Established in 1889, the Scottish Mountaineering Club is a club for climbing and mountaineering in Scotland.
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Established in 1889, the Scottish Mountaineering Club is a club for climbing and mountaineering in Scotland.
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The Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) was formed in Glasgow Scotland, in March 1889, as one of Scotland's first mountaineering clubs. [1] The club was initially proposed by William Wilson Naismith, a Scottish accountant and mountaineer, who published a letter in the Glasgow Herald in January of 1889 that suggested establishing a Scottish version of the Alpine Club. [2] [3] According to club records, the object of the SMC was:
To encourage mountaineering in Scotland in winter as well as summer; to serve as a bond of union amongst all lovers of mountain climbing; to create facilities for exploring the less known parts of the country; to collect various kinds of information, especially as regards routes, distances, means of access, time occupied in ascents, character of rocks, extent of snow in winter, etc., and in general to promote everything that will conduce to the convenience of those who take a pleasure in mountains and mountain scenery.
— Objects of the Club, http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/smcj/smc1894.htm
The purpose of the SMC was to document the exploration of the Scottish Highlands and its local flora and fauna. Soon after its inception, the SMC began publishing the Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal in 1890. [4] The Journal provided their members and other alpine groups with lists of accommodations, guidebooks and maps of climbing areas. [5]
In 1945, the SMC joined the British Mountaineer Council, a coalition of 25 alpine climbing clubs. The Club was responsible for overseeing the whole of Scotland. [5]
In addition to climbing, the SMC promotes the wider interests of mountaineering in Scotland. 3 May 1963, the Club established the Scottish Mountaineering Trust (SMT), a charity, to promote and support health, education and recreation in the mountains of Scotland and elsewhere. [6] The SMT is supported by the proceeds of guidebooks and other publications and donates back to groups, projects and individuals with the scientific or educational objectives of wildlife conservation and management. [7] As of 2019 the Trust recontributed over 1.5 million euros. [7]
SMT also operates and maintains five mountain huts which can be booked by members and other clubs from the UK and abroad. These huts are strategically placed near scenery in mountaineering areas in Scotland. [8]
A subsidiary of the SMT is the Scottish Mountaineering Press (SMP), a publishing company, launched in 2020, [9] that prints previous and current publications of the SMC. In 2022, the Press released the Scottish Mountaineering Press Creatives, a nonprofit, digital publication that produces online content for artists and authors. [9] All profits from these publications are disbursed by the Trust as grants. The largest area of expenditure has been in supporting footpath repair and maintenance in the Scottish Mountains, [10] [11] although substantial support is also given to mountain rescue teams for equipment, facilities, mountaineering education and training, especially that aimed at young people. [12]
Original membership to the club was strictly limited to elite male society. There were less than 100 founding members of the club. According to the 1894 Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal, to qualify for membership, a candidate had to list their Scottish ascents as proof of their climbing accomplishment, submit a statement of their "contributions to science, art or literature in connection with Scottish mountains", and be sponsored by two members. [13]
Women were first admitted to the Club in 1990. [14]
Today, the SMC consists of competent climbers and mountaineers, both men and women, who have a commitment to climbing in Scotland. According to their official website, the criteria for membership in the SMC includes documented experience climbing in Scotland, in all seasons, over various types of terrains, with 50 or more ascents over 3,000 feet (910 m). The application encourages participation in SMC projects or charities as well as a list of personal contributions to the arts and sciences. It must contain the sponsorship of a current member along with three other member references. [15] There are around 500 members currently. [15]
Some members are at the forefront of Scottish mountaineering developments:
"Compleator" is the term that is bestowed upon someone by the SMC who has climbed all of the Munro mountains by the "Clerk of the Lists". [27] Compleat is an archaic spelling of the word complete. While complete means having all the required elements or skills, compleat has come to have its own distinct meaning, that of quintessential or perfectly representative. [28] The usage of the designation "Compleators" by the SMC is traditional. [29]
The SMC keeps a list of those who wish to record their compleation of the Munros and, As of 9 October 2023, there are 7,581 who have compleated. [27] It also maintains Hill Lists for the Munro Tops, Furths, Corbetts and Donalds. [30]
Through the Trust and its imprint, Scottish Mountaineering Press, [31] the Club produces and publishes the definitive Climbers' Guides to Scotland's mountains and outcrops (17 books), the authoritative guides for hill-walkers and scramblers in Scotland (12 books) and a further 12 books on the Scottish mountain environment, its history and its culture, plus an annual Journal, copies of which are free to download from the Club's website. The Munros Guide is the bestseller.[ citation needed ]
The Club's library is held within the Andersonian Library at the University of Strathclyde Archives and Special Collections. It contains historical and current publications by the Scottish Mountaineering Club and Scottish Mountaineering Trust from 1707 to date. [32] In addition, there is a large collection of historical images relating to early SMC members and mountaineering in Scotland. According to SMC, the collection includes "books on: technical and philosophical aspects of mountaineering, climbing, skiing, hill walking and other outdoor pursuits; fiction and literature; biographies and autobiographies; travel and exploration from across the world which includes an extensive collection of Scottish texts; history of mountaineering; antiquarian collection of 18th century Scottish travel and tour books". [33]
Extensive archives can also be found at the National Library of Scotland. [34]
A Munro is defined as a mountain in Scotland with a height over 3,000 feet (914.4 m), and which is on the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) official list of Munros; there is no explicit topographical prominence requirement. The best known Munro is Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles at 4,411 ft.
