William Cecil Slingsby



William Cecil Slingsby (1849–1929) was an English mountain climber and alpine explorer born in Bell Busk, near Gargrave, Yorkshire. In 1863 his family moved to Carleton where they opened a cotton spinning and weaving mill which operated for about 60 years, Slingsby was directly involved in the running of the mill and was a partner from 1897 until his retirement in 1909.

Slingsby first visited Norway in 1872 and fell in love with the country. He has been called the discoverer of the Norwegian mountains, and the father of Norwegian mountaineering (insofar as he seems to be the first who actively pursued climbing in Norway and was the first person on several mountains). Together with Norway's early skilled mountain climber Kristian Bing (1862–1935), he is considered to have been a pioneer explorer of Jostedalsbreen, the largest glacier in continental Europe.

Slingsby made the first ascent of numerous peaks in Norway including "Storen", or Store Skagastølstind (2,405 m), the third highest peak in Norway, which he climbed in 1876. At the time, it was considered impossible to climb, but Slingsby defied popular notion and climbed the mountain, for the last part alone. Slingsby also attempted to climb the 1392 metres tall and highly steep Stetind in Narvik, but his attempt ended up as a failure, as he never made it to the peak. Slingsby would later describe this mountain as the ugliest one he had ever seen. His crossing of the 5,800 ft Keiser Pass, Norway, on skis in 1880 also helped inspire the sport of ski mountaineering.

He also spoke and wrote strongly about several other mountains for example Slogen. His classic book on climbing in Norway, Norway, the Northern Playground, was first published in 1904 and republished in 1941. A new edition was released in 2003. The latest edition was published in March 2014. One of his regular mountaineering partners in Norway was Howard Priestman.

He also made numerous ascents in the French and Swiss Alps, including the first ascent of the Dent du Requin above the town of Chamonix.

Slingsby was an honorary member of Norsk Tindeklub and of the Norwegian Trekking Association. He had five children; the youngest, Eleanor Winthrop Young, was herself a climber and a co-founder of the Pinnacle Club, a women's climbing association.

Cecil died on 23 August 1929 in a nursing home at Hurstpierpoint, in East Sussex. He is buried in the churchyard at Carleton-in-Craven.

Selected works

 * W.C. Slingsby Norway: the Northern Playground, ISBN 1-904466-07-9
 * Norway, the northern playground; sketches of climbing and mountain exploration in Norway between 1872 and 1903. Publisher: D. Douglas Edinburgh, 1904