Pigeon, Anna and Ellen (fl. 1860s)

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Pigeon, Anna and Ellen (fl. 1860s)

English mountaineers. Flourished in the 1860s; crossed the Sesia Joch in 1869.

In September 1869, Anna and Ellen Pigeon, along with a guide and a porter, crossed the Sesia Joch between Zermatt and Alagna, described at the time as a daring exploit, after spending 18 hours on the mountain. The Alpine Club was so dumbfounded by the feat that it demanded to see notes of the expedition. The Pigeon sisters also made the first female traverse of the Matterhorn up the Breuil side and down the Zermatt; eventually, they would ascend the mountain from all four approaches: the North East (or Hörnli Ridge), which drops to Zermatt, Switzerland; the Zmutt Ridge; the West Face (the Italian Ridge); and the Furggengrat.