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22-624: The Swiss Alpine Club was the first Alpine club founded in continental Europe after the foundation of the Alpine Club (1857) in London. One of the founders and the first president of the Club was Dr. Melchior Ulrich; other members were Gottlieb Samuel Studer and Dr. Simler. The inaugural meeting was held in Olten . With the increasing number of climbers, steps had to be taken to make the approach to

44-579: A merger with the Ladies' Alpine Club was agreed, and the Club thus gained about 150 new members. By the last quarter of the 20th century, the club had evolved into Britain's senior mountaineering club, with a clear qualification for membership, for both men and women, and an 'aspirant' grade for those working towards full membership. However, it still requires prospective members to be proposed and seconded by existing members. The club's history has been documented by George Band in his book Summit: 150 Years of

66-736: A red thread of worsted yarn. From the 19th century British mountaineers and members of the Alpine Club were instrumental in the popularisation of mountainteering in Norway among the international mountaineering community, with William Cecil Slingsby 's influential book, Norway, the Northern Playground . The Alpine Club was the role model of the Norwegian Alpine Club , the third oldest of its kind worldwide. The present Alpine Club members remain extremely active in

88-590: Is a yacht-chandler that stocks a wide variety of nautical equipment and accessories. The business started as the rope-maker John Buckingham by the nearby Fleet river in the 16th century and was based in premises in Bloomsbury until 2021. In the 19th century, they became known as the exclusive suppliers of climbing rope to the Alpine Club . They still make and stock a large variety of ropes and lines and so also supply theatrical rigging and ornamental ropes for decoration and crowd control. In 2021, following

110-423: Is specifically focused on connecting with younger mountaineers. It also holds extensive book and photo libraries as well as an archive of historical artifacts which are regularly lent out to exhibitions. The Club maintains an online "Himalayan Index" of articles about Himalayan mountaineering activities recorded in journals, magazines and books in its library. Its members' activities are recounted annually in

132-458: Is specifically known for having developed early mountaineering-specific gear including a new type of rope. The goal was to engineer a strong and light rope that could be carried easily. A committee of the club tested samples from suppliers and prepared a specification in the early 1900s. The official Alpine Club Rope was then made by John Buckingham of Bloomsbury. It was made from three strands of manila hemp , treated to be rot proof and marked with

154-591: The Alps and instrumental in the development of alpine mountaineering during the Golden Age of Alpinism (1854–1865). E. S. Kennedy was the first chairman of the Alpine Club but the naturalist, John Ball , was the first president. Kennedy, also the first vice-president, succeeded him as president of the club from 1860 to 1863. In 1863, the club moved its headquarters to the Metropole Hotel . The Alpine Club

176-616: The COVID-19 pandemic , they announced that they would be moving the business online but with plans for a new retail location or format such as a Christmas pop-up shop. The business started as rope-maker, John Buckingham, on the Fleet river at the start of the 16th century. In the early 19th century, they had premises at number 6 in the Middle Row of St Giles —an impressive terrace in the middle of Broad Street —but had to move when this

198-681: The Alpine Club , and its artists in The Artists of the Alpine Club by Peter Mallalieu. The club's first premises were at 8 St Martin's Place, Trafalgar Square , where it rented rooms in 1858. In 1895 the club moved to 23 Savile Row , and in June 1907, the Scottish artist Sholto Johnstone Douglas held an exhibition of his portraits at the Club. From 1937 to 1990 the club was based at 74, South Audley Street , in Mayfair , London. In 1936–1937,

220-475: The Alpine Club acquired the freehold of a five-storey Victorian warehouse at 55, Charlotte Road, on the edge of the City of London , and this building remains its current headquarters. The club's lecture room, bunk-house, library, and archives are all housed there. In Dorothy L Sayers' 1923 novel Whose Body Sir Julian Freake is a member of the Alpine Club. John Buckingham (rope-maker) Arthur Beale

242-527: The Alps and the Greater Ranges , as well as in mountain arts, literature and science. For many years it had the characteristics of a London-based Gentlemen's club , including a certain imprecision in the qualification for membership (said to have been 'A reasonable number of respectable peaks'). Until 1974, the club was strictly for men only, but in 1975, within months of membership being opened to women,

