The Alpine Club was founded in London in 1857 and is the world's first mountaineering club. The primary focus of the club is to support mountaineers who climb in the Alps and the Greater Ranges of the world's mountains. The Alpine Club was founded on 22 December 1857 by a group of British mountaineers at Ashley's Hotel in London.
The original founders were active mountaineers in the Alps and instrumental in the development of alpine mountaineering during the Golden Age of Alpinism (1854–1865).
The Alpine Club is specifically known for having developed early mountaineering-specific gear including a new type of rope. The goal was to engineer a strong and light rope that could be carried easily. Though the club organizes some UK-based meets and indoor lectures, its primary focus has always tended towards mountaineering overseas.
The club has produced a suite of guidebooks which cover some of the more popular Alpine mountaineering regions. It also holds extensive book and photo libraries as well as an archive of historical artefacts which are regularly lent out to exhibitions.
According to en.wikipedia
