The Alpine Club was founded in London on 22 December 1857 and is the world's first mountaineering club. The primary focus of the club is to support mountaineers who climb in the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

and the Greater Ranges of the world's mountains.

Current activities

Though the club organises some UK-based meets and indoor lectures, its primary focus has always tended towards mountaineering overseas. It is associated more with exploratory mountaineering than with purely technical climbing (the early club was once dismissed as doing very little climbing but "a lot of walking steeply uphill"). These higher technical standards were often to be found in offshoots such as the 'Alpine Climbing Group' (ACG), which was founded in 1952 and merged with the Alpine Club in 1967; the AGC is aimed at those "who aspire to establish or repeat technically difficult climbs or undertake exploratory expeditions". The club continues to encourage and sponsor mountaineering expeditions through its membership and is specifically focused on connecting with younger mountaineers. It also holds extensive book and photo libraries as well as an archive of historical artifacts which are regularly lent out to exhibitions.

Publications

The Club maintains an online "Himalayan Index" of articles about Himalayan mountaineering activities recorded in journals, magazines and books in its library. Its members' activities are recounted annually in the club's publication the ''

Alpine Journal The ''Alpine Journal'' (''AJ'') is an annual publication by the Alpine Club of London. It is the oldest mountaineering journal in the world. History The journal was first published on 2 March 1863 by the publishing house of Longman in London, ...

'', the world's oldest mountaineering journal, and interim newsletters are produced during the year. The club has also produced a suite of guidebooks that cover some of the more popular Alpine mountaineering regions.

History

The Alpine Club was founded on 22 December 1857 by a group of British mountaineers at Ashley's Hotel in London. The original founders were active mountaineers in the

and instrumental in the development of alpine mountaineering during the Golden Age of Alpinism (1854–1865). E. S. Kennedy was the first chairman of the Alpine Club but the naturalist, John Ball, was the first president. Kennedy, also the first vice-president, succeeded him as president of the club from 1860 to 1863. In 1863, the club moved its headquarters to the Metropole Hotel. The Alpine Club is specifically known for having developed early mountaineering-specific gear including a new type of rope. The goal was to engineer a strong and light rope that could be carried easily. A committee of the club tested samples from suppliers and prepared a specification in the early 1900s. The official Alpine Club Rope was then made by John Buckingham of Bloomsbury. It was made from three strands of

manila hemp Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on the island of Luzon, it is ...

, treated to be rot proof and marked with a red thread of

worsted Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead (from Old English ''Wurðestede'', "enclosure place"), a village in the English county of Norfolk. T ...

yarn. From the 19th century British mountaineers and members of the Alpine Club were instrumental in the popularisation of mountainteering in Norway among the international mountaineering community, with William Cecil Slingsby's influential book, '' Norway, the Northern Playground''. The Alpine Club was the role model of the Norwegian Alpine Club, the third oldest of its kind worldwide. The present Alpine Club members remain extremely active in the Alps and the Greater Ranges, as well as in mountain arts, literature and science. For many years it had the characteristics of a London-based

Gentlemen's club A gentlemen's club is a private social club of a type originally established by males from Britain's upper classes starting in the 17th century. Many countries outside Britain have prominent gentlemen's clubs, mostly those associated with the ...

, including a certain imprecision in the qualification for membership (said to have been 'A reasonable number of respectable peaks'). Until 1974, the club was strictly for men only, but in 1975, within months of membership being opened to women, a merger with the Ladies' Alpine Club was agreed, and the Club thus gained about 150 new members. George Band, ''Summit: 150 Years of the Alpine Club'' (London: Collins, 2006, ), pp. 236–237 By the last quarter of the 20th century, the club had evolved into Britain's senior mountaineering club, with a clear qualification for membership, for both men and women, and an 'aspirant' grade for those working towards full membership. However, it still requires prospective members to be proposed and seconded by existing members. The club's history has been documented by George Band in his book ''Summit: 150 Years of the Alpine Club'', and its artists in ''The Artists of the Alpine Club'' by Peter Mallalieu.

Presidents

*1858–1860: John Ball *1861–1863: E. S. Kennedy *1864–1865: Alfred Wills *1866–1868:

Leslie Stephen Sir Leslie Stephen (28 November 1832 – 22 February 1904) was an English author, critic, historian, biographer, mountaineer, and an Ethical Culture, Ethical movement activist. He was also the father of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell and the ...

*1869–1871: William Mathews *1872–1874: William Longman *1875–1877: Thomas Woodbine Hinchliff *1878–1880: Charles Matthews *1881–1883: Thomas George Bonney *1884–1886:

Florence Crauford Grove Florence Crauford Grove (12 March 1838 – 17 August 1902) was an English mountaineer and author, 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 o ...

