Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports in their own right. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, and bouldering are also considered variants of mountaineering by some, but are part of a wide group of mountain sports.
Scrambling is a mountaineering term for ascending steep terrain using one's hands to assist in holds and balance. "A scramble" is a related term, denoting terrain that could be ascended in this way. It can be described as being between hiking and rock climbing.
The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) is the national representative body for England and Wales that exists to protect the freedoms and promote the interests of climbers, hill walkers and mountaineers, including ski-mountaineers. The BMC are also recognised by government as the national governing body for competition climbing.
Joseph Brown was an English mountaineer who was regarded as an outstanding pioneer of rock climbing during the 1950s and early 1960s. Together with his early climbing partner, Don Whillans, he was one of a new breed of British post-war climbers who came from working class backgrounds in contrast to the upper and middle class professionals who had dominated the sport up to the Second World War. He became the first person to climb the third-highest mountain in the world when he was on the 1955 British Kangchenjunga expedition. Some of his climbs were televised and he assisted with mountaineering scenes in several films; Brown died on 15 April 2020 at the age of 89.
Established in 1889, the Scottish Mountaineering Club is a club for climbing and mountaineering in Scotland.
Geoffrey Winthrop Young was a British climber, poet and educator, and author of several notable books on mountaineering.
A mountain hut is a building located high in the mountains, generally accessible only by foot, intended to provide food and shelter to mountaineers, climbers and hikers. Mountain huts are usually operated by an Alpine Club or some organization dedicated to hiking or mountain recreation. They are known by many names, including alpine hut, mountain shelter, mountain refuge, mountain lodge, and mountain hostel. It may also be called a refuge hut, although these occur in lowland areas too.
Donald Desbrow Whillans was an English rock climber and mountaineer. He climbed with Joe Brown and Chris Bonington on many new routes, and was considered the technical equal of both.
John Elvis Harlin II was an American alpinist and US Air Force pilot who was killed while making an ascent of the north face of the Eiger.
Oscar Johannes Ludwig Eckenstein was an English rock climber and mountaineer, and a pioneer in the sport of bouldering. Inventor of the modern crampon, he was an innovator in climbing technique and mountaineering equipment, and the leader of the first serious expedition to attempt K2.
The Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) is an amateur athletic association with its national office in Canmore, Alberta that has been a focal point for Canadian mountaineering since its founding in 1906. The club was co-founded by Arthur Oliver Wheeler, who served as its first president, and Elizabeth Parker, a journalist for the Manitoba Free Press. Byron Harmon, whose 6500+ photographs of the Canadian Rockies in the early 20th century provide the best glimpse of the area at that time, was official photographer to the club at its founding. The club is the leading organization in Canada devoted to climbing, mountain culture, and issues related to alpine pursuits and ecology. It is also the Canadian regulatory organization for climbing competition, sanctioning local, regional and national events, and assembling, coaching and supporting the national team.
The Fell & Rock Climbing Club is the senior climbing club covering the English Lake District. It was founded in 1906–1907 and, amongst its other activities, publishes rock climbing guides to the area. It owns many of the early climbing photographs taken by George & Ashley Abraham, who were founding members.
The Irish Mountaineering Club is a mountaineering club whose activities include climbing. The club has over 200 members.
The Rucksack Club was founded in Manchester in 1902 and has a current membership of well over 500 men and women. According to the Rules, "The purpose of the Club is to encourage mountaineering, climbing and hill walking and bring together all those who are interested in these pursuits."
The New Zealand Alpine Club (NZAC) was founded in 1891 and is one of the oldest alpine clubs 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. It has over 4000 members who are spread across twelve sections, eleven in New Zealand and one in Australia, plus members in other countries. It runs a national office based in Christchurch.
Climbing, or alpine, clubs form to promote and preserve the climbing way of life, including rock climbing, ice climbing, alpinism & ski mountaineering.
The Wayfarers' Club is a senior mountaineering club founded in Liverpool, England, in 1906.
West Bromwich Mountaineering Club (WBMC) is one of the oldest and most active climbing and hill-walking clubs in the West Midlands. It meets at "The Red Lion" in All Saints Way, West Bromwich on Thursday nights, where from October to April it holds a series of illustrated mountaineering talks on the second Thursday of the month. It has a membership of around 200 and every month runs a coach to a mountainous region in England or Wales, on which seats are available to its members and the general public on a 'first come - first served' basis and also maintains a members-only hut in the Nant Gwynant valley. It affiliated to the British Mountaineering Council in 2003 and became a Community Association Sports Club (CASC) in 2005.
The Pinnacle Club is a women's rock climbing club based in the United Kingdom, founded in 1921.
Kenneth John Wilson was a British writer, publisher and editor of books and magazines about climbing and mountaineering. The British Mountaineering Council's Summit Magazine described him as "one of the most influential voices in British climbing". In 1974 he edited and contributed to the first editions of the book Hard Rock which The Guardian considered was "among the most influential climbing books of the 20th century."
