The New Zealand Alpine Club (NZAC) was founded in 1891 and is one of the oldest

alpine club The first alpine club, the Alpine Club, based in the United Kingdom, was founded in London in 1857 as a gentlemen's club. It was once described as: :"a club of English gentlemen devoted to mountaineering, first of all in the Alps, members of whi ...

s in the world. The NZAC is the national climbing organisation in New Zealand and is a member of the

Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation, commonly known by its French name Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme (UIAA, lit. ''International Union of Alpine Clubs''), was founded in August 1932 in Chamonix, France ...

. It has over 4000 members who are spread across twelve sections, eleven in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and one in Australia, plus members in other countries. It runs a national office based in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

History

The NZAC was founded on 28 July 1891 at Warner's Commercial Hotel in

. Leonard Harper (Christchurch) was voted as the inaugural chairman in absentia; he had left for England on 25 July (and while away, it was discovered that he had embezzled money; hence he did not return). Frederick Hutton (Christchurch),

Edward Sealy Edward Percy Sealy (23 August 1839 – 30 October 1903), also referred to as Edwin Sealy, was a New Zealand surveyor, photographer, explorer, farmer, and entomologist. Born into a wealthy English family, Edward and his elder brother Henry Sealy, H ...

(

Timaru Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...

), Malcolm Ross (

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

), and John Holland Baker (

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

) were the inaugural vice-presidents. Arthur Paul Harper, Leonard Harper's son, was the inaugural secretary and treasurer.

Description

The club actively promotes climbing in New Zealand and overseas. It publishes guidebooks to New Zealand mountains and to selected

rock climbing Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and ...

areas, and also makes this information accessible online. It publishes a quarterly magazine ''The Climber'' (which is also online), and the annual ''New Zealand Alpine Journal''. NZAC owns 17 lodges and

huts A hut is a small dwelling, which may be constructed of various local materials. Huts are a type of vernacular architecture because they are built of readily available materials such as wood, snow, ice, stone, grass, palm leaves, branches, hid ...

that are available for use by club members and other climbers. Most sections provide instruction courses for beginning climbers and the club also provides instruction for intermediate and advanced skills. NZAC sponsors the annual national

bouldering Bouldering is a form of free climbing that is performed on small rock formations or artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or harnesses. While bouldering can be done without any equipment, most climbers use climbing shoes to help se ...

series held during the summer at four locations, as well as other local and national competitive climbing events. The visibility of

mountaineering Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, a ...

in New Zealand was boosted by the 1953 ascent of

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...

Sir Edmund Hillary Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineering, mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropy, philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa people, Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became th ...

Hillary, Edmund, ''High Adventure: The True Story of the First Ascent of Everest'' and

Tenzing Norgay Tenzing Norgay (; ''tendzin norgyé''; perhaps 29 May 1914 – 9 May 1986), born Namgyal Wangdi, and also referred to as Sherpa Tenzing, was a Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer. He was one of the first two people known to reach the su ...

. Hillary is amongst the best known and most revered New Zealanders and was a life member of the NZAC. Other NZAC members have completed first ascents in many mountain areas, including in the Himalayas, Antarctica and the Andes.Colin Monteath, ''Hall and Ball: Kiwi mountaineers'', Hedgehog HousePhilip Temple, ''The world at their feet'', Whitcombe and Tombs New Zealand is a very mountainous country, and mountaineering has long been popular in New Zealand.Graeme Dingle, ''Dingle: Discovering the sense in adventure'', Craig Potton PublishingNorman Hardie, ''On my own two feet'', Canterbury University Press The mountaineering opportunities focus particularly on the

Southern Alps The Southern Alps (; officially Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana) is a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand's South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the range's western side. The name "Southern ...

which run the length of the South Island, but also include other ranges such as the Kaikouras, Arrowsmiths and the North Island volcanoes

Mount Taranaki Mount Taranaki (), also known as Mount Egmont, is a dormant stratovolcano in the Taranaki region on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. It is the second highest point in the North Island, after Mount Ruapehu. The mountain has a seco ...

and Mounts Ruapehu,

Ngauruhoe Mount Ngāuruhoe (also spelled Ngauruhoe; Māori: ''Ngāuruhoe'') is a volcanic cone in New Zealand. It is the youngest vent in the Tongariro stratovolcano complex on the Central Plateau of the North Island and first erupted about 2,500 ...

and

Tongariro Mount Tongariro (; ) is a compound volcano in the Taupō Volcanic Zone of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located to the southwest of Lake Taupō, and is the northernmost of the three active volcanoes that dominate the landscape of th ...

. Rock climbing attracts many participants in New Zealand and the varied topography and rock types provide opportunities for rock climbing within some cities such as

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, Christchurch and

, and within an hours drive of most cities in New Zealand. Ice climbing, bouldering,

sport climbing Sport climbing (or Bolted climbing) is a form of rock climbing that relies on permanent anchors (or bolts), permanently fixed into the rock for climber protection, in which a rope that is attached to the climber is clipped into the anchors to ...

and

trad climbing Traditional climbing (or Trad climbing) is a style of rock climbing in which the climber places all the necessary protection gear required to arrest any falls as they are climbing, and then removes it when the pitch is complete (often done b ...

are all well established.

References

External links

New Zealand Alpine ClubThe Climber magazineEvery climb in New Zealand onlineNational Indoor Bouldering SeriesNew Zealand Alpine Journal online
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Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

Alpine clubs 1891 establishments in New Zealand