*1887–1889: Clinton Thomas Dent *1890–1892: Horace Walker *1893–1895: Douglas Freshfield *1896–1898: Charles Pilkington *1899–1901: Dr James Bryce (later Viscount Bryce) *1902–1904: Sir Martin Conway (later Lord Conway of Allington) *1905–1907: George Forrest Browne, Bishop of Bristol *1908–1910: Hermann Wooley *1911–1913: W. E. Davison *1914–1916: William Pickford *1917–1919: John Percy Farrar *1920–1922: J. Norman Collie *1923–1925: Charles Granville Bruce *1926–1928: Sir George Henry Morse *1929–1931: Claude Wilson *1932–1934: Sir John Withers *1935–1937: Edward Lisle Strutt *1938–1940: Sir Claud Schuster GCB (later Lord Schuster) *1941–1943: Geoffrey Winthrop Young *1944–1946:

Leo Amery Leopold Charles Maurice Stennett Amery (22 November 1873 – 16 September 1955), also known as L. S. Amery, was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician and journalist. During his career, he was known for his interest in ...

*1947–1949: Tom George Longstaff *1950–1952: Claude Aurelius Elliott *1953–1955: Edwin Savory Herbert (later Baron Tangley) *1956–1958: Sir John Hunt (later Lord Hunt) *1959–1961: George Finch *1962–1964: Howard Somervell *1965–1967: Eric Shipton *1968–1970: Charles Evans *1971–1973: A. D. M. Cox *1974–1976: John "Jack" Longland *1977–1979: Peter Lloyd *1980–1982: J. H. Emlyn Jones *1983–1985: R. R. E. Chorley (later Lord Chorley) *1986: A. K. Rawlinson (died in office) *1986: Lady Denise Evans *1987–1989: George Band *1990–1992: Lieutenant Colonel H. R. A. Streather ' Tony Streather' *1993–1995: Mike Westmacott *1996–1998: Sir Chris Bonington *1999–2001: Doug Scott *2002–2004: Alan Blackshaw *2005–2007: Stephen Venables *2008–2010: Paul Braithwaite *2011–2013:

Mick Fowler Michael Fowler (born 1956) is a British rock climber, ice climber, mountaineer and climbing author. He is internationally noted for his alpine climbing and was awarded the Piolet d'Or three times, with Paul Ramsden (climber), Paul Ramsden, in 2 ...

*2014–2016: Lindsay Griffin *2017–2019: John Porter *2020–2022: Victor Saunders *2023: Simon Richardson

Premises

The club's first premises were at 8 St Martin's Place,

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster in Central London. It was established in the early-19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy, ...

, where it rented rooms in 1858. In 1895 the club moved to 23 Savile Row, and in June 1907, the Scottish artist Sholto Johnstone Douglas held an exhibition of his portraits at the Club. From 1937 to 1990 the club was based at 74, South Audley Street, in

Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...

, London. In 1936–1937, the surveying firm of Pilditch, Chadwick and Company had converted the ground floor of the building into suitable premises for the club. The club's library was at the back of the building, in what was once the picture gallery of Sir William Cuthbert Quilter. In 1990 the club sold its lease of 74, South Audley Street and briefly shared quarters with the

Ski Club of Great Britain The Ski Club of Great Britain is a not-for-profit recreational snow sports club. It was founded on 6 May 1903 during a meeting at the Hotel Café Royal in London. Until the 1960s, the Ski Club of Great Britain was responsible for British Alpine s ...

at 118,

Eaton Square Eaton Square is a rectangular, residential garden square in London's Belgravia district. It is the largest Squares in London, square in London. It is one of the three squares built by the landowning Grosvenor family when they developed the main ...

. In 1991, the Alpine Club acquired the freehold of a five-storey Victorian warehouse at 55, Charlotte Road, on the edge of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

, and this building remains its current headquarters. The club's lecture room, bunk-house, library, and archives are all housed there.

In fiction

In Dorothy L Sayers' 1923 novel '' Whose Body'' Sir Julian Freake is a member of the Alpine Club.

References

External links

*
A fully digitized 1864 sketchbook
from an Alpine Club voyage to Switzerland and Tyrol {{DEFAULTSORT:Alpine Club (UK) 1857 establishments in the United Kingdom Sports clubs and teams established in 1857 Alpine clubs Climbing and mountaineering organizations Gentlemen's clubs in London Mountaineering in the Alps Mountaineering in the United Kingdom