The section () of an

Alpine club Alpine clubs are typically large social clubs that revolve around climbing, hiking, and other outdoor activities. Many alpine clubs also take on aspects typically reserved for local sport associations, providing education and training courses, se ...

(or that of any such Alpine society or association) is an independent club or society that, together with the other sections, forms the main organisation ("Alpine club"). Membership of an Alpine club is normally only possible through membership of a section.

Description

The task of an Alpine club section is the maintenance of tradition and culture, the Alpine training of its members, the planning and implementation of mountain tours and expeditions, and also the maintenance of huts and trails in the mountains. Many sections own

Alpine club hut Alpine club huts () or simply club huts (''Clubhütten'') form the majority of the over 1,300 mountain huts in the Alps and are maintained by branches, or sections, of the various Alpine clubs. Although the usual English translation of ''Hütte'' i ...

s. After the initial task of the Alpine clubs - i.e. the development of the Alps for tourism and Alpinism, was considered as largely completed in Central Europe today, the work of the sections moved increasingly into the service sector, including the organization of Alpine courses and tours as well as sponsoring

climbing gym A climbing gym is a gym dedicated to indoor climbing. Climbing gyms have climbing walls that can be used for lead climbing, leading, Top rope climbing, top roping, and bouldering. They sometimes offer training equipment to improve technique, stren ...

Examples

*The

German Alpine Club The German Alpine Club (, DAV for short) is the world's largest climbing association and the eighth-largest sporting association in Germany. It is a member of the German Olympic Sports Confederation and the competent body for sport and competiti ...

consists of 356 legally independent sections with a total of ca. 1,520,000 members. These are distributed all over Germany, the number and geographical density of the sections increasing markedly from north to south: for example, whilst there is only one section (

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

) in post code region 17 (Neubrandenburg), there are over 20 sections in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. The membership numbers of Alpine club sections varies from under one hundred to several tens of thousands; the two largest German Alpine Club sections, Munich and Oberland, both resident in Munich, form a cooperative partnership (with free membership of the other section) and have together over 180,000 members. This places them just behind

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional association foo ...

and

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

as the sports club with the greatest membership in Germany. *The

Austrian Alpine Club The Austrian Alpine Club () has about 700,000 members in 194 sections and is the largest mountaineering organisation in Austria. It is responsible for the upkeep of over 234 alpine huts in Austria and neighbouring countries. It also maintains ove ...

has 194 sections with a total of 710,000 members, including a UK section (''Sektion Britannia'') *The

South Tyrol Alpine Club The South Tyrol Alpine Club (, ), abbreviated AVS, is an association of German and Ladin-speaking mountain climbers in South Tyrol, northern Italy. Founded in 1946, it is subdivided into 36 sections and 58 local divisions. The AVS is based in Bol ...

has 36 sections with a total of 76,000 members. *The

Italian Alpine Club The Club Alpino Italiano is the senior Italian alpine club which stages climbing competitions, operates alpine huts, marks and maintains paths, and is active in protecting the Alpine environment. It was founded in Turin in 1863 by the then fin ...

has 512 sections and 316 sub-sections with a total of 306,000 members. *The

Swiss Alpine Club The Swiss Alpine Club (, , , ) is the largest mountaineering club in Switzerland. It was founded in 1863 in Olten and it is now composed of 110 sections with 174,726 members (2023). These include the Association of British Members of the Swiss ...

has 110 sections and 21 sub-sections with a total of 174,700 members including an Association of British Members. *The French Alpine Club has 430 sections with a total of 110,000 members. Not all Alpine clubs have this section structure. For example, the British

Alpine Club Alpine clubs are typically large social clubs that revolve around climbing, hiking, and other outdoor activities. Many alpine clubs also take on aspects typically reserved for local sport associations, providing education and training courses, se ...

has a central organisation with no subordinate sections.

References

External links

Austrian Alpine Club (UK section)

Association of British Members of the Swiss Alpine Club

German Alpine Club home page
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