasm for sport. (Her father had been mayor instruments used with due regard to recognized scientific meth- LIBRARY OF OF LIBRARY of Worcester, governor of Massachusetts, and one of that state’s ods, how much value has…[a personal opinion] in fixing the alti- l richest men, thanks to his wife’s dowry.) After privileged school- tude of a high point that may have been reached.” ATIONA N ing in New York and Europe, she married William Workman, and Ironically, her determination to prove herself the equal of any BERDEENSHIRE their combined inheritances enabled them to quit Worcester, re- man at lofty elevations culminated with a withering attack on an A BOYNE, BOYNE, locate to Europe, and undertake a series of bicycle trips that ex- American woman who tried to surpass her. Annie S. Peck was as A tended ever further afield—initially to cities nearby, eventually to adept as Fanny at climbing and self-promotion, but had to rely AND, l AR AGES COURTESY OF THE OF COURTESY AGES Egypt. From the outset, Fanny Workman resisted expectations on lectures and newspaper articles to finance her expeditions;her T m AR, that she be a devoted mother; increasingly, she pursued the more audiences valued drama and daring over science and accuracy. Af- m RO fulfilling identity of an adventurer and author. In books jointly ter success in her fifth attempt upon Mount Huascaran, in Peru, C RUST, RUST, written with her husband (but mostly by her), she recounted Peck claimed that its 24,000-foot summit gave her the world re- T ONGRESS; OTHER I OTHER ONGRESS; their bicycle trips to Algeria and Spain and repeatedly denounced cord for elevation. Had she not reported this to the Bulletin of the C OBERT OBERT the mistreatment of women there. American Geographical Society, Fanny might never have noticed, but R In 1897, the Workmans embarked upon a two-and-a-half-year her outrage at Peck’s unsubstantiated boast spurred her to send HE MAC T circuit of India and neighboring countries. To escape the searing eminent surveyors to check it; they found Huascaran a thousand summer heat, they headed north into the mountains and went feet lower than Pinnacle Peak. If Fanny Workman ever receives ISSION OF trekking over several high passes. Undeterred by a disastrous first the recognition she deserves for her feminist determination to m assault upon a peak, they recruited the finest Swiss guides and excel at this then-male sport, she will surely be remembered as AGE COURTESY OF THE LIBRARY OF THE LIBRARY OF COURTESY AGE AND, BY PER BY AND, m mounted more carefully planned expeditions. These earned Fanny much for her insistence upon accurate record-keeping as for the l COT several records for the highest elevation achieved by a woman: in elevations she achieved. MAIN I S 1906, at the then somewhat advanced age of 47, she reached the top of Pinnacle Peak, which she assessed to be 23,263 feet, estab- Thomas H. Pauly ’62, recently retired as professor of English at the University lishing an elevation record not surpassed until 1934. of Delaware, is the author of a new book, Game Faces: Five Early Ameri- Her greatest assets were intrepid persistence and her resis- can Champions and the Sports They Changed (Nebraska). 28 March - April 2012 Adapted from Game Faces: Five Early American Champions and the Sports They Changed, Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For moreby Thomasinformation, H. Pauly, contactby permission Harvard of the University Magazine, of Nebraska Inc. atPress. 617-495-5746 Copyright ©2012 by Thomas H. Pauly Scaling the heights: Fanny Bullock Workman (left), in an undated image; crossing a bridge over the Indus River in 1908 with her husband, William; publicizing “Votes for Women” on the Silver Throne plateau in “Eastern Karakoram,” in an undated image; and posing with William and a guide atop Mount Bullock Workman, in the Karakoram Range, in 1899 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746.