The Alpine Club, the world’s first mountaineering club, was founded in 1857.  For over 150 years, members have been at the leading edge of worldwide mountaineering development and exploration. 

With membership, experienced and aspiring alpinists benefit from a varied meets programme, regional lectures with notable guest speakers, reduced rates at many alpine huts, opportunity to apply for grants to support expeditions, significant discounts at many UK retailers, extensive networking contacts, access to the AC Library and maps - and more! 

Becoming a Member
 

The Club House

The club house is at members' disposal from 8:30am to 5:00pm, five days a week and is open later on those nights when there is a lecture.
 
As well as the Club office, which is there to assist with any inquiries that members may have, the Club's other facilities such as the library, bunk room, bar and lecture theatre are also available for members either on request or during their own opening hours.
 
For more information on individual facilities, please see the details below and their respective web pages.
 
If you'd like to visit us, you can find detailed travel instructions and our full address on the Contact Us page.
 

The Library

The Library was founded in 1858, in the first year of the Club. In 1972 it was established as a separate charitable trust, managed by trustees appointed by the British Mountaineering Council, the Royal Geographical Society and the Alpine Club.

Diaries, correspondence, and press cuttings are welcomed as gifts or deposits to the Archives. The Honorary Treasurer of the Library will readily advise on procedure for making bequests and tax-effective covenanted donations.

Available in paper format are a number of 1:50,000 maps of the Indian Himalaya. These are only available for use in the AC Library, but may be copied.

Bunk Room

The Club provides comfortable bunkroom accommodation in central London. Members can stay in our bunkroom for free from Monday to Thursday when travelllng on behalf of the Club or on mountaineering business. Four bunk beds are available for use by members. Please bring a sleeping bag and towel.

To arrange your booking, please contact the Office Manager at the AC. Keys can be collected during office hours.

(Please note that the bunkroom at the Club House is a benefit strictly for the use of Alpine Club members)

Lecture Theatre Rental

The ground floor Lecture Theatre seats up to 60 people and is a quiet, spacious and comfortable venue. It is the perfect choice for daytime meetings, lectures, presentations and events and is available at a very competitive rate of £250 per day excl VAT. Enquiries should be made to the Office Manager by telephone on 020 7613 0755 or by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..