WOMAN WITH ALTITUDE
Lise Wortley is on a mission to make adventure accessible to all. Her community project Woman with Altitude is dedicated to empowering people through the stories of pioneering women adventurers, while showing that adventure is not just about conquering or winning, but connecting to people and the natural world.
About Woman with Altitude
Lise has dedicated the last nine years of her her career to bringing the forgotten stories of pioneering women adventurers back into the spotlight. After grappling with severe anxiety in her twenties, Lise searched for ways to improve her mental health and rediscovered a book by a woman adventurer she read as a teenager. Following in her footsteps, Lise found solace in the outdoors and inspiration in the remarkable stories of overlooked women adventurers. In 2017, Lise founded Woman with Altitude, a social platform and community highlighting these adventurous, overlooked women, who were largely overlooked by history.
Through powerful storytelling, Lise draws inspiration from the resilience and courage of these women, and has discovered how much we can still learn from them today. Woman with Altitude reclaims space for women in adventure and the outdoors, showing that its not just for daring men, or those that want to be the first or the fastest or the highest, but that it belongs to everyone.
Through her unique expeditions, Lise recreates the journeys of these pioneering adventurers using only the clothing, equipment, and resources available to them at the time, to demonstrate just how difficult their journeys really were - especially without any modern day expedition gear, waterproof clothing or modern day sports bras...
Lise's travels have taken her to some of the world's most remote landscapes, from climbing Himalayan peaks in a corset, to tackling Mont Blanc in nineteenth-century bloomers. By stepping into their footsteps, Lise explores not only the physical challenges they faced, but also the determination and resourcefulness that enabled them to succeed, and how their missing stories have had a knock-on effect for women and girls today.
'When I was younger, every adventurer I came across was a man. At school, I learnt about the 'great' male explorers and watched adventurous men on the TV, but all of us girls were just observers. Watching these men never made me believe that I could be adventurous too.
In my teens I discovered a book by a woman adventurer who I'd never heard of before. As I researched more women like her, I discovered how history had sidelined adventurous women, often erasing or disregarding their stories and achievements. Today we see a knock-on effect, as adventure continues to mostly be told through the eyes of men in books, on TV screens and across social media. I decided it was time to change the narrative.'
Aims of Woman with Altitude
To inspire women and girls who don't see themselves represented in certain spaces, especially the outdoors.
To challenge representation issues in the outdoors.
To support women who work in adventure, from mountain guides to film makers.
To explore the challenges women face through clothing throughout history and today.
To shine a light on inspiring women who have been overlooked
by history.
To highlight the increasing levels of anxiety in young women and girls in the UK, and how nature can help us heal.
Reaching a wider audience
Lise's is on a mission to ensure female-led adventure stories are no longer the exception, but the norm. Woman with Altitude has featured across the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 as leading media outlets including Woman's Hour, The Guardian, The Financial Times, The Times and The Telegraph.
The Bride of Mont Blanc
The Bride of Mont Blanc is an all-women created documentary film following Lise as she attempts to recreate the first female ascent of Mont Blanc, Europe’s most iconic peak. In doing so, Lise explores her own relationship with the outdoors and how it’s impacted a long battle with debilitating anxiety.