Alpine Club Lectures 1996

13/02/96 Dave Hamilton,Tirich Mir West Ridge: David has developed a taste for discomfort, dhal and chapattis after having led 23 trekking and mountaineering expeditions to Pakistan in the last eight years. 'A rahgter long walk in the Eric Newbys'' is how he describes his most recent ascent of the highest peak in the Hindu Kush: 7708m Tirich Mir overlooking the frontiers of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tadjikistan.

20/02/96 Phil Wickens,Parvarti Valley: In 1994 Phil and party travelled to the Parvati Valley in Kullu. They attempted a rather difficult rock route (first attempted by Rob Collister) on a mountain first spotted by Jimmy Roberts, and reached a high point of c.6000m. They also made first ascents of three other peaks.

27/02/96 Ivar Tollefsen,Queen Maud Land: In January 1994 Ivar Tollefsen led a team of thirteen to the remote and little-known region of Queen Maud Land in Antarctica. They succeeded in making more than 30 first ascents in this hauntingly beatiful land of huge monoliths in a frozen sea.

12/03/96 Jerry Gore,Baffin Island: Jerry Gore visited Sam Fjord last summer to discover an area some have described as having 25-times more rock than Yosemite. He and his team completed two major first ascents including Crossfire on the Great Cross Pillar which included climbing up to a standard of 5.10 and A4.

19/03/96 John Temple,Almost a Caucasan High Level Route: John Temple climbed in the Caucasus in 1992/3 and almost completed a high level route from Bezingi to Elbruz.

26/03/96 Steve Jones,Logan and the Icefield Range: The 1995 Hub-Sew Expeditionto the St Elias Range of Canada climbed new routes on McArthur via the North Ridge and Wood Peak via the Southwest Ridge, and then attempted the lengthy East Ridge of Logan where bad weather trapped the climbers for several days, necessitating retreat through deep snow.

16/04/96 Chris Bonington,Drangnag Ri: Dragnag Ri (6801m) is in the Rowaling some 25 miles from Everest and was described by Bonington as having some of the hardest climbing he's done in the Himalaya. He and his Norwegian companions reached the summit at the end of last April, just as a storm struck the mountain.

23/04/96 John Warburton-Lee,Roof of Americas Expedition: Warburton-Lee is a Welsh Guardsman who led an expedition that traversed the length of the Americas taking in the summits of Denali and Aconcagua on the way with a host of other adventures including dog-sledging, canoeing and white-water rafting.

30/04/96 Mike Banks,Chinese Tien Shan: Mike Banks was just one of two septuagenarians on th is Saga sponsored expedition to the Bogda Range near Urumqui in Xinjiang, land of the redoubtable Kazakh horsemen. They climbed six mountains of over 4000m in this journey of mountain exploration before returning vai the Karakoram Highway.

14/05/96 Jim Perrin,Eric Shipton: Eic Shipton, a former President of the AC, was one of the foremost mountain explorers of the 20th Centuury. He climbed throughout the Himalaya and was involved in several attempts on Everest. Jim Perrin is Shipton's official biographer and a columnist on Climber magazine. His biography of Menlove Evans won the Boardman Tasker Award.

21/05/96 Bill Wright,A Future for the Cairngorms: Bill Wright is a campaigner of the Save the Cairngorms campaign and a dformer Access and Conservation Officer of the BMC. Bill will be talking about the great climbing in this important area and the environmental risks facing the area, including plans for a funicular railway to the summit of Cairn Gorm itself.

28/05/96 Pete Thompson,Solitude on the Summits: During his first season in the Alps in 1980 Peter Thompson climbed routes such as the Walker Spur and the American Direct on the Dru. Since then he has gone on to make solo ascents of numerous 6000m and 7000m peaks in Pakistan, India and Nepal. From the inside of Gilgit jail to the summits of previously unclimbed peaks. Peter describes his individualistic approach to mountaineering and illustrated his lecture with a selection of stunning slides.

11/06/96 Jon Rigby,Simien Skies: Recipient of the '96 Wilderness Award, Jon's beautifully illustrated lecture tells of the people, places, and mountaineering possibilities around Africa's fourth highest mountain, Rash Dejen 4543m. This expedition traversed the 20km ridge, above 4000m, which lies in the buffer zone of this World Heritage Site of the Simien National Park's 1500m escarpment.

18/06/96 Phil Wickens & John Kentish,Haute Route - the Chechnyan Way: During March this year a three-man British team made the first winter traverse of the Caucasus on skis. After a disease-ridden start they reached the main chain via Bezingi. The border ridge was followed and crossed, often skiing in Asia but sleeping in Europe, until an exit north (back into Russia) was made via the Adyl-su valley. As well as showing the feasibility of a Caucasan high level ski route, the group were able to ponder over numerous climbing objectives.

25/06/96 Martin Price,Mountains after Rio: Martin Price works for the Environmental Change Unit of Oxford University and is involved in several important conferences this year that will help formulate ideas about sustainable development following on from the United Nations Conference on Enviironment and Development held in Rio in 1992. He will be talking on the contribution climbers can make to this debate.

17/09/96 Roger Payne,Changabang 1996: Roger will talk on the first expedition to Changabang in fifteen years and the firast at all to the mountain's stunning North Face. While unsuccessful, the team made a spirited effort which will point the way for future attempts.

24/09/96 Paul Knott,The King and Queen of Canada: From a base camp in a 'virgin' glacier bowl between Mount King George (3741m) and Mount Queen Mary  (3928m) Paul Knott and Ade Miller took advantage of generlly good weather to attempt the North-east Ridge of Mount King George, make the first British ascent of Mount Queen Mary by a new route via the South Ridge and unclimbed Peak 3118m, and make the first ascent of Peak 3089m in the wild and spectacular St Elias Range. Paul will be talking on this and his expedition to Augusta in the same range.

15/10/96 Chris Bonington,Geriatrics and Dilettantes: Chris will be talking about Doug Scott and himself (the geriatric) on a big wall on Alam Kuh, and Charlie Clarke and himself (the dilettantes) wandering hidden Tibet doing a recce for an expedition next year.

22/10/96 Andy Macnae,Grapppling with The Ogre: Andy will be talking on his trip with some of Britain's emerging alpine stars to the formidable south-east pillar of The Ogre in the Karakoram, a route with 1600m of steep rock and mixed climbing to the uncliimbed east summit at 7100m.

