Women in the outdoors and rock climbing
Source:
Video produced by Mathias Arroyo-Bégin for the Fédération québécoise de la montagne et de l’escalade (FQME).
Informants: Thérèse Dumesnil and Nieves Izquierdo, women from the climbing industry in Quebec
Black and white photo of a mountaineer in front of a snowy summit reading the bulletin “the carabiner”: Thérèse Dumesnil collection
Black and white photo appearing in Mrs. Dumesnil’s article “Hello girls!” where women practice different outdoor sports: Thérèse Dumesnil collection
Video extract of Alexandra Kateb climbing a route, Moby-Dick in Saint-André-de-Kamouraska, produced by Mathias Arroyo-Bégin
Black and white photo appearing in Mrs. Dumesnil’s article “Hello girls!” where three women who cross-country ski: Thérèse Dumesnil collection
Video extract from “Québec Roc!” of the FQM with Nieves Izquierdo: FQME collection
Date: August 10, 2019
Location: Val-David
Thérèse Dumesnil talks about her contribution to popularizing the outdoors and climbing among women; and Nieves Izquierdo, talks about the qualities necessary for climbing.
Black and white photo of a climber in front of a snow-capped summit reading the bulletin “Le Mousqueton”.
[Thérèse Dumesnil] The Quebec mountain federation (FQM) published a newsletter called Le Mousqueton.
Thérèse Dumesnil sits on a chair facing the camera and gives additional explanations.
[TD] And I had written an article called “Salut les filles” where I invited the girls to go on expeditions, among other things.
Black and white photo appearing in Mme Dumesnil’s article “Salut les filles!” where women practice different outdoor sports.
[TD] Because the guys went on big expeditions and the federations took care of them; but for the women, nobody cared.
Video clip of Alexandra Kateb climbing a route, Moby-Dick, in Saint-André-de-Kamouraska.
[TD] Women were not very present.
So, I think that writing articles for women has helped a lot of women to gain interest in the sport.
Black and white photo appearing in Mme Dumesnil’s article “Salut les filles!” where three women practice cross-country skiing.
[TD] In my articles, I mentioned the happiness that it brought to practice different sports in the mountain; skiing, climbing, the great excursions…
Video extract of the FQM film, “Quebec Roc!”, where we see Nieves Izquierdo sitting on a rock facing the camera and giving additional explanations. During her narration, we see Mrs. Izquerdo climbing in Val-David.
[Nieves Izquierdo] For climbing – because, firstly, it takes a lot of flexibility and then it takes a lot of balance. It’s a sport where women are very strong, I think.