Expeditions
The Alpine Club, the world's first mountaineering club, has members from around the world. Since it was founded in 1857, members have been at the leading edge of worldwide mountaineering development and exploration. We aim to be the club of choice for all mountaineers, providing a forum for sharing experiences and information.
Alpine Club members are constantly researching, organising and participating in expeditions to mountains around the world, so it will come as no surprise to find that amongst our members there is a massive wealth of knowledge about remote areas and expedition organisation. The Alpine Club provides a number of resources that will be useful for those planning or researching expeditions. This page provides links to these resources, and to other sites that are invaluable to expedition planners.
Alpine Club Expeditions
The Alpine Club organises annual expeditions, which are often to remote and little-known mountain areas. These expeditions are open to all members, subject to qualifying criteria and numbers. They can be subsidised by the Montane Alpine Club Climbing Fund. This fund also supports expeditions privately organised by club members. .
Read more about Expedition Reports
Many expeditions will have been awarded Mount Everest Foundation grants and provided reports. There are some details on the MEF website but the MEF does not hold actual copies. These are distributed to the AC and the organisations listed below (but not the Kew archives).
Royal Geographical Society
The RGS holds copies of all MEF reports as well as many others. Searching is very straightforward and summaries are provided. Reports cover the period 1965 onwards and are very comprehensive. They can be consulted by visiting the RGS library, or copies can be e-mailed.
National Archives at Kew
Not the easiest source of information. The National Archives holds many older documents deposited there from multiple sources.
British Mountaineering Council
This is still in beta form but has some impressive features. It is easy to search although not comprehensive. It includes summaries, and you can download many complete reports as PDFs. The BMC is currently the only readily available source of this information. The AC is working towards publishng a comprehenve expeditions database which will be be available on-line in due course.
Alan Rouse Sheffield Library
Sheffield library holds a comprehensive archive of mountaineering material, including copies of MEF and other expedition reports. There is a PDF catalogue which can be searched; one of the best ways of quickly identifying peaks and leaders. At present it is up to date only to 2010.
Events Calendar
Dan, originally from Illinois, (USA), is an exciting, articulate but humble mountaineer who studied for his PhD just down the road in Bristol. He is renowned as much for his mountaineering feats as he is for his charity work in Nepal and Tibet. He first tasted the high peaks at the age of 17 and since then has climbed over 50 of the world’s highest mountains on seven different continents.
In the mountaineering world, he’s most famous for leading challenging K2 expeditions, summiting Everest seven times, but also for the incredible rescue of an Australian climber, Lincoln Hall, who was left for dead at 8,600m on the descent from the summit of Everest.
Dan is a passionate philanthropist who spends much of his time supporting the Everest Foundation for Sustainable Development for Nepal and Tibet and in 2018 was awarded the Sir Edmund Hilary Mountain Legacy Medal for "...remarkable service in the conservation and culture in Mountain regions."
Dan, with his Summit Climbs colleague Paul Spackman, will be sharing with us his amazing experience, including:
- preparation and organisation for an 8,000m summit climb,
- role and support for Sherpas and their families,
- importance of sustainable and meaningful charitable work.
All illustrated by superb photos and great stories.
Venue: Upstairs Room of Nova Scotia, Cumberland Basin, Hotwells, Bristol BS1 6XJ.
No charge for Alpine Club and Eagle Ski Club members; guests are welcome and invited to donate £5 to the Montane Alpine Club Climbing Fund.
Join us in the Nova Scotia pub from 6.30pm for a meal and drink. Lecture starts at 7.30pm in the upstairs room.
Upper Room of Nova Scotia, Cumberland Basin, Hotwells
Bristol
BS1 6XJ
UK