29/10/96 Jon Tinker,Paying the Price: Jon will examine some of the arguments and controversy surrounding commercial expeditions in the light of the tragic season on Everest this year. It is hoped that a number of climbers with a specific interest will attend to open up debate on the topic after Jon's talk.

12/11/96 Colonel Narinder Kumar,The Indian Top Ten: Colonel Kumar was the leader of the Indian ascent of Kanchenjunga in 1977 which was the first ascent of the North Ridge. He will be talking about the favouite and best mountains of India.

26/11/96 Jonathan Wakefield,The Met on Manaslu: Jonathan Wakefield of the Metropolitan Police is leading a team of policemen to Manaslu during the post-monsoon and will be helping the Alpine Club with its enquiries about expedition on his return.

02/12/96 George Band,Via Ferrata for Veterans: Last July George was lured by Hamish Nicol to join a Waymark 'Grade Five' tour group hut to hut traverse of the Dolomites from west to east, taking in a dozen via ferrata. They were an odd bunch, but probably thought the same of us, says George.

 Alpine Club Lectures 1997

14/01/97 Simon Clarke,Pumasillo - A Puma by the Tail: In 1957, with John Longland, Simon Clarke organised and led the Cambridge Andean Expedition which made the first ascent of Pumasillo in the Cordillera Vilacamba of Peru, at a time the highest unclimbed peak in the Americas.Simon last gave this lecture 19 years ago during the Silver Jubilee celebrations at the RGS, so the 40th anniversary of the expedition offers a rare opportunity to see pictures of this challenging and difficult first ascent.

21/01/97 Jerry Gore,Greenland - Storms, Mussels and Towers: Last summer Jerry Gore travelled to the Tasermiut Fjord region of southern Greenland, climbing a new route on the huge and imposing tower of Nalumasortoq with Tony Penning and the Slovenian ace Silvo Karo in six days, finishing, typically fro Gore, in a storm, Their expedition relied heavily on foraging for local fauna, hence the name of their route 'Mussel Power'.

28/01/97 Victor Saunders,Wintering on Nanga Parbat: While most of the 8000m peaks in Nepal have been climbed in winter, the giants of the Karakoram have remained peculiarly resistant. This winter two expeditions are attempting to rectify this on Nanga Parbat, the first a large team of Poles led by Andrej Zawada, and the second a two-man team including Victor Saunders. Victor will be lecturing on the architecture of gasometers.

18/02/97 Rupert Hoare,More Alpine Classics: Following Sally Westmacott's popular talk on alpine traverses in 1995, Rupert Hoare will describe a selection of alpine classics in the easier grades, such as the Biancograt, Zmutt Ridge, Cresta Signal, and many other enjoyable routes.

11/02/97 Dave Willis,Latok - No Success like Failure: The North Ridge of Latok is one of the most arresting challenges left in the Himalaya and has attracted many of the top alpinists in the world. Last summer Dave Willis, along with Brebdan Murphy, made his third pilgramage to the mountain in five years attempting the first ascent in pure alpine style despite the strong possibility of failure.

08/02/97 Ed Douglas,Chomolungma Blues: For the last two years Ed Douglas has been working on a travel book of modern Nepal viewed from the perspective of a climber who first learned of the country through stories of Everest. The lecture will focus on how Nepal, the country's people and environment and climbing on Everest are facing up to the 21st Century.

25/02/97 Jim Perrin,Don Whillans - So I 'it 'im: Jim Perrin has finnished his long-awaited biography of Don Whillans and will be lecturing on the life and climbs of the great man to coincide with the book's publication early in 1997. This time Jim will be there!

11/03/97 Al Hinkes,Climbing the 8,000ers: Al Hinkes has climbed eight of the 8,000m peaks, three of them, incluing Everest, in the last year. In 1997 he intends to complete the list by climbing the remaining six. He leaves for Nepal soon after this lecture so his talk before attempting this unprecedented achievement should be particularly interesting.

18/03/97 Nick Clinch,The Land of Up and Down: California-based climber Nick Clinch has subtitled this talk 'Wanderings in the Kang Karpo Range on the Yunnan-Tibet border'. Clinch has made four expeditions to this remote area, and his talk should be one of the highlights of this year's lecture programme.

25/03/97 Ed Douglas,The Hand of Fatima: This collection of five huge sandstone towers on the fringes of the Sahara Desert close to Timbuctu has received visits from German and French climbers but not, so far, Britons. Ed Douglas will be talking about climbing in 40 degree heat in one of the driest parts of the world.

22/04/97 Derek Walker,Don't leave it too late Matey!: After tunnelling out from his office at the BMC and making good his escape, the evergreen Derek Walker has spent the last 18 months making up for lost time climbing and trekking in Britain, Patagonia, the Alps, Corsica, the Dolomites and Nepal. He will have just returned from Morocco for this talk.

29/04/97 Sir John Johnson,The Simien Mountains: Sir John will be talking about his recent trek to this little-known range of mountains in Ethiopia, and describing Gondar's place in Ethiopian history, environmental problems in the National Park, the area's wildlife and his trek through the massif itself culminating in an ascent of Ras Dejeu.

13/05/97 Lindsay Griffin,Sikkim in 1996: Last October, an expedition including Doug Scott, Lindsay Griffin, Phil Bartlett, Julian Freeman-Attwood and others visited north-eastern Sikkim. While bad weather prevented them from climbing their objectives Chombu and Gurulongmar, they achieved a great deal of exploration including the environs of the Sebu La and Gurudongmar Saddle.

20/05/97 Lt. Com. Steve Jackson,British Services Gasherbrum 1 Expedition: Steve Jackson will be describing this expedition to Gasherbrum 1 in the Karakoram, the first success on an 8,000m peak by a military expedition since Brono Lane and Brummie Stokes climbed Everest in 1976. Their ascent, which was the second by British climbers, also included the first by a New Zealander.

10/06/97 Roy Ruddle & Mike Pescod,The Club's Caucasus Meet: An account of the 1997 Caucasus expedition

09/09/97 Mick Fowler,North Face of Changabang: One of the great long-standing problems of the Garhwal Himalaya in India, this dramatic face was climbed in alpine style earlier this summer by members of a six-man team comprising Fowler, Steve Sustad, Andy Cave, Brendan Murphy, Julie Ann Clyma and Roger Payne.

11/11/97 Peter Berg,Scrambles among the Alps: A slightly late centenary recreation of the first lecture given by Edward Whymper in 1896 using his set of lantern slides which have been in the AC archives since 1945, and commentaries taken from his writings.

