The Alpine Club

Up Close with GRIT&ROCK Founder Masha Gordon

A former asset manager for the likes of Goldman Sachs and PIMCO, Masha Gordon moved away from the financial world after completing the seven summits and now balances a number of board roles with regular mountaineering expeditions and her charity GRIT&ROCK, which supports female participation in pioneering alpinism.

A moment of poetry in the Alps

Could you tell us about your professional background and how you came to discover climbing? Читать дальше...

Watch: 'Everest Revisited, 1924-2024'

More than 100 years on from the disappearance of George Mallory and Sandy Irvine, our new film, Everest Revisited, uses their loss as the jumping off point for a wider look at the hidden histories of Everest and what it means to visitors and Nepalis today.

Julie Summers, the great niece of Sandy Irvine and mountaineer and narrator Matt Sharman seek insights in interviews with many well-known climbers including Sir Chris Bonington, Rebecca Stephens... Читать дальше...

The (Unbelievable) Kindness of Strangers

September 1992. After about ten days of rickety Indian buses, army checkpoints, and trekking through dense, humid forest we reached our base camp at 4,000m, below the imposing and alluring unclimbed peak of Tupendeo. It’s a beautiful mountain, referred to by some as the ‘Dru of the Kishtwar’, lying in the border area of Jammu and Kashmir, in a remote valley that sees few western visitors.

After a few days’ acclimatisation, my climbing partner, Angus, and I set off to climb the mountain. Читать дальше...

Before and After Everest

50 years after his death, T. Howard Somervell (1890-1975), OBE, Olympic Gold Medal recipient, First World War field surgeon, medical missionary and mountaineer, is still not fully recognised for his artistic legacy. Following several years of planning and discussions among those who share the conviction that Somervell is an underrated artist, we have brought together an exhibition of selected pictures to celebrate his achievements as a landscape painter. Featured... Читать дальше...

'Kangchenjunga - The Five Treasures of the Snows' Exhibition Displays

In Spring 2025, the Alpine Club marked the 70th anniversary of the first ascent of Kangchenjunga with a special exhibition at Charlotte Road. Curated by former AC president John Porter, the exhibition told the story of this 'reconnaissance expedition' from inception to (just shy of) the summit, profiling the team members and recounting their journey to the top of the world's third highest peak.

Illustrated with incredible photography from the expedition team... Читать дальше...

2025 GRIT&ROCK Grant Recipients Announced

The GRIT&ROCK Foundation, founded by AC member Masha Gordon with the aim of encouraging greater female participation in pioneering alpine ascents, has announced nine recipients of its 2025 grant awards. As with previous years, the awards are spread across three categories: performance, exploration and apprenticeship.  

 2025 awardee Shira Biner climbing on Baffin Island, 2023

The 2025 awardees are:

Performance

Exhibition: Kangchenjunga - The Five Treasures of the Snows

Photo by Jakub Michankow (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license)

"There is no doubt that those who first climb Kangchenjunga will achieve the greatest feat in mountaineering, for it is a mountain which combines in its defenses not only the severe handicaps of wind, weather, and very high altitude, but technical climbing problems and objective dangers of an order even higher than those we encountered on Everest."

This is how John Hunt... Читать дальше...

2025 AC Photo Competition

The Alpine Club is excited to announce a Members’  Photo Competition, culminating with a special exhibition of the best submitted works at our Charlotte Road exhibition space. The competition is open to all Alpine Club members.

Michael de Csilléry traversing pinnacles on the South Ridge integral of the Aiguille du Moine, Chamonix, July 2021
Tom de Csilléry, AC 2022-23 Photo Competition

Members can submit up to two images per category across three categories. Читать дальше...

2025 Rick Allen Skills Award: APPLICATIONS OPEN

The Rick Allen Skills Award (RASA) is now accepting applications for the 2025 programme.

Established in 2024 with funding from a generous bequest left to the Club by former vice-president Rick Allen, the RASA is designed to help competent young alpinists to progress to longer and more challenging multi-day routes in the Alps and Greater Ranges.

Over seven days, course attendees will climb with guides in a 2:1 climber to guide ratio and complete at least one bivouac. Читать дальше...

2024 Boardman-Tasker Winner: 'Headstrap' | Review

At the 2024 Kendal Mountain Festival, the jury of the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature announced Headstrap by Nandini Purandare and Deepa Balsavar as this year's winner. The book explores the lives and legends of the Sherpa community of Darjeeling who have long been associated with mountaineering in the Himalaya.

The book was reviewed for the 2024 Alpine Journal by artist and author Heather Dawe who found it to be a deeply... Читать дальше...