The Club alpin français, usually referred to as the CAF, is a federation of club promoting mountain sports

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...

. It offers multiple training and courses to help people understand mountains.

Created in 1874, the Club alpin français has greatly evolved and grown since. It has become a sport federation, with 241 affiliated associations, which brings together some tens of thousand of people in a same group. Almost 90,000 people are licensed through it to date. Regional and departmental committees relay the actions of the federation on a local level.
It was renamed Fédération Française des clubs alpins et de montagne (FFCAM) during its 5th congress, on January 30, 2005 in Chambéry.

The Club alpin français also manages the 142 mountain huts, mostly 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....

 and the Pyrénées

Pyrenees

The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...

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