12/12/97 John Harding,A Traveller's Miscellany: An entertaining talk and slide show following the AGM.

 Alpine Club Lectures 1998

13/01/98 David Hamilton,Pakistan: The mountains of Pakistan enjoyed unprecedented fine weather last summer. Visiting the region for the eleventh consecutive year David led three expeditions between mid-April and the end of August. A ski traverse of the Hispar-Biafo glacier system and an adventurous trek to the rarely visited Muztagh Pass and Skam La was followed by an expedition to Gasherbrum 1 where he shared a base camp with over 200 people. Despite a successful ascent, he returned home with mixed feelings and he offers a bleak picture of the current state of 8,000m peak climbing.

27/01/98 Roger Smith,Arolla Alps: The small settlement of Arolla lies in the heart of the Pennine Alps of Central Switzerland at the head of the Val d'Herens. The area has been justifiably popular with British cl;imbers since the 1860's. This lecture samples the area and climbs a majority of its major peaks by a variety of routes.

10/02/98 Steve Bell,The Seven Summits: Steve Bell, director of Himalayan Kingdoms Expeditions, climbed the West Rib of Denali last May to complete his round of the Seven Summits, one of a handful of Britons to complete this feat. He will use his lecture to reflect on the differences he experienced during the ten years he was pursuing his goal.

24/02/98 Derek Fordham,Gunnbjornnsfjeld: In the summer of 1996 Derek led a small expedition from the Eagle Ski Club to climb the highest mountain in the Arctic. The successful ascent was followed by a difficult ski journey across the grain of the mountains to reach a coastal rendezvous with a small aircraft.

10/03/98 Steve Razzetti,Kailas Pilgrimage: Steve has made a number of trips to north west Nepla and has been working with the Nepal Trust to build a health-post in Humla. He will be giving an introduction to this area as well as describing his circumambulation of Kailas itself just across the border in Tibet, the holiest mountain in the world.

19/03/98 Peter Steele,Eric Shipton Evening: Peter's biography of the former AC President Eric Shipton is published in March and he will be launching his book at the AC with a lecture on the remarkable life of one of the great explorers and mountaineers of modern times.

21/04/98 Royal Robbins,On the Big Stone: One of the most influential climbers of the twentieth century, Royal Robbins is best known for hios big wall climbs in Yosemite like the Salathé Wall and contributions in the Mont Blanc Range. In more recent years he has been on several kayaking expeditions and has established a successful clothing company.

28/04/98 Cynthia Gamble,Ruskin and Violet-le-Duc: Climbers and Painters of the Alps: An illustrated lecture on these influential artists by Cynthia Gamble, Honorary Secretary of the newly organised Ruskin Society. Both men were also members of their respective Alpine Clubs. This talk is a vital historical occasion, and not to be missed.

12/05/98 Malcolm Eldridge,The Alps from End to End: Inspired by Sir Martin Conway's classic book The Alps from End to End, Malcolm Eldridge spent 12 weeks last summer retracing the route on foot, climbing 36 summits and crosssing 27 passes, and noting the changes that have transformed the Alps in the last hundred years.

22/09/98 Audrey Salkeld,The Rise and Fall of the German Bergfilm Industry: The exciting, if melodramatic climbing and skiing films to come out of Germany during the inter-war years challenged Hollywood productions of the day. Forming a recognisable genre which has often been compared to the American Western, they found no favour however with Colonel Strutt, editor of the Alpine Journal, who pronounced them a revolting epidemic. Arnold Fanck, who launched the style, has been overshaddowed in popular memory by many of his protégés who, beside Leni Riefenstahl, have included Hannes Schneider, Hans Schneeberger Luis Trenker and Hans Ertl. With stills and anecdotal portraits, Audrey Salkeld gives a quick tour around both the genre and its colourful protagonists.

13/10/98 Margaret Body,Lives and Times in the Book Trade: Formerly an editor at Hodder & Stoughton, Maggie Body worked with many of the best-known authors to have written about climbing in the last three decades, including Chris Bonington, Kurt Diemberger, Ed Hillary, Doug Scott, Eric Shipton and those writers dubbed by Ken Wilson as 'Maggie's Ninjas': a new wave of younger mountaineers like Andy Fanshaw, Mick Fowler and Victor Saunders. Her often humourous reminiscences of those years have proved highly popular at events around the world. Now it's the Alpine Club's chance to hear her.

10/11/98 Several speakers,Tales from the Alpine Club Caucasus Meet: A post-match briefing

24/11/98 Dennis Gray,Slack - The Fun of Climbing: Since his retirement as General Secretary of the BMC, Dennis Gray has been travelling, climbing and trekking all over the world and has recently completed a second collection of memoirs entitled Slack. Dennis has created a lecture around this book and his more recent experiences in a wide variety of countries and regions, from the Himalayas to Morocco to Korea. He has recently returned from South Africa where he spent twp months lecturing and climbing.

Alpine Club Lectures 1999

12/01/99 Gordon Stainforth,The Peak: Past and Present: In his latest book of the same name, award-winning photographer Gordon Stainforth has turned his highly original eye to one of the most popular National Parks in Britain. In this unusual lecture, illustrated with stunning medium format transparencies, Gordon invites you, in the words of Daniel Defoe in 1726, 'to travel with me through this howling wilderness in your imagination' and to join him on a magical journey through a landscape where ancient Celtic rituals mingle with the exploits of the modern rock climber. Gordon will be selling copies of his book at the lecture.

26/01/99 Jonathan Pratt,Kanchenjunga North Ridge: Jon Pratt, who last year climbed Kanchenjunga in the company of the first woman to reach the summit, British climber Ginette Harrison, has provisionally agreed to lecture on his historic ascent on the assumption that it will coincide with one of his rare periods in the UK.

09/02/99 Doug Scott,World Premier Lecture: Doug Scott will be giving an illustrated account of ascents on unclimbed peaks in Nepal and Sikkim. These will include Hanging Glacier Peak South in the Kanjiroba Himal, his ascent with Roger Mear last October up the South Pillar of Drohmo, near Kanchenjuga, and his ascent of Chombu East in NE Sikkim with various members during 1996. The emphasis of the lecture will be to encourage others to these areas where there is much to do.

