Lakes Jan 2019 Newsletter: Mountain Heritage Trust

Posted by Ron Kenyon on 01/01/2019

MHT Autumn has proven that mountain heritage is gaining an ever greater interest amongst the climbing community. In recent months the Mountain Heritage Trust has been working hard to present new and old generations with an opportunity to re-live our history and the bold characters who made it. MHT is based at Blencathra Centre above Threlkeld, near Keswick.

Autumn has proven that mountain heritage is gaining an ever greater interest amongst the climbing community. In recent months the Mountain Heritage Trust has been working hard to present new and old generations with an opportunity to re-live our history and the bold characters who made it.

Kendal Mountain Festival once again delivered an array of events, speakers, films and literature that celebrated the full extent of the mountain community. In Basecamp, the BMC stand celebrated the achievements of women climbers across history. Taking inspiration from the MHT British Women Climb exhibition at Keswick Museum, the likes of first female E1 leader Alice ‘Jammy’ Cross and high-altitude pioneer Alison Hargreaves were pictured alongside modern icons Molly Thompson-Smith and Shauna Coxsey. An article summarising the project can be read in the latest BMC Summit magazine.

Films featuring prominent historical icons were also screened including the UKClimbing.com produced film ‘Statement of Youth’ that surmised the story of the notorious 1980s climbers who obliterated the standard of the day, raising the bar from 7b+ to 9a. Elsewhere a secret preview of ‘Final Ascent’ on Scottish climber Hamish MacInnes pulled in a substantial crowd.

Whilst working closely with the BMC on heritage focused content, MHT is also completely re-design its own website to make the collections and organisation more accessible than ever. The new site is due to go live in January 2019 and will provide a space for some exciting online feature content.

The charity has also been working to bring ‘Scaling the Heights’ to Keswick Museum for February 2019. This exhibition, produced by Stephen, Margaret and Kate Livingstone, as well as Dr. Abbie Garrington of Durham University, is re-staging famous summit climbs from expedition accounts to create unique visual artwork which will display alongside MHT artifacts.

To continue this increasing engagement work MHT are actively looking for financial donations of any amount or support raising awareness of mountain heritage within the climbing community. If you’re interested in making a donation or enquiring as to how you can support their work, please email enquiries@mountain-heritage.org