The Alpine Ski Club

The Alpine Ski Club (ASC) is an active club of ski

Skiing

Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....

 mountaineers

Mountaineering

Mountaineering or mountain climbing is the sport, hobby or profession of hiking, skiing, and climbing mountains. While mountaineering began as attempts to reach the highest point of unclimbed mountains it has branched into specialisations that address different aspects of the mountain and consists...

 based in the UK and the first ski mountaineering

Ski mountaineering

Ski mountaineering is form of ski touring that variously combines the sports of Telemark, Alpine, and backcountry skiing with that of mountaineering...

 club in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

.

The objectives of the club are to:

1. Promote mountaineering on skis
2. Encourage good fellowship amongst ski-mountaineers
3. Encourage mountaineering expeditions on ski throughout the world
4. Promote a better knowledge of the mountains in winter

Membership is open to experienced independent ski-mountaineers who fulfil the minimum entry qualification. Aspirant membership is open to those who do not meet the criteria.

Notable Members (Honorary and Ordinary) Past and Present

• Sir Edmund Hillary
• Sir Chris Bonington
  Chris Bonington
  Sir Christian John Storey Bonington, CVO, CBE, DL is a British mountaineer.His career has included nineteen expeditions to the Himalayas, including four to Mount Everest and the first ascent of the south face of Annapurna.-Early life and expeditions:Educated at University College School in...
  
  
• Peter Lunn
  Peter Lunn
  Peter Northcote Lunn is a British alpine skier who competed in the 1936 Winter Olympics. As a spymaster in the early Cold War, he is noted for his resourceful use of telephone tapping in espionage.-Biography:...
  
  
• Frank Smythe
  Frank Smythe
  Francis Sydney Smythe better known as Frank Smythe was a British mountaineer, author, photographer and botanist. He is best remembered for his mountaineering in the Alps and the Himalayas. He identified a region that he named the "Valley of Flowers", now a protected park...
  
  
• Patrick Pery, 6th Earl of Limerick
  Patrick Pery, 6th Earl of Limerick
  Patrick Edmund Pery, 6th Earl of Limerick KBE , was an Irish peer and public servant. He was educated at Eton College and New College, Oxford....
  
  

History

The ASC was created on Saturday the 7th of March 1908 at a dinner in the Devonshire Club

Devonshire Club

The Devonshire Club was a London gentlemen's club, now dissolved, which was established in 1874 and was disbanded in 1976. Throughout its existence it was based at 50 St James's Street...

 hosted by Dr Henry Lunn

Henry Simpson Lunn

Sir Henry Simpson Lunn was an English humanitarian and religious figure, and also founder of Lunn Poly, one of the UK's largest travel companies....

 (later to be Sir Henry Lunn). Founder members included

• Sir Martin Conway (First President)
• Mr Arnold Lunn
  Arnold Lunn
  Sir Arnold Henry Moore Lunn was a famous skier, mountaineer and writer. He was knighted for "services to British Skiing and Anglo-Swiss relations" in 1952.He was born in Madras, India and died in London.-Early life:...
  
   (later to be Sir Arnold Lunn)
• Mr William Moore
• Rev. Canon Savage
• Mr Rickmer Rickmers
• Dr Tom Longstaff
• Mr E. V. S Caulfeild
• George Ingle Finch

Activities

The club provides a venue for active ski-mountaineers to meet, exchange information and to plan new expeditions. It holds two lecture meetings every year in autumn and spring, usually at The Alpine Club

Alpine Club (UK)

The Alpine Club was founded in London in 1857 and was probably the world's first mountaineering club. It is UK mountaineering's acknowledged 'senior club'.-History:...

 and an annual dinner is usually held in November.

In addition to these UK-based activities, the ASC also organises meetings in the Alps

Alps

The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....

 as well as expeditions to little-known mountain ranges across the world. Enterprising guideless ski expeditions in recent years have included ski-mountaineering expeditions to Muztag Ata, Zanskar

Zanskar

Zanskar is a subdistrict or tehsil of the Kargil district, which lies in the eastern half of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The administrative centre is Padum...

, Kashmir

Kashmir

Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...

, Gangotri, Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

 and Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. Recent Alpine Meets have been in Pontresina

Pontresina

Pontresina is a municipality in the district of Maloja in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland.-History and name:The city was first mentioned in medieval Latin documents as pontem sarasinam in 1137. In 1237 it was mentioned as de Ponte Sarraceno and in 1303 as ponte sarracino...

, Andermatt

Andermatt

Andermatt is a municipality in the canton of Uri in Switzerland.With Realp and Hospental, it is located in the Urseren valley, south of Altdorf.-Geography:...

, Briançon

Briançon

Briançon a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department....

 and the Dolomites

Dolomites

The Dolomites are a mountain range located in north-eastern Italy. It is a part of Southern Limestone Alps and extends from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Valley in the east. The northern and southern borders are defined by the Puster Valley and the Sugana Valley...

.

Sponsorship and Awards

The Alpine Ski Club has two award schemes.
These are the Kenneth Smith Scholarship and the Memorial Adventure Fund.

These schemes can provide help for:

• Taking part in a ski mountaineering expedition which includes an element of exploration,
• Carrying out a research project on an aspect of ski mountaineering,
• Attending an approved course in ski mountaineering, or
• Other activities which further the knowledge and practice of safe movement in the mountains on ski.

The awards are especially, but not exclusively, for young skiers.

Transceiver Hire

Avalanche rescue transceivers

Avalanche transceiver

Avalanche transceivers are a class of radio transceivers specialized to the purpose of finding people or equipment buried under snow. They are variously called Trackers, Pieps, or Arva's in a reference to some of the popular brands, "avalanche beacons" or "avalanche transceivers" - with many...

(ARVAs) are available for hire from the Alpine Ski Club. This is provided as part of the ASC's commitment to safer ski mountaineering.