23/02/99 Jerry Lovatt and Leyla Pope,Alam Kuh 1964 and 1998: before and after the revolution: The introductory half of this lecture will be given by Jerry Lovatt, one of two AC members who were part of the first British team to attempt the North Face of Alam Kuh in Iran in 1964. It is anticipated that this will be in sharp contrast to the second half, given by Leyla Pope who spent eight months in Iran last year as part of her course in Oriental Studies at Cambridge. Her lecture is based on contrasting images of Iran - from polluted Tehran to majical powder skiing, rock climbing and hiking - the deserts of the south and the mountains of the north. Inspired by the BMC's women's symposium held last year in May - a British-Iranian women's climbing exchange was set up. Glenda Huxter, Kath Pyke, Celia Bull and Leyla were invited by the Iranian Women;s Mountaineering Federation to climb the granite wall on Alam Kuh (4850m), Iran's second highest mountain, and to run a workshop for aspiring female climbing instructors. The trip was an insight into the complexities and misconceptions that surrpound Iran ever since its dramtic split with the West in 1979, challenging stereotypical views about women, climbing and Islam.

09/03/99 David Hamilton,Muztagh Ata Ski Ascent: At 7546m Muztagh Ata is probably the highest peak in the world that could be ascended with a supermarket trolley, although the wheels might get stuck if the snow was soft! Swedish explorer Sven Hedin tried to ride a yak to the summit, and Shipton & Tilman almost succeeded in making the first ascent on one of their famously under-resourced expeditions. First ascended on ski by Galen Rowell and Ned Gillette in 1980, it has become an increasingly popular destination for ski expeditions. David will tell of the fun and frustrations he experienced while leading a group of four 'very poor skiers' on the peak last summer. Surprisingly the team's skiing abilities mysteriously ebbed away with the increasing altitude, providing much amusement for the Swiss and German skiers.

13/04/99 Roger Payne,A Century Within: Roger Payne reports on five exploratory lightweight trips to India, including the North Face of Changabang

27/04/99 Jeremy Whitehead,Traversing the French Alps on Ski: Jeremy is one of the most experienced ski-mountaineers in the country and has an unrivalled knowledge of ski routes in the French Alps. This survey of the scene will focus on a major traverse and coincides with the completion of his new guidebook which is available to order from the author.

11/05/99 Martin Wragg,Lotus Flower Tower: This remote rock route in the Cirque of the Unclimbables was described by its first ascentionists as 'the best rock climb in the world'. Subsequent ascentionists have not demuued! Martin climbed the 2500ft route up this spectacular obelisk-like tower last August. A world classic 'middle-grade' rock route it provides a real adventure yet is manageable for the determined holiday climber.

25/05/99 Audrey Salkeld,Film of the 1933 Everest Expedition: Audrey Salkeld will introduce the recently discovered film by Wyne Harris of the 1933 Everest Expedition. This has rarely been seen in the past and offers a chance to see history in the making.

14/09/99 John Temple,The Discovery and First Ascent of Mount Kenya: One hundred and fifty years ago (December 1849) the missionary Johannes Ludwig Krapf was the first westerner to see Mt Kenya. Controversy following his report of equatorial snow enlivened geographical debate for a couple of decades. Attempts to reach the mountain were no less lively. The expedition which climbed it in September 1899 under the leadership of Mackinder had greater problems than the climbing itself, difficult though that was.

28/09/99 Bill Jones,The Alpine Club Denali Expedition: Bill placed an ad in the Newsletter - and four strangers set off for Alaska.

12/10/99 Harry Archer,Video Film of East Africa 1960-63: The film includes rare footage of the Ruwenzori. There is also the technical interest angle about the transferring of archival material to video.

26/10/99 Les Swindin,Valais Alps East: One of our guidbook authors talks about the Valais and about the skills of producing a new guidebook to the area.

09/11/99 Nick Lewis,Patagonia in Winter: Nick talks about a recent exploratory trip to this exciting area.

23/11/99 John Allen,The Magic of the Munros: This talk will coincide with the launch of a lavish compilation by Irvine Butterfield which captures in images some of that elusive magic of Scottish mountains. John now lives in Scotland and is a major contributor to the book. Members will be familiar with his work in 'The High Mountains of the Alps'. Proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the John Muir Trust.

Alpine Club Lectures 2000

11/01/00 Mick Fowler & Steve Sustad,Arwa Tower: This striking peak in the northern part of Western Garhwal 'will test the best rock climbers' as Harish Kapadia wrote in Meeting the Mountains. That's all the encouragement Mick Fowler and Steve Sustad needed. The two men made the first ascent of the peak via the North Spur NW Face in a seven-day round trip that Fowler has graded ED+ with Scottish VI mixed climbing and pitches of A3 and VI rock. Another coup for Britain's neckiest tax man.

25/01/00 Audry Salkeld,The Last Climb: Audrey's latest book is the result of her further research into Mallory and Irvine on Everest. She is particularly enthusiastic about the contemporary photographs, and will be showing the Club some exciting material.

22/02/00 Dennis Gray,Climbing in South Africa: Dennis has made numerous visits to South Africa including the Drakensberg, Wave Cave, the Silvermine and Cedarberg. There are a large number of developed climbing area which Dennis will tell us about.

14/03/00 Stephen Venables,Mountains of the Far South

28/03/00 Charles Clarke,The Other Side of Climbing - Science, Medicine and the Nyanchen Tangla

11/04/00 Paul Deegan,Forbidden Summits - Tall Tales from the Pamirs: In 1999 Paul’s team made the first mountaineering visit for many years to the Zaalayskiy Krebet at the eastern end of the Pamirs. The team made first ascents of of several 4500-5000m peaks and explored valleys on the Tadjik /Chinese border. Photographs of stunning north faces, Kyrgyz nomads and a snow leopard

18/04/00 Bear Grylls,Facing Up - the Youngest Briton to Climb Everest: A remarkable journey to the summit of Everest, a vivid description of the trials and tribulations of life high up, also described in his book ‘Facing Up’

09/05/00 Julian Freeman Attwood,The Mountains of the Antarctic Peninsular: 3 Sailing / Mountaineering Expeditions to the far south with Whitbread round the world Captain Skip Novak: The talk covers three sailing / mountaineering expeditions on the 55ft Sailing vessel ‘Pelagic’, built and owned by the 4 times round the world Captain James ‘Skip’ Novak. Each trip set off from Ushuaia near Cape Horn battling almost always through big seas across the 600 miles wide Drake passage to the South Shetlands.  A further 300 miles south, the expeditions concentrated on the mountains of the Graham Land coast of continental Antarctica. Also covered were the mountains climbed, most notably Mt Williams on Anvers Island, attempts on Cape Renard Tower and Mt Italia on Wiencke Island. Various aspects of relevant Antarctic history are included plus visits to two scientific bases and a glimpse of the wildlife seen.

