The first alpine club, the Alpine Club, based in the United Kingdom, was founded in London in 1857 as a gentlemen's club. It was once described as:
"a club of English gentlemen devoted to mountaineering, first of all in the Alps, members of which have successfully addressed themselves to attempts of the kind on loftier mountains" (Nuttall Encyclopaedia, 1907).
Alpine clubs are typically large social clubs that revolve around climbing, hiking, and other outdoor activities. Many alpine clubs also take on aspects typically reserved for local sport associations, providing education and training courses, services for outdoorsmen, and de facto regulation of local mountaineering resources and behavior of mountaineers. Most clubs organize social events, schedule outings, and stage climbing competitions, operate alpine huts and paths, and are active in protecting the alpine environment.
With around 1,500,000 members[1] the German Alpine Club is usually reckoned as the largest alpine club in the world.
| Club | Abbreviation | Country | Founded | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine Club of Pakistan | ACP | Pakistan | 1974 | |||
| KAP | Kosovo | 2013[2] | ||||
| Clube Alpino Paulista | CAP | Brazil | 1959[3] | |||
| AAKI | Austria | 1893[4] | ||||
| AAVI | Austria | 1900[5] | ||||
| AAVM | Germany | 1892 | ||||
| AVS | Italy | 1946 (1869-1923: part of OeAV, banned after 1923) | ||||
| AC | United Kingdom | 1857/58 | ||||
| ACC | Canada | 1906 | ||||
| AGH | Austria | 1905 | ||||
| AGK | Austria | 1879 | ||||
| Alpine Club of Peilsteiner | AG? | Austria | 1894 | |||
| AGP | Austria | 1885 | ||||
| Alpine Club of Reißtaler[6] | AGR | Austria | 1881 | |||
| Alpine Association of Berne[7] | AVB | Switzerland | 1909 | |||
| AAC | United States | 1902 | ||||
| CUAC | United States | 2001 | ||||
| DAV Santiago | Chile | 1924 | ||||
| AMC | United States | 1876 | ||||
| AMHF | Armenia | 2011 | ||||
| ASAC | Switzerland | 1978 | ||||
| AAC | Australia | 1950[8] | ||||
| Barts and the London Alpine Club[9] | BLAC | United Kingdom | 1941 | |||
| BAC CAB | Belgium | 1883 | ||||
| CAC | United States | 1913 | ||||
| Carpathian Association of Hungary (Magyarországi Kárpát Egyesület)[10] | MKE | Kingdom of Hungary | 1873 | |||
| CAM | Monaco | 1911 | ||||
| CAF | France | 1874 | ||||
| CAI | Italy | 1863 | ||||
| CAR | Romania | 1934 | ||||
| CMC | United States | 1912 | ||||
| CAC | Korea | 1945 | Crimean-Caucasian Mountaineering Club | CCMC | Russia | 1890[11] |
| Croatian Mountaineering Association (Hrvatski planinarski savez) | HPS (HPD) | Croatia | 1874[12] | |||
| Delftsche Studenten Alpen Club | DSC | Netherland | 1922 | |||
| DNT | Norway | 1886 | ||||
| Excelsior Alpine Club | Excelsior | Hungary | 1966 | |||
| German Alpine Club (Deutscher Alpenverein) | DAV | Germany | 1869 | |||
| DAV | Chile | 1909[13] | ||||
| KAC | Australia | 1957[14] | ||||
| Kiandra Pioneer Ski Club | KPSC | Australia | 1861[15] | |||
| KAC | Australia | 1909[16] | ||||
| FEDME | Spain | 1922 | ||||
| Fédération des Clubs Alpins Académiques de Suisse Association of Academic Alpine Clubs of Switzerland | FCAAS | Switzerland | 1983 | |||
| FFME | France | 1942 | ||||
| FAT | Switzerland | 1965 | ||||
| GAL | Luxembourg | 1955 | ||||
| GHM | France | 1919 | ||||
| Climbing Interest Group (Interessengemeinschaft Klettern) | IG Klettern | Germany | 1989 | |||
| Icelandic Alpine Club[21] | ÍSALP | Iceland | 1977 | |||
| JAC | Japan | 1905 | ||||
| LAC | United Kingdom | 1907 to 1975 Merged with AC | ||||
| LAV | Liechtenstein | 1946 (1909 DuÖAV branch) | ||||
| Austrian Friends of Nature (Naturfreunde Österreich) | NFÖ, TVN | Austria | 1895 | |||
| NKBV | Netherlands | 1902/1998 | ||||
| NZAC | New Zealand | 1891 | ||||
| ÖBV | Austria | 1907 | ||||
| Austrian Alpine Club (Österreichischer Alpenklub) | ÖAK | Austria | 1878 | |||
| Austrian Alpine Club (Österreichischer Alpenverein) | OeAV | Austria | 1862 | |||
| Austrian Tourist Club (Österreichischer Touristenklub) | ÖTK | Austria | 1869 | |||
| Austrian Tourist Association (Österreichischer Touristenverein) | ÖTV | Austria | 1908 | |||
| Alpine Association of Slovenia (Planinska zveza Slovenije) | PZS | Slovenia | 1893 | |||
| Ljubljana Matica Alpine Club (Planinsko društvo Ljubljana-Matica) | PD LM | Slovenia | 1945 | |||
| PZA | Poland | 1974 | ||||
| SAC CAS | Switzerland | 1863 | ||||
| SAC | United States | 1960 | ||||
| SFAC | Switzerland | 1918 to 1979 Merged with SAC | ||||
| SAT | Switzerland | 1937 | ||||
| SEV | Switzerland | 1983 | ||||
| STD | France | 1875 | ||||
| SASC | Australia | 1935[22] | ||||
| STF | Sweden | 1885 | ||||
| TDF | Turkey | 1936 (predecessor 1928)[23] | ||||
| UTOE | Switzerland | 1919 | ||||
| ICC | Israel | 1939 | ||||
| MAZ | United States | 1894 | ||||
| Damavand mountaineering and ski club | DMSC | Iran | 1953 | |||
| The Mountaineers | United States | 1906 | ||||
| Washington Alpine Club | WAC | United States | 1916 | |||
| Centro Excursionista Brasileiro | CEB | Brazil | 1919[24] | |||
| Círculo Marumbinista de Curitiba | CMC | Brazil | 1930[25] |