▄PARA ╘PAR@ ` TEXT ` ÷Peck, Annie Smith1850╨1935mountain climberBorn in Providence, Rhode Island, on October 19, 1850, Annie Peck early developed remarkable physical strength, endurance, and courage through her determined competition with her three older brothers. She attended Dr. Stockbridge╒s School for Young Ladies, Providence High School, and in 1870╨1872 the Rhode Island State Normal School (now Rhode Island College). After teaching school in Providence and then in Saginaw, Michigan, she entered the University of Michigan in 1874 and graduated with honors four years later. She taught for short periods in schools in Cincinnati and in Montclair, New Jersey, and from 1881, when she received her master╒s degree from Michigan, to 1883 she taught Latin at Purdue University. In 1883╨1885 she pursued advanced studies in Germany, and in the latter year she became the first woman admitted to the American School of Classical Studies in Athens. In 1886╨1887 she taught Latin at Smith College. On Peck╒s journey from Germany to Greece in 1885 the sight of the Matterhorn had aroused in her an interest in climbing. After a few practice climbs she tackled Mount Shasta, California, in 1888. Her ascent of the Matterhorn in 1895 brought her wide celebrity and, in Victorian society, a touch of notoriety. In 1897 she climbed the volcano Popocatepetl and Mount Orizaba in Mexico, the latter, at 18,314 feet, the highest point in the Western Hemisphere reached by a woman up to that time. She supported herself by giving parlor lectures and subsequently by lecturing on the Chautauqua and other circuits, but little money was leftover for proper equipment and preparation for her more ambitious and demanding climbs; she drove herself and her hired help nonetheless. In 1900 she represented the United States at the Paris CongrÅs Internationale de l╒Alpinisme, and while in Europe she climbed the Fƒnffingerspitze in the Austrian Tyrol, Monte Cristallo in the Dolomites, and the Jungfrau in Switzerland. In 1902 she helped found the American Alpine Club. She then began exploring South America for a peak on which she could make a first ascent. In 1904 she climbed the 20,867╨foot Illampu peak of Mount Sorata, Bolivia. Several lesser climbs followed, and in September 1908 she conquered the north peak of Huascarçn in the Peruvian Andes. Estimating the summit to be about 24,000 feet, she could claim to have reached higher than any other woman. A subsequent triangulation by French engineers sent by Fanny Bullock Workman showed the peak to be 21,812 feet, leaving her still with the American record in the Western Hemisphere. In 1911, at the age of sixty one, she climbed Mount Coropuna (21,250 feet), Peru, raising a ╥Votes for Women╙ pennant at the top. In addition to lecturing Peck wrote occasional articles for magazines and published A Search for the Apex of South America, 1911, The South American Tour, 1913, Industrial and Commercial South America, 1922, and Flying over South America╤20,000 Miles by Air, on the feasibility of commercial aviation on that continent, 1932. In 1927 the Lima Geographical Society named the north peak of Huascarçn in her honor╤Cumbre Aûa Peck. Her last climb was of Mount Madison, New Hampshire, when she was eighty-two. She died in New York City on July 18, 1935. ₧styl ` ! ¬ 5¬ 5¬ . !I ▌ 5¬ ▐ !I !I !I ╔ !I ▐ ▐ !I
═ 5¬
╬ !I " !I H !I P !I g !I o !I û !I ó !I ╧ !I link ` HYPR ╔ ▐
