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
 

Exhibitions

The Club is pleased to be able to use its premises and resources, along with its renowned archive of mountaineering reports, books, art and artefacts to host and curate exhibitions that celebrate mountain history and culture. As well as spotlighting the work of contemporary artists and academics, the Club has also worked to mark key mountaineering anniversaries; bringing together records of the past to keep our history alive and engaging for climbers and the wider community alike.

Individual exhibitions may vary, but most take place at our Charlotte Road Club House.

A full list of past and upcoming exhibitions is shown below.

James Hart-Dyke - 'Mont Blanc: The Summit Paintings'

‘..in watching a sunset from Mont Blanc one feels that one is passing one of those rare moments of life at which all the surrounding scenery is instantaneously and indelibly photographed on the mental retina by a process which no second-hand operation can even dimly transfer to others.’

Leslie Stephen, The Playground of Europe, 1894.

 
James at work on Mont Blanc at Sunset with his Support Team - Pascal Tournaire

In 1894, the author, biographer and mountaineer Leslie Stephen dedicated The Playground of Europe, one of the best known and loved books about the Alps, to his friend and painter, Gabriel Loppé.

"My Dear Loppé, Twenty-one years ago, we climbed Mont Blanc together to watch the sunset from its summit. Less than a year ago, we observed the same phenomenon from the foot of the mountain. The intervening years have probably made little difference in the sunset. If they have made some difference in our powers of reaching the best point of view, they have, I hope, diminished neither our admiration of such spectacles, nor our pleasure in each other’s companionship. If, indeed, I have retained my love of the Alps, it has been in no small degree owing to you."

 


The Summit Paintings Past - Gabriel Loppe's 'Sunset on Mont Blanc' (6 August 1873)

The Summit Paintings Present - James Hart Dyke interprets the same view in 2022

In July 2022, James Hart Dyke climbed Mont Blanc to paint from the summit at sunset. His objective was to reenact and emulate as closely as possible the conditions under which Gabriel Loppé (1825-1913), made his pair of summit paintings at sunset in August 1873 in the company of Leslie Stephen.

As one of the leading mountain painters of his generation, Hart Dyke was accompanied by a retinue of guides, a cameraman and climbers as he ascended the Grands Mulets Route. This is a variation of the original l’ancien passage, taken by Jacques Balmat and Dr. Michel Paccard in 1786 on the historic first ascent of Mont Blanc.

Thanks to a weather window and judicious planning James was also able to spend nearly two hours on the summit from 8.15 pm to past 10 o’ clock and paint two pictures in situ. Although there was only a slight breeze, the temperature was between -15 and -20 Celsius.

 'Shadow of Mont Blanc, Sunset' - James Hart Dyke

Now James brings a series of 12 paintings from the climb, including the two works completed on the summit, to the Alpine Club's Charlotte Road exhibition space where the two summit pictures will hang alongside one of the two painted by Gabriel Loppé 150 years ago.

The exhibition will run from 28 November 2023 to 31 January 2024 and is open to visitors from 12:00 – 17:00 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, as well as on London lecture evenings.

Visitors are kindly asked to book in advance by contacting the Alpine Club Office on 02076130755 or by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The official exhibition opening will be held on 5 December. Here, guests will have the opportunity to speak with James and hear him discuss his work in conversation with William Mitchell. The event is open to all, but we aske that you register your intention to attend in advance.

 


The Aiguille du Midi - James Hart Dyke

Mont Blanc - James Hart Dyke

 

John Mitchell Fine Paintings has been exhibiting James Hart Dyke’s paintings since 2002. His work is centred on landscape painting, from the domesticity of paintings of country houses to paintings generated from physically demanding expeditions over remote mountains. James has also undertaken a series of projects including accompanying HRH The Prince of Wales as the official artist on royal tours, working as ‘artist in residence’ for The British Secret Intelligence Service, working as an artist embedded with the British Forces in war zones, working for the producers of the James Bond films and as ‘artist in residence’ for Aston Martin. These projects required him to respond in many different ways and have allowed him to experiment with more graphic forms of painting influenced by his studies as an architect at the Royal College of Art. His portraits have been shown at the National Portrait Gallery and at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters exhibitions.