23/05/00 Henry Day,Annapurna 1-30 Years On (and three days): In the year that marks the 50th anniversary of the first ascent by the French and the 30th of the second and third by British teams, this account of the Army expedition uses slides dusted off  for the first time in many years. The narrator plans to includes unreliable memories of a meeting called by Dougal Haston and Don Whillans to pool anoxic memories of the view from the top.  (Sir Christian’s account is to follow in December at the AGM).

12/09/00 Tom Chamberlain,The Lemon Mountains of East Greenland: Building on previous successes in East Greenland, this student party made a total of 18 ascents, 12 of them new routes.

21/09/00 Steve Razzetti,Trekking and Climbing in Nepal

26/09/00 Roger Smith, Neill Marshall & Trevor Southall,European Summits 1999: An 8000 mile epic from the Arctic Circle to southern Spain during which the highest mountains of the 8 western European countries with peaks of an alpine character were attempted.  The party of students led by 3 of our members succeeded in reaching seven summits in 5 ½ weeks. Patrons: Our President and immediate Past- President

10/10/00 David Simmonite,Rock Climbing in England and Wales: David and Neil Champion have put together a magnificent book, with individual accounts of climbs by various well-respected climbers, and with splendid photographs. David will be taking us on a tour around the crags and mountains of England and Wales.

24/10/00 Hamish Brown,The Mountains Look on Marakesh: Our member has been exploring the Atlas ranges for 35 years and has put together a unique look at Berber life and trekking and climbing in the nearest exotic land to Europe.  In 19995 he made a complete end-to-end traverse of the Atlas (96 days, 900 miles, 30+ peaks) and for the Millennium traversed the Anti Atlas.  A colourful and lively evening is promised.

14/11/00 Valeri Hardin and Vladimir Birukov,Kyrgyzstan: Come and hear about this exciting area which is now becoming more well-known. The mountaineers Valeri Hardin and Vladimir Birukob, who have had a very busy season in the Tien Shan, will give a slide presentation on the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, as well as a short video.

28/11/00 Julian Freeman Attwood,The British Trans-Himmalaya Expedition: The main objective was the first ascent of the south face of Loinbo Kangri (7095m), a remote peak on the Tibetan Plateau.  Adverse conditions dictated a change in objective and ascents were made of three smaller peaks.

08/12/00 Sir Chris Bonington,Around Annapurna - reminiscences of Annapurna II and Annapurna South Face

Alpine Club Lectures 2001

09/01/01 Stevan Jackson,British Services Kangchenjunga Expedition 2000: A report on the first British expedition to reach the summit via the South West (Yalung) Face since 1955. An encore to the AC lecture in Derbyshire in October which was much enjoyed.

23/01/01 Peter & Leni Gillman,The Wildest Dream: The well-known mountaineering authors, present an account of the rich and diverse life of George Mallory, based on their recent biography.

13/02/01 Jerry Gore,Borneo Wall: An account of our member’s expedition to Borneo with the aim of making the first complete ascent of the overhanging 1000m wall of Low’s Gully

27/02/01 Mike Binnie,Narmada River Trek: In the spring of 2000 our member made an exciting solo walk alondg the sacred Narmada River from its mouth on the Arabian Sea to its source 1300km away at Amarkantak, a holy spring in the forested Satpura Mountains of Central India.

13/03/01 Dennis Davis,Ahead of its time- Nuptse South Face 1961: A 40th anniversary lecture by the first ascentionist (with Tashi, followed a day later by Chris Bonington).

27/03/01 Graham Hoyland,Cameras on Everest: Graham is the great-nephew of Howard Somervell, former President of the AC. As a boy Graham was told by Somervell how he lent his camera to George Mallory just before he disappeared on the North Ridge of Everest. Inspired by this story Graham has been looking for the camera ever since on 4 expeditions to the mountain, summitting himself in 1993. He is now a BBC producer and initiated the expedition which lead to the discovery of Mallory's body in 1999. He will show footage of the 1922-24 expeditions and also search footage which has never been seen before.

10/04/01 John Harding,The Birth of a Book: Our member reveals his experiences in getting his new book on the Pyrenees published

08/05/01 Will Manners and Bill Billous.,Southern Challenge: A relay of crews has sailed a 50-foot yacht to South Georgia via the Falklands and has landed a team of climbers, including several members of the AC, which is attempting to climb Mount Roots. This is the  third highest mountain on British territory and is unclimbed. (news of their progress is carried on www. southernchallenge.btinternet.co.uk)

22/05/01 Alessandro Gogna,High Achievement in the Alps: The accomplished Italian climber has accepted our invitation to give talks to the Club in both Derbyshire in London and has been asked to concentrate on  his great ascents in the Alps. These should include rock climbs on the Marmolada and in Val di Mella; big new routes on the south side of the Grandes Jorasses and the Zmutt Nose; as well as winter routes on the Piz Badile and the Peuterey Ridge.

12/06/01 Babu Chiri Sherpa  ,Top Mountaineer: Babu has climbed Everest ten times, in good weather and bad, from the north and from the south, by himself and chaperoning clients.  In May 1999 he spent 21 hours hunkered in a tiny tent at 29, 035 feet, by far the longest any human being has stayed at the summit.  Last May he sprinted from Base Camp to the top in 16 hours and 56 minutes, the fastest time ever…. Outside April 2001.

26/06/01 Pat Littlejohn,Clean Climbing on Big Walls:  Our member will describe recent climbs: on Poi in Kenya last year and a 1000 metre route on Jebel Misht in Oman he has just done. The talk is about climbing big walls with a ‘wilderness’ or ‘clean climbing’ ethic, leaving as few traces as possible.

,Mike Searle,Mountains and Geology: Mike has agreed to update the members on his travels to mountain ranges most of us can only read about- all in the way of geology and science. A broader coverage than his talk at the China/ Tibet Symposium last year which included a good selection of Landsat and Space Shuttle shots.

