Florence Crauford Grove (12 March 1838 – 17 August 1902) was an
English mountaineer and
author
In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...
, sometimes known as F. Crauford Grove. He led the first expedition to ascend the higher summit of
Mount Elbrus and was at one time president of the
Alpine Club.
Mountaineer
Grove became an experienced alpinist in the late 1850s and joined the
Alpine Club of London soon after it was formed in 1857, later serving as its president from 1884 to 1886. He was one of the best British climbers of his day and is remembered for opposing guideless climbing during the 1870s. An article on the founders of the Alpine Club in the
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...
calls him a "gentleman traveller of independent means".
Because of his first name, Grove is sometimes mistakenly thought to have been a woman. His second name is Crauford.
First ascents
*12 August 1863:
Dent d'Hérens
The Dent d'Hérens (4,173 m) is a mountain in the Pennine Alps, lying on the border between Italy and Switzerland. The mountain lies a few kilometres west of the Matterhorn.
Notable summits along the east ridge are Punta Bianca (3917 m), th ...
(4,171 m) with Reginald S. Macdonald, Montagu Woodmass and William Edward Hall and guides
Melchior Anderegg and Peter Perren
*16 August 1863:
Parrotspitze (4,432 m) with the same party (Reginald S. Macdonald, Montagu Woodmass, William Edward Hall, guides Melchior Anderegg and Peter Perren)
*22 August 1864:
Zinalrothorn (4,221 m), with
Leslie Stephen and guides Jakob Anderegg and Melchior Anderegg
*28 July 1865:
Aiguille de Bionnassay (4,052 m), with E. Buxton and R.Macdonald, and guides J.Cachet and M.Payne.
*1874: West summit of
Mount Elbrus (5,642 m), first ascent led by Grove, with
Frederick Gardiner,
Horace Walker, their guides
Peter Knubel. The west summit is forty metres higher than the east summit.
Publications
*''The Frosty Caucasus: an account of a walk through part of the Range and of an ascent of Elbruz in the summer of 1874'' (London, Longmans, Green & Co, 1875, 341 pp.)
Grove's book is illustrated with six plates by
Edward Whymper, from photographs by Horace Walker, and a folding map. Chapters cover the Upper Rion, the valley of the Upper Tcherek river, the Bezingi glacier and the
Kotchan Tau Group (both in
Kabardino-Balkaria,
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
),
Tchegem and the Gorge of the Djilki-Su, Urusbieh, the first ascent of Mount Elbruz (in Kabardino-Balkaria and
Karachay–Cherkessia), and the Nakhar Pass (in
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
).
''The Frosty Caucasus'' was republished in a facsimile edition by Adamant Media Corporation in February 2002 ().
The title of the book is taken from
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's play
Richard II -
O, who can hold a fire in his hand
By thinking on the frosty Caucasus?[ Richard II, Act I, Scene 3]
See also
*
Golden age of alpinism
References
Florence Crauford Groveat lexikon-portal.de (retrieved 6 January 2008)
*A. L. Mumm, ''The Alpine Club Register'', (3 vols, 1923–28)
*George Band, ''Summit: 150 years of the Alpine Club'' (2007)
Footnotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grove, Florence Crauford
English mountain climbers
1838 births
1902 deaths
Presidents of the Alpine Club (UK)