The Alpine Club, the world’s first mountaineering club, was founded in 1857.  For over 150 years, members have been at the leading edge of worldwide mountaineering development and exploration. 

With membership, experienced and aspiring alpinists benefit from a varied meets programme, regional lectures with notable guest speakers, reduced rates at many alpine huts, opportunity to apply for grants to support expeditions, significant discounts at many UK retailers, extensive networking contacts, access to the AC Library and maps - and more! 

Becoming a Member
 

The Club is saddened to learn of the death on 4 February of Honorary member Bill Ruthven. Bill was elected a member of the club in 1981 and became Honorary Secretary of the Mount Everest Foundation in 1985. In 2004 he was awarded Honorary membership of the Alpine Club.

You can read Bill's reflections on his work as MEF Honorary Secretary in this 2017 article from the Alpine Journal.

 

 

 

Tributes  

#3 John Caradoc Jones 2025-03-20 12:35
As a young Mountaineer, I could never understand why Bill and by extension the MEF was so tolerant of failure, little realizing this was something I too would have to get used to in both Mountaineering and life in general and that it was not the end of the world. He was always interested and encouraging, one of those rare types, an administrator that made you want to engage with an organization. Julian (Freeman-Atwood) and I whiled away countless hours dictating 'Dear Bill' letters along the lines of those by Dennis Thatcher from No10. in order to preserve our sanity. They were mainly a long list of increasingly implausible excuses to try and explain the latest disaster that had befallen us in some remote region and always ended with the plea - 'Send more funds!' and hysteric laughter. Cheerio Bill.
#2 Dave Wynne-Jones 2025-02-25 20:16
Sorry to hear this news. Bill was always cheerful and helpful to applicants for MEF support and on top of his work.
#1 Paul Liam Pritchard 2025-02-17 08:17
So sorry to hear of Bill's passing. He was always a friendly face at the Alpine Club when I first joined in the 90s.
My condolences to his family.
Paul Pritchard.

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