25/09/01 Neil Cooper and Alison Wedgewood,Kanjiroba Himal: A young and relatively inexperienced group of people, including one couple on their honey-moon spent 32 days (out of 35) battling up the same gorge that Dick Isherwood had explored in 1976. For 12 days the team had to build bridges, anchor Tyrolean traverses and cut steps in 45 degree earth to transport the mobile village to base camp  over the impressive crevasse-like gorge, above which was a monstrous fissured rock wall, reminiscent of those parts of the Dolomites which you only see when you get lost on a descent 1977 Alpine Club Journal.   4 members summited, one had frost-bite, blizzards prevented food supplies from reaching base camp, so we were forced to try a new route back - this involved 4 starving days scrabbling over cliffs and ravines at 5000m. However, in good weather this route will allow much easier access to a range of 6000-7000m mountains that are still mostly unclimbed.

09/10/01 Colin Knowles and Mike Ratty,Modest Explorations in Lahaul and Spiti: Our members will lecture on recent exploration in Kulu and Spiti, with lots of adventures in an interesting area.

23/10/01 Nick Lewis,Safe Return Doubtful: Nick Lewis describes three contrasting expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic which shot material for two forthcoming films on Shackleton. One a full-scale dramatisation shot on the East Coast of Greenland with Kenneth Branagh in the lead role, the other a documentary which filmed scenes in the Weddell Sea and a crossing of South Georgia by Reinhold Messner and the AC's own Stephen Venables.

13/11/01 Bradford Washburn,Life and Times: We are honoured that our member, ninety-one year old Bradford Washburn and his wife Barbara (only 87) are visting the Club while they are in England to headline the Festival of Mountaineering Literature. Brad's new book Mountain Photography has been winning international prizes throughout the last year. His authoritative book Mount McKinley: The Conquest of Denali, co-written with David Roberts, is widely recognised as the finest book production of the last decade.

27/11/01 Crag Jones,Jones the Telly Gets High and Smelly': 'To prove that TV Soap is good for you, Crag Jones will relate broadcast adventures from the N.Ridge of Everest to the Totem Pole and beyond

Alpine Club Lectures 2002

08/01/02 Elisabeth Hussey,Arnold Lunn: The speaker is an unofficial historian of the Ski Club of Great Britain and will cover Arnold Lunn’s early love of mountains and his walks over the mountains as a boy.   His climb of the Dom (with an offer to bring the ski he used) and ski ascent of the Eiger.    Being blackballed by the Alpine Club and eventually being accepted. Editing A Century of Mountaineering for the Alpine Club  which many consider his greatest book.  How he reached the top of Mont Blanc in old age (by helicopter).

22/01/02 Henry Day,Travels with a Donkey in the Kun Lun: Known to the MEF more formally as the British Kun Lun 2001 Expedition, it was made by AC members H Day, Phil Bartlett and Julian Freeman-Attwood. The aim was to explore the plateau region south of Hotan and attempt unclimbed peaks. Indeed the first ascent was made of peak 6061m which had been surveyed by Aurel Stein 100years ago, but that was miles away from where they tried to go. The tale includes the drive out through Central Asia by Land Rover- and how the events of 11 Sep disrupted the expedition.

12/02/02 Derek Buckle & John Town,Up the Kongpo Without a paddle: They visited the Kongpo region of Tibet in September This is a closed area of Tibet and they believe theywere the first Westerners to explore these valley systems and photograph the impressive peaks that border them.They have obtained a collection of photos of the high peaks in this area (around 6,000m or more), none of which has been seen before by climbers, let alone climbed.   The talk will describe their eventful trip in from Lhasa, including breakdowns and delays due to rebuilding of the Tibet-Sechuan highway.  It will focus on their exploration of the Wortse Chu and He Chu valleys in the Kongpo region of Tibet.

26/02/02 Adele Pennington,Bolivian Climbs: The British Female Bolivian Cordillera Real 2001  Expedition was successful with one possible first ascent and 5 new routes. Bolivia provides some ideal opportunities for Alpine style climbing.  The talk will disclose the activities of two BMC and MEF supported female expeditions to Bolivia.  The first visited the Quimsa Cruz and Illimani; the second a remote area in the Cordillera Real.  Comparisons of the expeditions and their organisation will be made and the decision to Mule or not to Mule disclosed.

12/03/02 Richard Goedecke,Richard has made first ascents in all of the alps (but particularly in the Dolomites) and has also repeated a great many of the classic routes. He is the author of many books - notably the 4000m peak guide that is published in English as well as and a guide to the easy ascents of the main dolomite peaks which is being translated and will remind members of the great British involvement in early Dolomite climbing.This will be a good opportunity for the AC to dust down its Dolomite heritage and remind young climbers (many of whom are now looking to the harder Dolomite routes) of the history, while also firing them with interest in today's possibilities.

26/03/02 Colin Knowles,The Trident of Shiva

09/04/02 Ed Douglas,The Hidden Face of Everest: Ed will lead a discussion on keeping Everest clean.

23/04/02 Geoff Hornby,New Climbs in the Hajar Mountains of Oman

28/05/02 Alun Davis,The autonomous province of Trentino extends eastwards from Monte Cevedale in the Ortler, via the Adamello, Presenella and Bretna groups, as far as the Marmolada deep into the main Dolomites. The southern limit is half way down Lake Garda while the northern limit is the Austrian border - it was once the South Tyrol of course . The Trentino Tourist Office asked John Cleare to explore the possibility of them hosting a Trentino Evening at the AC - in very much the same way as the Val d'Aosta folk did for a few years.  They will bring over some of their really brilliant wines, cheese, food and and provide mountaineering entertainment for the evening with a speaker, a slideshow or a video. Obviously there is a commercial slant to the evening - Trentino is trying to promote its mountains. The Dolomites need no introduction and there are challenging snow and ice peaks, comparitively un-frequented by Brits, in the three western groups. The ski touring is excellent and in recent years the region has become a major sport-climbing venue with hundreds of easily accessible crags especially in the vicinity of Lake Garda.

Alpine Club Lectures 2003

14/01/03 Chic Scott,The Mountains of Canada: Chic recently wrote ‘Pushing the Limits’, a history of climbing in Canada. His talk will include material from this, and back country ski mountaineering.

28/01/03 Malcolm Eldridge,The Golden Ages of Chamonix Climbing: Malcolm, who insists that he is only an ‘ordinary climber’, has accumulated enough routes and slides over 35 years of Chamonix climbing to to illustrate its historic development. Routes include the Brenva Spur, Frontier Ridge, N Face of the Plan, Walker Spur, Gervasutti Pillar, Blaitiere W Face and modern rock routes.

