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
 

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.

The Alpine Journal is a substantial annual record of mountaineering achievement, if you are planning an expedition it should be on your reading list.

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

The Himalayan Index is a key resource, it has been compiled from journals, magazines and books in the Alpine Club Library

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

Emma Nicholson - Science Meets Alpinism Among Fire and Ice
Tuesday 27 February 2024, 07:30pm - 09:30pm
Tuesday 27 February 2024


If asked to put a dot on a map at a place furthest from civilisation you'd be hard-pressed to find somewhere more remote than the South Sandwich Islands. This isolated volcanic island chain in the notoriously unpredictable Southern Ocean holds incredible potential to advance many outstanding questions within volcanology and yet it remains incredibly enigmatic. Few individuals have ever landed ashore and even satellite observations are rare.

As part of a National Geographic-funded research project, Emma Nicholson and a large team launched an ambitious expedition to study the volcanic activity at Mt Michael, Saunders Island. The expedition required them to make the first ascent of this glaciated active volcano to ground-truth satellite images which suggested that a lava lake has existed within the volcano's crater for several decades. If confirmed, this lava lake would be one of only a rare handful worldwide.

Emma joins us to discuss this pioneering research expedition and to share the documentary film of her journey, 'Lake of Fire' (45 mins), which offers a behind the scenes look at what it takes to put together an expedition of this scale, the trials and tribulations of life in the field, and the challenges of balancing science and survival in one of the harshest environments on Earth.

 

The talk will be held at the Alpine Club's premises at 55 Charlotte Road, London, EC2A 3QF from 7PM on 27 February 2024.

For safety reasons, we are required to keep a register of all attendees. If you plan to attend, please complete the form below. (This applies to both members and non-members).

There is no official charge for entry, but we do ask non-members to make a small contribution towards the continued running of the lectures if they are able.

 

Location London
55/56 Charlotte Road
London
EC2A 3QF
Uk