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:
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, services for outdoorsmen, and de facto regulation of local mountaineering resources and behavior of mountaineers. Most clubs organize social events, schedule outings, stage climbing competitions, operate alpine huts and paths, and are active in protecting the alpine environment.
With around 1,000,000 members the German Alpine Club is usually reckoned as the largest alpine club in the world.
Club | Abbreviation | Country | Founded |
---|---|---|---|
Alpine Club of Pakistan | ACP | Pakistan | 1974 |
Alpine Club Prishtina | KAP | Kosovo | 2013 [1] |
Clube Alpino Paulista | CAP | Brazil | 1959 [2] |
Academic Alpine Club of Innsbruck | AAKI | Austria | 1893 [3] |
Academic Alpine Association of Innsbruck | AAVI | Austria | 1900 [4] |
Academic Alpine Club of Munich | AAVM | Germany | 1892 |
South Tyrol Alpine Club | AVS | Italy | 1946 (1869-1923: part of OeAV, banned after 1923) |
Alpine Club | AC | United Kingdom | 1857/58 |
Alpine Club of Canada | ACC | Canada | 1906 |
Alpine Club of Haller | AGH | Austria | 1905 |
Alpine Club of Krummholz | AGK | Austria | 1879 |
Alpine Club of Peilsteiner | AG? | Austria | 1894 |
Alpine Club of Preintaler | AGP | Austria | 1885 |
Alpine Club of Reißtaler [5] | AGR | Austria | 1881 |
Alpine Association of Berne [6] | AVB | Switzerland | 1909 |
American Alpine Club | AAC | United States | 1902 |
Alpine Club at CU | CUAC | United States | 2001 |
Andean German Club | DAV Santiago | Chile | 1924 |
Appalachian Mountain Club | AMC | United States | 1876 |
Armenian Mountaineering and Hiking Federation | AMHF | Armenia | 2011 |
Associazione Sentieri Alpini Calanca | ASAC | Switzerland | 1978 |
Australian Alpine Club | AAC | Australia | 1950 [7] |
Barts and the London Alpine Club [8] | BLAC | United Kingdom | 1941 |
Belgian Alpine Club | BAC CAB | Belgium | 1883 |
California Alpine Club | CAC | United States | 1913 |
Carpathian Association of Hungary (Magyarországi Kárpát Egyesület) [9] | MKE | Kingdom of Hungary | 1873 |
Club Alpin Monégasque | CAM | Monaco | 1911 |
Club Alpin Français | CAF | France | 1874 |
Club Alpino Italiano | CAI | Italy | 1863 |
Clubul Alpin Român | CAR | Romania | 1934 |
Colorado Mountain Club | CMC | United States | 1912 |
Crimean-Caucasian Mountaineering Club | CCMC | Russia | 1890 [10] |
Delftsche Studenten Alpen Club | DSC | Netherland | 1922 |
Den Norske Turistforening | DNT | Norway | 1886 |
Excelsior Alpine Club | Excelsior | Hungary | 1966 |
German Alpine Club (Deutscher Alpenverein) | DAV | Germany | 1869 |
German Hiking Club of Valparaiso | DAV | Chile | 1909 [11] |
Kiama Alpine Club | KAC | Australia | 1957 [12] |
Kiandra Pioneer Ski Club | KPSC | Australia | 1861 [13] |
Kosciusko Alpine Club | KAC | Australia | 1909 [14] |
Federación Española de Deportes de Montaña y Escalada | FEDME | Spain | 1922 |
Fédération des Clubs Alpins Académiques de Suisse Association of Academic Alpine Clubs of Switzerland
| FCAAS | Switzerland | 1983 |
Fédération française de la montagne et de l’escalade | FFME | France | 1942 |
Federazione alpinistica ticinese | FAT | Switzerland | 1965 |
Groupe Alpin Luxembourgeois | GAL | Luxembourg | 1955 |
Groupe de Haute Montagne | GHM | France | 1919 |
Climbing Interest Group (Interessengemeinschaft Klettern) | IG Klettern | Germany | 1989 |
Icelandic Alpine Club [19] | ÍSALP | Iceland | 1977 |
Japanese Alpine Club | JAC | Japan | 1905 |
Ladies' Alpine Club | LAC | United Kingdom | 1907 to 1975 Merged with AC |
Liechtenstein Alpine Club | LAV | Liechtenstein | 1946 (1909 DuÖAV branch) |
Austrian Friends of Nature (Naturfreunde Österreich) | NFÖ, TVN | Austria | 1895 |
Nederlandse Klim- en Bergsport Vereniging | NKBV | Netherlands | 1902/1998 |
New Zealand Alpine Club | NZAC | New Zealand | 1891 |
Österreichische Bergsteigervereinigung | ÖBV | Austria | 1907 |
Austrian Alpine Club (Österreichischer Alpenklub) | ÖAK | Austria | 1878 |
Austrian Alpine Club (Österreichischer Alpenverein) | OeAV | Austria | 1862 |
Austrian Tourist Club (Österreichischer Touristenklub) | ÖTK | Austria | 1869 |
Austrian Tourist Association (Österreichischer Touristenverein) | ÖTV | Austria | 1908 |
Alpine Association of Slovenia (Planinska zveza Slovenije) | PZS | Slovenia | 1893 |
Ljubljana Matica Alpine Club (Planinsko društvo Ljubljana-Matica) | PD LM | Slovenia | 1945 |
Polski Związek Alpinizmu | PZA | Poland | 1974 |
Swiss Alpine Club | SAC CAS | Switzerland | 1863 |
Skagit Alpine Club | SAC | United States | 1960 |
Swiss Ladies' Alpine Club | SFAC | Switzerland | 1918 to 1979 Merged mit SAC |
Società Alpinistica Ticinese | SAT | Switzerland | 1937 |
Società Escursionistica Verzaschese | SEV | Switzerland | 1983 |
Société des Touristes du Dauphiné | STD | France | 1875 |
Southern Alps Ski Club | SASC | Australia | 1935 [20] |
Svenska Turistföreningen | STF | Sweden | 1885 |
Türkiye Dağcılık Federasyonu | TDF | Turkey | 1936 (predecessor 1928) [21] |
Unione Ticinese Operai Esccursionisti | UTOE | Switzerland | 1919 |
Israel Climbers Club | ICC | Israel | 1939 |
Mazamas | MAZ | United States | 1894 |
Damavand mountaineering and ski club | DMSC | Iran | 1953 |
The Mountaineers | United States | 1906 | |
Washington Alpine Club | WAC | United States | 1916 |
Centro Excursionista Brasileiro | CEB | Brazil | 1919 [22] |
Círculo Marumbinista de Curitiba | CMC | Brazil | 1930 [23] |
The Alps are the highest and most extensive mountain range that is entirely in Europe, stretching approximately 1,200 km (750 mi) across eight Alpine countries : Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia.