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.
Peak bagging or hill bagging is an activity in which hikers, climbers, and mountaineers attempt to reach a collection of summits, published in the form of a list. This activity has been popularized around the world, with lists such as 100 Peaks of Taiwan, four-thousand footers, 100 Famous Japanese Mountains, the Sacred Mountains of China, the Seven Summits, the Fourteeners of Colorado, and the eight-thousanders becoming the subject of mass public interest.
Ben Lawers is the highest mountain in the Breadalbane region of the Scottish Highlands. It lies north of Loch Tay and is the highest peak of the 'Ben Lawers group', a ridge that includes six other Munros: Beinn Ghlas, Meall Garbh, Meall Corranaich, An Stùc, Meall Greigh and Meall a' Choire Leith. It is also the highest peak in Perthshire, and the tenth highest Munro in Scotland. Ben Lawers was long thought to be over 4,000 feet in height; accurate measurement in the 1870s showed it to be 3,983 feet (1,214 m).
Harold Andrew Raeburn was a Scottish mountaineer. He was one of the most prominent British mountaineers of his era with several first ascents. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries he took part in numerous ascents in Norway, contributing to the popularization of Norwegian mountaineering among the international mountaineering community. Some of his regular mountaineering partners in Norway were William Cecil Slingsby, Howard Priestman and Norwegians Kristian Tandberg and George Paus. He was mountaineering leader on the initial 1921 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition.
Sgorr Ruadh is a mountain between Strath Carron and Glen Torridon in Wester Ross in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. It is located in Coire Lair near Achnashellach along with two other mountains, Beinn Liath Mhòr and Fuar Tholl, and is often climbed together with one or both of these other mountains.
Dave Hewitt is editor of The Angry Corrie, a hillwalking magazine. He is editor in chief of TACit Press, author of Walking the Watershed, his account of the first continuous walking of the Scottish watershed, editor of A Bit of Grit on Haystacks, a celebration of the life of Alfred Wainwright, and editor of the Sport and Outdoor sections of the online Scottish newspaper Caledonian Mercury.
Sgùrr Fhuaran is a Scottish mountain that is situated on the northern side of Glen Shiel, 23 kilometres (14 mi) east south east of Kyle of Lochalsh.
Chno Dearg is a mountain in the Lochaber area of the Scottish Highlands. It overlooks Glen Spean to the north and Loch Treig to the west. With a height of 1,046 metres (3,432 ft), it is classed as a Munro.
Mullach Fraoch-choire is a 1,102-metre (3,615 ft) mountain – a Munro – in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland on a ridge extending north for 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) between Loch Cluanie in Glenmoriston and upper Glen Affric. It is within the Glen Affric National Scenic Area and Glen Affric National Nature Reserve.
John Morton MacKenzie (1856–1933) was a Gaelic speaking crofter from Sconser on the Island of Skye and Britain’s first professional mountain guide.
Andrew Nisbet was a Scottish mountaineer, mountain guide, climbing instructor, and editor of climbing guidebooks. Regarded as a pioneer of mixed rock and ice climbing techniques, he built a 45-year reputation as an innovator by developing over 1,000 new winter climbing routes in Scotland, of which 150 were at Grade V, or above.
Martin Moran was a British climber, mountain guide and author. In 1985, he became the first person to climb all the Munros during a single winter excursion. In 1993, he and his climbing partner became the first people to make a continuous traverse of all the Alpine 4,000-metre mountains in a single continuous trip, and without using any form of motorised transport. He created over a hundred new winter climbing routes in Scotland, and made a number of first ascents in the Himalayas. Moran died whilst leading a mountaineering expedition in India.