11/02/03 Dan Mazur,Himalaya, High and Unclimbed: Dan has climbed 7 of the 8000m peaks, and new and difficult routes on lesser mountains. His presentation includes high-standard climbing, local people and cultures, and wildlife. He will be promoting a charity, the Central Asia Institute, which builds schools for girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

25/02/03 John Town and Nick Hart,Exploring the Mountains of Central Tibet's Nye Chu: The expedition members made a thorough exploration of the exceptionally remote Kong-Po range, Nyewo Valley which was last visited by a Briton in 1936. They photographed and mapped the area including the spectacular Nyenang/ kangla Karpo (6870m) with its unclimbed NW face and attempted subsidiary peaks over a 4-week period.

11/03/03 Mick Fowler,Siguniang - The Ultimate Ice Line: First ascent over eight days of the North Face of Mount Siguniang in the Qiongla Range in Sichuan Province.

25/03/03 Julian Freeman Attwood,The Mountains of the Gangdise or Transhimalaya of Tibet: A look at the river systems and ranges of the Transhimalaya, much of which is little better known than in the days of Sven Hedin, the Swedish explorer who travelled extensively in the region 1906-1908. The Gangdise ranges cover an area the size of the UK so there are huge areas yet to be explored.

01/04/03 Harish Kapadia,The God that did not Fail: Our Honorary member will talk about two expeditions to the East Karakoram: Climbs in the Arganglas valley with Sir Chris Bonington's international team: and a trek along the historic trade route to Karakoram Pass, Col Italia, Teram Sher Ice-Plateau and climb of Padmanabh (7030 m) on the Siachen Glacier with an Indo-Japanese team. The topic will allow Harish to cover different styles between climbers from England, America and Japan and climbs and explorations in very remote, unknown and  unvisited areas.

15/04/03 Phil Wickens,Antarctic Winter Mountaineering: Antarctica has numerous mountain ranges that have had very few visits. Phil will describe winter climbs and summer exploration during his 33 months in this very remote and isolated continent.

13/05/03 Ian Parnell and Kenton Cool,South-West Face of Denali: Ian and Kenton Cool made the second ascent of the Denali Diamond last May, an 8000ft route on the SW face of the highest mountain in the USA. They spent 5 days of hard mixed climbing on the route,including 2 days on the crux pitch.

10/06/03 Rob Collister,Ski Ascents in Gangotri and Bandarpunch, India: Eagle Ski Club expeditions up as well as down 6000 metre peaks.

24/06/03 Ed Douglas,Tenzing: Tenzing Norgay is globally famous as one of the first two men to climb Everest 50 years ago and was known to many members of the Alpine Club. Ed Douglas has spent the last three years researching and writing his biography and will be revealing much about Tenzing's origins and early life.

09/09/03 Roy Ruddle, Derek Buckle and Dave Wilkinson,Greenland 2002: Roy Ruddle arranged for three parties each of two climbers to be air-landed in Greenland last summer. Dave and Geoff Cohen made a first exploration of the North Lemon mountains, with first ascents of three peaks including the most prominent, The Spear c. 2600m. This has been reported to have been a  30 hour non-stop TD route.

23/09/03 Mick Conefrey and Amanda Faber,The Making of the Film: The producer and researcher of the film on Mount Everest shown on Channel 4 on the eve of the 50th anniversary celebrations introduce a private showing to members of the Alpine Club.

14/10/03 Dennis Gray,The History of the ACG: The early days of the ACG will be recalled up until the merger with the AC. Further revelations following his great article in the Journal.

28/10/03 Marie-Noel Borgeaud,Gabriel Loppé, Painter, Photographer and Alpinist: The author of a recent book of the same name will feature many of Loppé’s pictures including those owned by the AC. Gabriel Loppé was also the first French member elected to the Club.

11/11/03 Mark Vallance,How to make friends and influence people. Founder of the climbing equipment company Wild Country and current BMC President Mark Vallance will pay homage to his illustrious great uncle, Hermann Woolley, President of the AC 1908-1910, with a brief selection of slides from his own fifty years of climbing in seven continents.

25/11/03 Carlos Buhler,The American climber Carlos Buhler is one of the world's most successful expeditioners. Over the last 25 years he has been at the forefront of exploratory mountaineering, with many first ascents in Peru, Alaska and the Himalaya. High alititude successes include alpine style ascents of K2 North Ridge with the Russians, Kangchenjunga North Face with Peter Habeler and the first ascent of Everest's Kangshung Face. However, it is on the more elegant, 6000ers and 7000ers that he has really made his mark, most notably on Changabang's North Face Direct and, this year, the first ascent of Sepu Kangri.

Alpine Club Lectures 2004

13/01/04 Lieutenant Colonel Nick Arding and Warrant Officer 2 Dave Pearce Royal Marines,The leader and climbing leader respectively of the Royal Navy Everest North Ridge 2003 Expedition will describe  climbing the North Col Route with 10 climbers and 3 support staff.  They put two climbers onto the summit; Dave Pearce and Chhring Dorje Sherpa on 22 May.  They also rescued two climbers from high up on the route, one of whom had broken his leg on 21 May, and his partner who had sustained snowblindness and frostbite whilst helping his friend down to Camp 6. The successful rescue promises to be a heartening tale after recent disgraceful episodes reported from Everest and we look forward to welcoming the speakers to our membership very soon.

Alpine Club Lectures 2005

08/03/05 Henry Day and Stephen Venables,Henry and Stephen will be showing some slides on Lofoten and Ecuador respectively.  There is probably time for some more slides so do come for a convivial evening - with or without slides.

22/03/05 David Hamilton,Karakoram Ski Traverse 2004: In Spring 2004 David Hamilton led a 6 person team on a 37 day ski expedition  from Shimshal in Upper Hunza to Hushe in Baltistan. This highly technical route crossed 6 high passes at heights up to 5700m along the Pakistan/China frontier. David will tell the story of this project and also consider the history of the high passes of the Karakoram linking his journey with historical information about the first explorers and mountaineers to travel in this region. The cast includes: Schlagintweit, Godwin Austen, Younghusband, Conway, various Italian Dukes, Shipton, Tilman, Desio, and a Balti porter called Ali Jangjungpa.

12/04/05 Greg Child,Greg Child is one of the great postwar Himalayan climbers.  His ascents include the stunning East Ridge of Shivling with Doug Scott, the North Ridge of K2, Trango Tower and the only full repeat ascent of Gasherbrum IV, by a new route up the Northwest Ridge.  His witty, incisive first book - the original 'Thin Air' - was one of the mountain literature highlights of the eighties.  He is also a very fine photographer.  And a great climbing all-rounder, excelling on big walls and modern sport climbs, as well as Himalayan giants.  In this special talk for the Alpine Club, he will cover some of his legendary Himalayan climbs, climbing on the desert towers of Utah and recent journeys through Navajo and Anasazi country.

