Mrs. Aubrey Le Blond

Born Elizabeth Hawkins-Whitshed in 1861, she became one of the best-known women mountaineers of her time. She climbed widely in the Alps, later traveled in places including the Caucasus, and built a reputation for turning hard-won experience into lively, accessible travel and adventure writing.

She published books under the name Mrs. Aubrey Le Blond, the form many readers still know today. Her work includes mountain travel and climbing narratives such as Adventures on the Roof of the World and True Tales of Mountain Adventures, blending firsthand detail with a clear, engaging style.

Beyond her books, she is remembered as an important early figure in women’s mountaineering. Her life linked exploration, outdoor skill, photography, and writing, and her career helped show that women could claim a public place in adventure literature as well as on the high peaks themselves.