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.
The Silvretta Alps are a mountain range of the Central Eastern Alps shared by Tirol, Vorarlberg and Graubünden (Switzerland). The Austrian states of Tirol and Vorarlberg are connected by a pass road. The majority of the peaks are elevated above three thousand metres and are surrounded by glaciers. Thus, the area is also known as the "Blue Silvretta".
A crampon is a traction device attached to footwear to improve mobility on snow and ice during ice climbing. Besides ice climbing, crampons are also used for secure travel on snow and ice, such as crossing glaciers, snowfields and icefields, ascending snow slopes, and scaling ice-covered rock.
The Austrian Alpine Club has about 573,000 members in 196 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 over 26,000 kilometres of footpaths, and produces detailed maps of key mountain areas within Austria. Much of this work is done by the association's 22,000 volunteers. The association has a museum in Innsbruck dedicated to the history of alpinism. It also has sections in Belgium and the United Kingdom, and a group in Poland.
Mark Twight is an American climber, writer and the founder of Gym Jones. He rose to prominence as a mountaineer in the late 1980s and early 1990s with a series of difficult, dangerous alpine climbs in various ranges around the world. His radical, light-weight approach to alpinism has seen him regarded as an influential figure in the single-push movement.
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 and the Greater Ranges of the world's mountains.
Tourists are drawn to Switzerland's diverse landscape as well as the available activities, which take advantage of the Alpine climate and landscapes, in particular skiing and mountaineering.
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.
The Swiss Alpine Club is the largest mountaineering club in Switzerland. It was founded in 1863 in Olten and it is now composed of 111 sections with 160,000 members (2020). These include the Association of British Members of the Swiss Alpine Club.
Climbing, or alpine, clubs form to promote and preserve the climbing way of life, including rock climbing, ice climbing, alpinism & ski mountaineering.
Captain John Percy Farrar, 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 Committee. Farrar's obituary in The Times stated that he 'was known by repute to every one interested in mountaineering in England and on the Continent, and his personal friends at home and abroad were legion'.
Robert Lock Graham Irving, was an English schoolmaster, climbing writer and mountaineer. As an author, he used the name R. L. G. Irving, while to his friends he was Graham Irving. He is noted for being the person who introduced George Mallory to mountaineering.
Stefan Winter is a German ski mountaineer, former coach of the German ski mountaineering team, and alpine sports author.
The Spanish Federation for Mountain and Climbing Sports located in the Floridablanca 84 in Barcelona, is the Spanish federation of mountain and climbing sports. It was founded under the name Federación Española de Alpinismo on July 1, 1922, and renamed to Federación de Montañismo later. As of 2022, the federation has 2,976 registered clubs and 289,605 federated members.
The French Federation of Mountaineering and Climbing, located in Paris, is the French federation of mountain and climbing sports, especially of non-motorized alpine sports like mountaineering, canyoning, climbing, mountain touring and hiking, snowshoe hiking and ski mountaineering. The FFME is member of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee. The foundation of the FFME in 1987 was the result of the fusion of the French Federation of Mountaineering, founded in 1942 by the high commissariat of sports in addition to the existing Club Alpin Français (CAF), and the climbing association French Federation of Climbing, which was founded in 1985. A further fusion of the FFME and the CAF in the beginning 2000s failed.
The German Alpine Club 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 competition climbing, hiking, mountaineering, hill walking, ice climbing, mountain expeditions, as well as ski mountaineering. It is an association made up of local branches known as 'sections'.
A high mountain tour is extended multi-day hiking and scrambling that takes place in the higher-altitude zone that is covered by ice all year round, the nival zone. High mountain tours require special additional preparation and equipment to the standard hiking and scrambling requirements.
Alpine climbing is a type of mountaineering that involves using any of a broad range of advanced climbing skills, including rock climbing, ice climbing, and/or mixed climbing, to summit typically large routes in an alpine environment. While alpine climbing began in the European Alps, it is used to refer to climbing in any remote mountainous area, including in the Himalayas and in Patagonia. The derived term alpine style refers to the fashion of alpine climbing to be in small lightly-equipped teams who carry all of their own equipment, and do all of the climbing.