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 The Roof of the World or Top of the World is a metaphoric epithet or phrase used to describe the highest region in the world, also known as High Asia. The term usually refers to the mountainous interior of Asia, including the Pamirs, the Himalay ...

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 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 P ...

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 The golden age of alpinism was the decade in mountaineering between Alfred Wills's ascent of the Wetterhorn in 1854 and Edward Whymper's ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865, during which many major peaks in the Alps saw their first ascents. Promi ...

(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 William Cecil Slingsby (1849–1929) was an English mountain climber and alpine explorer born in Bell Busk, near Gargrave, Yorkshire. In 1863 his family moved to Carleton where they opened a cotton spinning and weaving mill which operated for ...

's influential book, ''

Norway, the Northern Playground ''Norway, the Northern Playground: Sketches of Climbing and Mountain Exploration in Norway between 1872 and 1903'' is a 1904 book on mountaineering in Norway by British mountaineer William Cecil Slingsby. The book tells the story of the first asce ...

''. 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

, 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 The Ladies' Alpine Club was founded in London, England in 1907 and was the first mountaineering club for women. It merged with the Alpine Club of Great Britain in 1975. History In December 1907 a group of ladies who were climbers in the Alps m ...

was agreed, and the Club thus gained about 150 new members.

George Band George Christopher Band (2 February 1929 – 26 August 2011) was an English mountaineer. He was the youngest climber on the 1953 British expedition to Mount Everest on which Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to ascend the mou ...

, ''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

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 Sir Alfred Wills (11 December 1828 – 9 August 1912) was a judge of the High Court of England and Wales and a well-known mountaineer. He was the third President of the Alpine Club, from 1863 to 1865. Early life Wills was the second son of W ...

*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 Thomas Woodbine Hinchliff (5 December 1825 – 8 May 1882) was an English mountaineer, traveller, and author, from 1875 to 1877 the seventh President of the Alpine Club. After qualifying as a barrister, Hinchliff abandoned the law and took to a ...

*1878–1880: Charles Matthews *1881–1883:

Thomas George Bonney Thomas George Bonney (27 July 1833 – 10 December 1923) was an English geologist, president of the Geological Society of London. Career Bonney was born in Rugeley, Staffordshire, England, the eldest son of the Reverend Thomas Bonney, headm ...

*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 Clinton Thomas Dent FRCS (7 December 1850 – 26 August 1912) was an English surgeon, author and mountaineer. Early life The fourth surviving son of Thomas Dent, he was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge. Alpinism Alongsi ...

*1890–1892:

Horace Walker Horace Walker (1838–1908) was an English mountaineer who made many notable first ascents, including Mount Elbrus and the Grandes Jorasses. Alpinism Born in 1838, Walker was the son of Liverpool lead merchant and mountaineer Francis Walker ( ...

*1893–1895:

Douglas Freshfield Douglas William Freshfield (27 April 1845 – 9 February 1934) was a British lawyer, mountaineer and author, who edited the ''Alpine Journal ''from 1872 to 1880. He was president of both the Royal Geographical Society and the Alpine Club. He was ...

*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 The Bishop of Bristol heads the Church of England Diocese of Bristol in the Province of Canterbury, in England. The present diocese covers parts of the counties of Somerset and Gloucestershire together with a small area of Wiltshire. The see ...

*1908–1910: Hermann Wooley *1911–1913: W. E. Davison *1914–1916: William Pickford *1917–1919:

John Percy Farrar Captain John Percy Farrar (25 December 1857 – 18 February 1929), also known as Percy Farrar and as J. P. Farrar, was an English soldier and mountaineer. He was President of the Alpine Club from 1917 to 1919 and a member of the Mount Everest ...

*1920–1922: J. Norman Collie *1923–1925:

Charles Granville Bruce Brigadier-General The Honourable Charles Granville Bruce, Order of the Bath, CB, Royal Victorian Order, MVO (7 April 1866 – 12 July 1939) was a veteran Himalayas, Himalayan mountaineer and leader of the 1922 British Mount Everest expedition, s ...

