Search results for ""Alpine Club""

The mountain parks are for all Canadians for all time and their value cannot be measured in terms of how many access roads, motels, souvenir shops and golf courses we've provided. -Bob Jordan, 1971 The Alpine Club of Canada imagined the Rockies and neighbouring ranges to the west and the north as a "climber's paradise." Through a century of adventure and advocacy, the ACC led the way to mountain pursuits in spectacular regions. Historian and mountain studies specialist PearlAnn Reichwein's research is informed by her experiences mountaineering and by her interest in mountain culture. She presents a compelling case for understanding wild spaces and human activity within them as parts of a whole. A work of invaluable scholarship in the areas of environmental history, public policy, sport studies, recreation, and tourism, Climber's Paradise will appeal to many non-specialists, mountaineers, environmentalists, and travellers across Canada and beyond.

Read more less

"The Oberwallis" is one of the most important climbing and mountaineering areas in Switzerland - also known as Valais East or Upper Valais. This guidebook covers the eastern area of the canton of Valais centred on Brig and covers the following regions - Goms; Aletsch-Brig; Simplon; Visp; Saastal; Mattertal; Raron-Siders. So it includes the popular areas around Zermatt and Saas Fee. This 2012 edition is the first time the Swiss Alpine Club have published the guidebook in the dual languages of German and English. This region has undergone a tremendous amount of climbing development in recent years with many new areas bolted. This is a rock climbing guidebook (not snow and ice), with mostly bolted routes but also some trad routes - and climbs requiring placement of gear between bolted belay stances. The guidebook contains close to 2,000 routes in 99 climbing areas. There are more than 250 multi-pitch climbs of which 55 routes are longer than 250m and the longest is 800m. The guidebook is very comprehensive with sectors for families and beginners ranging up to committed alpine routes for experienced climbers.

Read more less

2013 sees the 150th anniversary of the Alpine Journal, the oldest mountaineering journal in the world. It was created as a record of mountain exploration and has held to that tradition down the years. This 117th volume showcases first ascents from Alaska to Antarctica, from the Alps and Africa to the great ranges of Asia. Alpine Club president Mick Fowler describes his first ascent of the dramatic Prow of Shiva in the Indian Himalaya while Rick Allen recounts how he and Sandy Allan scooped one of mountaineering's most coveted prizes with the first full traverse of Nanga Parbat's awesome Mazeno Ridge. The AJ's brief roams wide. Mountain landscapes sacred to Tibetans are decoded by the anthropologist Hildegard Diemberger, and Professor Mike Searle explains the geological processes that give the Himalaya their physical majesty. This AJ also celebrates the 60th anniversary of the first ascent of Everest; buoyed by his 11th ascent to the top of the world, guide Kenton Cool reflects on the mountain's continuing allure. New paintings by the artist-climber Julian Cooper, especially commissioned to mark the AJ's 150th birthday, book reviews and a comprehensive Area Notes section detailing significant climbs around the world complete this unrivalled panorama of the mountain world.

Read more less

The Alpine Journal is the oldest publication of its kind, this year celebrating its 151st anniversary. It was created as a record of mountain exploration and has maintained that tradition.This edition, Volume 118, contains accounts of rock climbing, mountaineering and exploration in the high and wild places across the continents from the Antarctic to Canada, Europe to High Asia.The remit of the Journal is broader than just climbing action, with in-depth articles on mountain science, politics, environment, art and history. So augmenting the astonishing tales of adventure by the likes of Leo Houlding and Alastair Lee in Antarctica and records of Alpine Club members' ground-breaking achievements worldwide, we have stunning paintings by mountain artist Tim Pollard, a history of filming in the harshest of environments by John Cleare and a fascinating explanation of the recent geological history of the Himalaya and Tibet from eminent geologist Mike Searle.An essential element of the Alpine Journal has always been the record of achievements in the high mountains and the Area Notes section is, as usual, packed with vital information for the mountaineer. This year Simon Richardson has provided an extensive report on two remarkable winter seasons' worth of first ascents by the country's top activists.Climbing's unrivalled literature is catered for in an extensive book review section

Read more less

‘If we were guaranteed success in everything we tried then life would be pretty boring.’Mainstream news reports about climbing are dominated by action from the world’s highest mountains, more often than not focusing on tragedy and controversy. Far removed from this high-altitude circus, a group of visionary and specialist mountaineers are seeking out eye-catching objectives in the most remote corners of the greater ranges and attempting first ascents in lightweight style.Mick Fowler is the master of the small and remote Himalayan expedition. He has been at the forefront of this pioneering approach to alpinism for over thirty years, balancing his family life, a full-time job at the tax office and his annual trips to the greater ranges in order to attempt mountains that may never have been seen before by Westerners, let alone climbed by them.In No Easy Way, his third volume of climbing memoirs following Vertical Pleasure and On Thin Ice, Fowler recounts a series of expeditions to stunning mountains in China, India, Nepal and Tibet. Alongside partners including Paul Ramsden, Dave Turnbull, Andy Cave and Victor Saunders, he attempts striking, technically challenging unclimbed lines on Shiva, Gave Ding and Mugu Chuli – with a number of ascents winning prestigious Piolets d’Or, the Oscars of the mountaineering world.Written with his customary dry wit and understatement, he manages challenges away – the art of securing a permit for Tibet – and at home – his duties as Alpine Club president – all the while pursuing his passion for exploratory mountaineering.

