Gwen Moffat

Gwen Mary Moffat (née Goddard; born 3 July 1924) is a British mountaineer and writer.[1]

Gwen Mary Moffat
BornGoddard
(1924-07-03) 3 July 1924
Brighton
OccupationNovelist, climber and mountain guide
CitizenshipBritish
GenreFiction and biography

Climbing career

Moffat was an Army driver in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, stationed in North Wales after the end of the Second World War, when she met a climber who introduced her to climbing and a bohemian lifestyle.[2][3] During the 1940s and 1950s she lived rough, climbing in Snowdonia, the Lakes, Scotland and the Alps, supporting herself by working in several roles including as a domestic service, a farmer, a forester, an artist's model and the driver of a travelling shop.[3][2] In 1953 she became the first female British certificated mountain guide, and for ten years she was closely associated with the RAF Mountain Rescue Service, making a living from climbing.[4]

Moffatt was known for often climbing barefoot, claiming that it was better because there was more contact with the rock and no constriction of the toes.[5] She is an honorary member of the women-only Pinnacle Club and the British Mountaineering Council.[6]

Media

Moffat featured in the BBC film Eye to Eye, broadcast in 1958.[7] Joe Brown did the hard amateur climbing and Moffat, the professional, took her husband up a route on Idwal Slabs.[7] In 2015 Jen Randall and Claire Carter made a film, Operation Moffat, based on Moffat's autobiographical book Space below my Feet[8]. The film was premiered during Banff Mountain Film Festival's UK tour,[9] and has won over 20 international film awards.[10] Moffat is included in Herrington's photographic work The Climbers[11][12] featuring 60 climbers considered legends of the 20th century. In 2017 she contributed to a documentary Give Me Space Below My Feet, for BBC Radio 3.[13]

Writing career

Moffat began her writing career in the 1950s, working for BBC radio, and published her autobiography in 1961.[3] In the 1970s, she started writing crime fiction, in particular the Miss Pink series featuring Melinda Pink, a middle aged climber and magistrate.[14][15] Following a commission by Victor Gollancz Ltd to follow the California Trail[16] and produce a book, she subsequently wrote 11 mysteries set in the American West.[17] She wrote her last novel, Gone Feral, when she was in her 80s. She currently reviews for the crime magazine Shots.[17]

Personal life

Moffat married Gordon Moffat with whom she had a daughter, Sheena, born in 1949. In 1955, Moffat married Flight Sergeant John Lees, GM, BEM. They were divorced in 1970.[18][7]

Works

  • Space Below my Feet (1961)[3]
  • Two Star Red (1964)
  • On My Home Ground (1968)
  • Survival Count (1972)
  • Deviant Death (1973)
  • Lady with a Cool Eye (Melinda Pink) (1973)
  • The Corpse Road (1974).
  • Hard Option (1975)
  • Miss Pink at the Edge of the World (Melinda Pink) (1975)
  • A Short Time to Live (Melinda Pink) (1976)
  • Over the Sea to Death (Melinda Pink) (1976)
  • Persons Unknown (Melinda Pink) (1978)
  • Hard Road West (1981)
  • Die Like a Dog (Melinda Pink) (1982)
  • The Buckskin Girl (1982)
  • Last Chance Country (Melinda Pink) (1983)
  • Grizzly Trail (Melinda Pink) (1984)
  • Snare (Melinda Pink) (1987)
  • The Stone Hawk (Melinda Pink) (1989)
  • The Storm Seekers (1989)
  • Rage (Melinda Pink) (1990)
  • The Raptor Zone (Melinda Pink) (1990)
  • Pit Bull (1991)
  • Veronica's Sisters (Melinda Pink) (1992)
  • The Outside Edge (1993)
  • Cue the Battered Wife (1994)
  • A Wreath of Dead Moths (1998)
  • The Lost Girls (Melinda Pink) (1998)
  • Private Sins (Melinda Pink) (1999)
  • Running Dogs (1999)
  • Quicksand (2001)
  • Retribution (Melinda Pink) (2002)
  • Man Trap (2003)
  • Dying for Love (2005)
  • Gone Feral (2007)

References

  1. Klein, Kathleen Gregory, ed. (1 January 1994). Great Women Mystery Writers: Classic to Contemporary. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313287708.
  2. "Inspirational climber recognised by national body". cwherald.com. 29 January 2016.
  3. Gwen Moffat (1961). Space Below My Feet. Sigma Leisure. ISBN 978-1-85058-769-9.
  4. "Inspirational climber recognised by national body". cwherald.com. 29 January 2016.
  5. "Gwen Moffat // Interview". womenclimb.co.uk. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  6. "91-year-old from Penrith honoured for being the first British Mountain Guide". ITV News.
  7. "Rediscovered: TV film of climbing history". www.thebmc.co.uk. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  8. "Trailblazing climber celebrated in film". BBC News.
  9. Cole, Laura. "Operation Moffat – The story of Britain's first female mountain guide – Geographical". Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  10. "BMC TV's Operation Moffat: swarming to a screen near you". www.thebmc.co.uk. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  11. Herrington, Jim (2016). The a Climbers. Mountaineers Books. ISBN 978-1-68051-083-6.
  12. Berry, Natalie. "INTERVIEW: Reading Between the Lines - Gwen Moffat". UKC. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  13. Singh, Anita (2 September 2017). "93-year-old mountaineer to relive the climb of her life on radio via '3D sound'". The Telegraph.
  14. "Gwen Moffat". twbooks.co.uk. UK: Tangled Web. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  15. "Gwen Moffat". Shots Magazine. UK. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  16. "Gwen Moffat". twbooks.co.uk. UK: Tangled Web. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  17. "Book Review: Do No Harm". shotsmag.co.uk. UK: Shots Magazine. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  18. Perrin, Jim (24 August 2002). "Obituary: Johnnie Lees". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
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