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 MemberSymposia
Below is a list of Alpine Club Symposia.
Organised by members of The Alpine Club, events focus on the mountains of a particular area, or on a specific aspect of mountaineering. Each symposium runs for a whole day and is typically held at a weekend in the Lake District, North Wales or the Peak District. During the day experts on the subject, including top mountaineers from around the world, give a series of illustrated presentations, creating an event that is both informative and inspiring. Take a look at the impressive list of speakers at recent and forthcoming symposia to see why these events are so popular. The symposia are usually open to members at a discount, as well as non-members.
Symposia are particularly useful for anyone planning an expedition or looking for new places to visit. Many expeditions have started in the bar after a symposium; but be warned: these events can be dangerously inspirational!
Events Calendar
Brian will tell the story of climbing through the 1970’s and 80’s and look particularly at his memories of eleven friends he climbed with including Alan Rouse, Paul Nunn, Joe Tasker, Pete Thexton, Georges Bettembourg, Mike Geddes, Alex MacIntyre, John Whittle, John Syrett, Sam Cochrane and Roger Baxter-Jones.
He will start with rock climbing at Leeds University, getting to grips with the hard game of mountaineering in Scotland, the Alps in winter and then Patagonia and the Andes. He then went to Nepal on expeditions to Jannu, Nuptse, Everest in winter, Ogre 2 and K2.
He asks why they took such risks and remembers his times with these friends with fondness, celebrating their achievements and looking back at a very different world than today. An epoch that marked the change from heavyweight expeditions to fast and ‘light’ alpine style. They thought it was a safer way to climb but in the end the statistics show otherwise.
The talk summarises Brian's new book of the same name that will be available for sale on the night.
