Brede Arkless

Who was Brede Arkless?

Brede Arkless was a leading female climber and mountaineer, and was actively involved in the all-women's climbing movement. She was born in Manchester, England, of Dublin parents. In 1964 she married fellow mountaineer Geoff Arkless, and together they started a mountain school in Wales. She made several all-women trips to the greater ranges, while still being able to rear eight children. She also organised women-only climbing courses, together with the noted climber and feminist Jill Lawrence. She was only the second woman to qualify, in the 1960s, as a British Mountain Guide, and was the first woman to hold the badge of the UIAGM as an international mountain guide. Increasingly involved in all-women climbing and guiding, she eventually separated from her husband, moved to New Zealand in September 1990 and became a New Zealand citizen in 1995. While in her fifties she guided a total of 22 ascents of Aoraki/Mount Cook.

In 1998, an expedition party of five including a 59-year-old Arkless succeeded in crossing the Garhwal region of the Indian Himalaya between the Hindu temples of Badrinath and Kedarnath, a feat that had only been accomplished once before, in 1934. In 2000 Arkless tried to become the oldest woman to ascend Mount Everest but failed when she had to abandon her attempt at 8,500 m due to severe altitude sickness. The experience left her disillusioned: "Everest is full of non-climbers and rich people. Everest is all about summit fever and people who shouldn't be where they are. One guy said 'How many 8000m peaks have you climbed?' When I said 'One', he turned away."