UKC

Here is a link to an interview with Martine Rolland, she was the first female European mountain guide in 1983, She and her husband live local to me and write the local guidebook, both real nice people and both still climb hard. Its in French but worth translating 

https://ablock.fr/martine-rolland-je-suis-une-alpiniste-avant-detre-une-fem...

thanks, although it depends what you mean by mountain guide as Gwen Moffat was working as a guide in the 1950s & there may have been others outside France

Brede Arkless was 2nd British, after Gwen.

Edit / digression. John Brailsford (dad of sky cycling team Dave) was an early Guide and did live in Briancon, but I don't now if he's still alive. Man of many talents. He'd know more of the early days. 

Don't tell the French there are guides who aren't French it will blow their minds . i think they mean french or main land European.

for me i think it is interesting and I think going through ENSA and all the politics that go with it, at that time as a female must have been very hard. 

Well

They specify European in the post

and the UK is part of Europe, I suspect they meant UIAGM recognised but they didn't write that.

she was my downstairs neighbour back in the 90s

Is that like friends with benefits?

I took that to mean mainland Europe but that's me.

not exactly ....

Is she the wife of the infamous JJ Rolland?

Monsieur Cambron would be rolling in his grave to hear the Rollands have no inherited the title of writing *the* guidebook to the Ecrins.

She is JJ wife. Having climbed with both JJ and Cambon, they are both really nice people, but just didn't get on.