*1926–1928: Sir George Henry Morse *1929–1931: Claude Wilson *1932–1934: Sir John Withers *1935–1937:

Edward Lisle Strutt Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Lisle Strutt, CBE, DSO (8 February 1874 – 7 July 1948) was a British soldier and mountaineer, and President of the Alpine Club from 1935 to 1938. After a distinguished military career he defended classical mountaineeri ...

*1938–1940: Sir Claud Schuster GCB (later Lord Schuster) *1941–1943:

Geoffrey Winthrop Young Geoffrey Winthrop Young (25 October 1876 – 8 September 1958) was a British climber, poet and educator, and author of several notable books on mountaineering. Young was born in Kensington, the middle son of Sir George Young, 3rd Baronet, a n ...

*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 Tom George Longstaff (15 January 1875 – 26 June 1964) was an English medical doctor, explorer and mountaineer, most famous for being the first person to climb a summit of over 7,000 metres in elevation, Trisul, in the India/Pakistan Himalay ...

*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 Theodore Howard Somervell OBE, FRCS (16 April 1890 – 23 January 1975) was an English surgeon, mountaineer, painter and missionary who was a member of two expeditions to Mount Everest in the 1920s, and then spent nearly 40 years working ...

*1965–1967:

Eric Shipton Eric Earle Shipton, CBE (1 August 1907 – 28 March 1977), was an English Himalayan mountaineer. Early years Shipton was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1907 where his father, a tea planter, died before he was three years old. When he was e ...

*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:

*1990–1992: Lieutenant Colonel H. R. A. Streather ' Tony Streather' *1993–1995: Mike Westmacott *1996–1998:

Sir Chris Bonington Sir Christian John Storey Bonington, CVO, CBE, DL (born 6 August 1934) is a British mountaineer. His career has included nineteen expeditions to the Himalayas, including four to Mount Everest. Early life and expeditions Bonington's father, w ...

*1999–2001:

Doug Scott Douglas Keith Scott (29 May 19417 December 2020) was an English Mountaineering, mountaineer and climbing author, noted for being on the team that made the 1975 British Mount Everest Southwest Face expedition, first ascent of the south-west fac ...

*2002–2004:

Alan Blackshaw Alan Blackshaw OBE (7 April 1933 – 4 August 2011) was an English mountaineer, skier and civil servant who was President of the Alpine Club from 2001 to 2004 and President of the Ski Club of Great Britain from 1997 to 2003. Early life Blackshaw ...

*2005–2007:

Stephen Venables Stephen Venables (born 2 May 1954) is a British mountaineer and writer, and is a past president of the South Georgia Association and of the Alpine Club (UK), Alpine Club. He is the first Briton to ascend the summit of Mount Everest without bottle ...

*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 Savile Row (pronounced ) is a street in Mayfair, central London. Known principally for its traditional bespoke tailoring for men, the street has had a varied history that has included accommodating the headquarters of the Royal Geographical ...

, and in June 1907, the Scottish artist

Sholto Johnstone Douglas Robert Sholto Johnstone Douglas (3 December 1871 – 10 March 1958), known as Sholto Douglas, or more formally as Sholto Johnstone Douglas, was a Scottish figurative artist, a painter chiefly of portraits and landscapes. In 1895, he stood surety ...

held an exhibition of his portraits at the Club. From 1937 to 1990 the club was based at 74,

South Audley Street South Audley Street is a major shopping street in Mayfair, London.'South Audley Street: Introduction', in Survey of London: Volume 40, the Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 2 (The Buildings), ed. F H W Sheppard (London, 1980), pp. 290–291. Bri ...

, 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 The pronoun ''who'', in English language, English, is an English interrogative words, interrogative pronoun and a English relative words, relative pronoun, used primarily to refer to persons. Unmarked, ''who'' is the pronoun's subjective form; ...

'' 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