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264-781: The business could not then sustain the rental cost of the shop in Shaftesbury Avenue. A new management team of Hugh Taylor and James Keef plan to move the business online from a warehouse base in Buckinghamshire . This would then be supported by more limited retailing in London such as a pop-up shop at Christmas time. In July 2021, a retail store opened in Portsmouth which offers a Click and Collect at Sea service. Eugenia Bell, writing in The Traditional Shops and Restaurants of London , praised

286-491: The club's publication the Alpine Journal , the world's oldest mountaineering journal, and interim newsletters are produced during the year. The club has also produced a suite of guidebooks that cover some of the more popular Alpine mountaineering regions. The Alpine Club was founded on 22 December 1857 by a group of British mountaineers at Ashley's Hotel in London. The original founders were active mountaineers in

308-422: The establishment: The teal shopfront matches the pegboards inside, festooned with gleaming brass shackles, bolts and hooks of every size and description. Spools of ropes adorn all sides of the store and rigging is still assembled in a downstairs workshop. Beale's is a stunning shop, as much for its incongruity as for its dazzling display. In 1999, Time Out likewise commented on their incongruity but praised

330-405: The mountains a little less complicated and exhausting. Until mountain huts were built, there had been no choice for the climbers other than sleeping in the highest chalets or in a Bivouac shelter under some overhanging rocks and, in both cases, firewood had to be carried up. The Swiss Alpine Club during the first twenty-five years of its existence contributed to build thirty-eight huts , of which

352-916: The oldest was the Grünhorn hut on the Tödi (1863), followed by the Trift hut, near the Dammastock (1864). The Matterhorn hut was built in 1865, the Mountet in 1871, the Weisshorn Hut in 1876, the Concordia on the Aletsch glacier and the Boval hut in 1877. This Switzerland -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Alpine Club (UK) The Alpine Club

374-571: The retailing, they have a workshop downstairs, where they produce special orders for ropes and rigging. This business was declining but, in 2014, veteran sailor and theatrical chandler, Alasdair Flint, took over with business partner Gerry Jeatt with plans to revive it. The range of products was broadened to include nautical clothing, books and novelties such as ship's biscuits . Other new activities included courses and presentations, stands at boat shows and improved windows displays. The COVID-19 pandemic depressed retail activity in central London and

396-473: The surveying firm of Pilditch, Chadwick and Company had converted the ground floor of the building into suitable premises for the club. The club's library was at the back of the building, in what was once the picture gallery of Sir William Cuthbert Quilter. In 1990 the club sold its lease of 74, South Audley Street and briefly shared quarters with the Ski Club of Great Britain at 118, Eaton Square . In 1991,

418-438: Was demolished in 1843. They then operated from premises on Shaftesbury Avenue when John Buckingham and then the new proprietor, Arthur Beale, were exclusive suppliers of climbing rope to early members of the Alpine Club . This was made to the club's specification so that it was both light and strong, being made from three strands of manila hemp , treated to be rot proof and marked with a red thread of worsted yarn. This rope

440-467: Was founded in London on 22 December 1857 and is the world's first mountaineering club . The primary focus of the club is to support mountaineers who climb in the Alps and the Greater Ranges of the world's mountains. Though the club organises some UK-based meets and indoor lectures, its primary focus has always tended towards mountaineering overseas. It is associated more with exploratory mountaineering than with purely technical climbing (the early club

462-547: Was once dismissed as doing very little climbing but "a lot of walking steeply uphill"). These higher technical standards were often to be found in offshoots such as the 'Alpine Climbing Group' (ACG), which was founded in 1952 and merged with the Alpine Club in 1967; the AGC is aimed at those "who aspire to establish or repeat technically difficult climbs or undertake exploratory expeditions". The club continues to encourage and sponsor mountaineering expeditions through its membership and

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484-458: Was used for British expeditions to Mount Everest and Antarctica . It also supplied ice axes to polar explorer, Ernest Shackleton ; the flagpole for Buckingham Palace and rigging for escapologists and the window displays of Selfridges department store. The business now trades mainly as a yacht chandler, stocking and supplying nautical equipment such as a monkey's fist – a weighted ball of rope used for line-throwing. To support

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