Read more less

In 1865, when just twenty-five years of age, Edward Whymper achieved the fame of which he had dreamt as a teenager by making the first ascent of the Matterhorn, the last great unclimbed summit in the Alps. With renown came notoriety and lasting sorrow, though, due to the catastrophic accident on the descent, which cost the lives of four of his party. Whymper's life was marked by the conquest of the Matterhorn, but his mountaineering achievements have overshadowed his distinction as a wood engraver and book illustrator. Before he had ever thought about the Alps, while a teenager fulfilling his apprenticeship in the family engraving studio, Whymper kept a diary for six years, detailing his daily life in Lambeth. Showing frequent glimpses of the dry and sardonic humour so characteristic of the older Whymper, the diary is written with a developing style which looks forward to his classic works on mountaineering, Scrambles amongst the Alps and Travels amongst the the great Andes of the Equator. Providing a rare picture of the workings of a wood engraving studio during the heyday of this reproductive medium, the diary also reveals the world of his father, Josiah, and those London-based artists seeking to make a living from their water-colour painting. An avid reader of The Times, the young Whymper's diary follows the events of the day - the Crimean War, trhe Indian Mutiny, the affairs of Parliament, notorious trials, business scandals - and also the many fires and daily catastrophes so prevalent in Victorian London. This edition reproduces the complete text of Whymper's first diary for the first time. Ian Smith is a librarian, who is writing a biography of Edward Whymper. He is a member of the Alpine Club and has climbed many of Whymper's first ascents. He is from south London and lives in Kennington.

Read more less

**An Economist Book of the Year**** A Critic Book of the Year**A trail-blazing book about women's fights to access the great outdoors - and a very personal book about how running through the landscape helped the author in her journey from bereavement back to a sense of belonging'Heartfelt, passionate, infuriating and often devastating, this book will inspire you to fight for your right to tread your own path' CAROLINE CRIADO PEREZ, author of Invisible WomenWhen Rachel loses five family members in five months, grief magnifies other absences. Running used to help her feel at home, but now she becomes painfully aware of her inability to run without being cat-called or followed. She sees injustices facing women in sport, and male bias in competition regulations and media coverage. Running outdoors sharpens her sense of the grief women experience - every day, everywhere - for lack of freedom.Rachel goes in search of a new family: foremothers at the dawn of outdoor sport. She discovers Lizzie Le Blond, who scaled the Alps in woollen skirts, photographed fearless women skating and tobogganing at breakneck speeds, and founded the Ladies' Alpine Club, defying men who wanted the mountains to themselves. Yet after such groundbreaking progress in the late 1800s, a backlash drove women out of sports and public space.Are we now living through a similar reversal in women's rights or an era of unprecedented liberty? Telling Lizzie's story alongside her own, Rachel runs her way from bereavement to belonging, in a world that feels hostile to women. On the way she's inspired by the tenacious women, past and present, who insist that breaking boundaries outdoors is, and always has been, in her nature.

Read more less

This is the mountaineering yearbook, including feature articles, expedition reports, book reviews, obituaries, arts, history and science.Richly illustrated, the "Alpine Journal" is the world's principal mountaineering yearbook and essential reading for all who love the mountains, particularly those who climb and explore in the Greater Ranges and the Alps. This 2007 edition marks the 150th anniversary of the world famous club.One hundred and fifty years ago, the Alpine Club was born. It was the first mountaineering club in the world and as this 112th volume of the "Alpine Journal" amply demonstrates, it is still going strong.AC members have been climbing across the globe - Simon Yates and Andy Parkin in Tierra del Fuego, Phil Wickens leading an AC expedition in the Pamirs, Malcolm Bass rounding off the club's extended courtship of Haizi Shan in Sichuan, Paul Knott, making the first ascent of South Walsh, highest unclimbed peak in North America. All these stories are told, plus among others, Ian Parnell's eight-day ascent of Kedar Dome's east face, and a year in the life of vagabond climber Nick Bullock.The AC's 150th anniversary is also an occasion for some critical reflection. Doug Scott and Ed Douglas weigh in on ethics and money, Peter Gillman looks at scandals that have soured climbing, and award-winning author Robert Macfarlane considers our ambivalent response to 'the wild'.Ken Wilson, controversialist sans pareil, provides a talking point with a table of the stand-out climbs on the highest peaks and as a glorious reminder of 150 years of British mountaineering's finest moments, we feature the words and images of Gordon Stainforth's acclaimed 'The Crux' exhibition.This is a record of notable climbs, region-by-region, over the past year, reviews, paintings and cartoons by Andy Parkin, 150 photographs, nearly all in colour, and maps.

Read more less