The Climbers' Club is the senior rock-climbing club in England and Wales (outside the Lake District). The club was founded in 1898. The CC one of the largest publishers of climbing guidebooks in many of the main climbing areas of England and Wales. The club also owns and operates a number of climbing huts in England, Scotland, and Wales.
 The Climbers' Club | |
| Abbreviation | CC |
|---|---|
| Formation | 28 April 1898 |
| Founded at | London, England, United Kingdom |
| Purpose | Encourage mountaineering and rock-climbing and to promote the general interests of mountaineers and the mountain environment. |
Membership | 1700+ |
| Affiliations | BMC |
| Website | Climbers' Club |
Early history
editThe Club developed from England's and Wales' earliest attempt to formally organize and bring together those who were active in participating and developing the "new" sport of rock climbing.
In 1870, C. E. Mathews founded the Society of Welsh Rabbits, which was a loose association of climbers who were largely English. By 1897, members of the Society saw a need for something more formal, and forty met at the Café Monico in London to discuss forming a new Club.[1]
Originally perceived as merely a dining club, meeting once a year in London, one-third of the original members were also affiliated with the venerable Alpine Club - generally more conservative and populated largely by alpinists who had little regard for climbing in Great Britain, except as training for the Alps. The first president, C. E. Mathews, was, himself, a pillar of the AC, but supported this new adventurous but parochial initiative. Not without the wry criticism so fashionable at the time, however, as the arch-conservative mountaineer Douglas Freshfield punned:[2]
- Why is it to the Alpine Club
- Our C. E. M. no longer keeps?
- Why should he found - himself as hub –
- A Climbers' Club for chimney sweeps.
Huts
editThe Climbers' Club operates a number of climbing huts.
Wales
edit- Ynys Ettws (Llanberis, North Wales)
- Cwm Glas Mawr (Llanberis, North Wales)
- Helyg (Ogwen, North Wales)
- May Cottage (Pembroke, South Wales)
England
edit- RO Downes (Froggatt, Peak District)
- Count House (Bosigran, Cornwall)
- Grange Old School (Borrowdale, The Lake District)
Scotland
edit- Riasg (Roy Bridge, Central Highlands of Scotland)
See also
editOther UK Mountaineering 'Senior Clubs'
References
edit- Hankinson, Alan (1972). "The First Tigers", J. M. Dent & Sons
External links
edit
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