26/04/05 Chris Jones,The 1974 first ascent of the north face of North Twin was featured by the American Alpine Journal in its 2002 Ten Climbs to Remember issue. In it, Barry Blanchard wrote, It is, hands down, the hardest face in the range. Five thousand feet of sheer, black, and north-facing limestone, steeper than the Eiger, one and a half times as high as El Cap, a great dark cape of a peak …. Then there is the loose rock and the falling rock ... at times it makes the Eiger look like a kiddies’ sandbox…. I believe that nothing then accomplished in Patagonia, the Alps, Alaska or the Himalaya measured up to what George (Lowe) and Chris accomplished with ‘a rope, a rack, and two packs’.  Chris Jones will describe this historic ascent of a face that has since been climbed only twice in thirty years.

10/05/05 Tom Nakamura,Tamotsu Nakamura was born in Tokyo in 1934 and has been climbing new routes in the greater ranges since his first successes on technical peaks in the Cordillera Blanca of Peru in 1961. He has lived in Pakistan, Mexico, New Zealand and Hong Kong and in the last 14 years has made 26 trips to the Hengduan mountains of Yunnan, Sichuan and SE Tibet. He is currently editor of the Japanese Alpine News and a councillor of the JAC.

24/05/05 Tony Astill,Mount Everest: The Reconnaissance 1935  - The Forgotten Adventure: The story of this little known but important British expedition completes the history of Everest exploration . To mark the publication of his new book, our member gives, for the first time, a full account of the reconnaissance expedition of 1935 which has remained untold since Eric Shipton’s report in 1936.

07/06/05 Sir David Attenborough, George Band, Joe Brown and Norman Hardie,Kanchenjunga lecture evening at the RGS: Do come to this historic event and also help raise funds for the Mount Everest Foundation to support climbers.  Tickets are £20 & £10. This is followed by the Alpine Club Supper also at  the RGS at £33 per person.  For tickets for both events, send your cheque made out to the Mount Everest Foundation and addressed to the MEF, c/o the Alpine Club.  Extra donations welcome

13/09/05 Mike Soldner,Recent explorations in Chile: Mike has been based in Santiago for the last six months and spent all his leisure hours exploring remote and unvisited mountains in the Andes .He brings photographs and information about these areas to tempt our members to climb there.

11/10/05 Julian Freeman-Attwood and Crag Jones,The Island of South Georgia. Julian and Crag talk jointly about various expeditions to the island spread over 15 years and a brief history of exploration to date.  Julian will describe the 1989/90 trip to the Salvesen range with Stephen Venables and also the 2005 sled trip through the same range with Crag and Skip Novak and an attempt on Mt Baume. Crag talks about his time as harbour master and fisheries protection officer at Grytviken.

08/11/05 Andy Parkin,Exhibition and Lecture: Creative Climbing: Exhibition (6pm) and Lecture (7.30pm).  Andy will explain his evolving philosophy in light of successes - e.g. Piolet d'Or in 1994 with Francois Marsigny for the adventurous spirit of their climb on Cerro Torre- and a debilitating accident requiring years of rehabilitation;  to recently climbed new routes combined with developing painting and sculpture initially used as therapy.

22/11/05 Andy Cave,Learning to Breathe: Andy introduces his new book which his publishers summarise: Miner Andy Cave spent his spare time climbing mountains. After the strikes of the mid-1980s he quit his job to take up mountaineering professionally and study for a PhD. In 1997 he completed one of the hardest Himalayan climbs ever.

Alpine Club Lectures 2006

14/02/06 Neil Laughton  ,From Venezuela to Greenland with love: Neil will give a St. Valentine’s Day talk about his two expeditions in 2005 - an exploratory adventure in the Venezuelan jungle by paramotor and a ski-mountaineering expedition to an unexplored part of the Watkins Range in Greenland.

28/02/06 Alex Cowan ,Alex was one of a team of eight climbers from Cambridge University who flew into Kangerdlugssuaq Fjord, Greenland, to find they were in totally the wrong place, in a white-out. They spent the next month making their way to their original objective where they were finally able to make some first ascents on beautiful arctic granite and disgusting arctic slush.

14/03/06 Phil Whickens,Amongst Penguins in a Frozen Bathtub: Last winter a team of seven sailed from Ushuaia to the Antarctic Peninsula. Phil will talk about their exploits in the sea, mountains and sky.

09/05/06 Ian Smith,Edward Whymper: beyond the Matterhorn: Ian takes a look at Whymper's background, his importance as a wood engraver and book illustrator, his travels in Greenland, and will tell us what he  thinks of Whymper’s character after three years of research. He will say something briefly about his Alpine climbing, and why his trip to Ecuador was so significant.

13/06/06 Ian Howell,Climbs in Kenya

27/06/06 Simon Richardson,Climbs in the Canadian Coast Range: Simon will be just be back from another trip to the Canada and he will talk about five trips to the Coast Range in British Columbia and describe first ascents of 1600m routes above the Tiedemann glacier together with climbing Mount Waddington and exploration of less well known areas such as the Pantheon group.

12/09/06 Mick Fowler,On Thin Ice: Mick’s lecture is based on the book of the same name featuring adventures from descending gorges in Jordan to climbing the Elephant's trunk on the French chalk cliffs to first ascents in the greater ranges. The book, his second volume of memoirs, won a major prize at the Banff Mountain Book Festival. (He also recently returned from Tibet where with Chris Watts he made the first ascent of the truly stunning Kajaqiao (6447m), a Matterhorn-like peak in the Nyenchentangla East in a nine-day round-trip plagued by heavy snow and high winds).

10/10/06 John Clear & Pat Littlejohn,Sea Cliff Climbing

01/11/06 Simon Yates,MEF fund raising lecture at the RGS

Alpine Club Lectures 2007

9-Jan-07 Phil Wickens ,Wacky People amongst Wakhi People: An account of the 2006 Alpine Club Shakhdara Expedition.  The Shakhdara Mountains are a remote and isolated group of mountains bordering Afghanistan Hindu Kush in the far southern Tajik Pamirs. The Alpine Club expedition was the first British group to climb here, making seven successful ascents, including the highest mountain, Pik Karl Marx (6736m).

13/02/07 Simon Clarke,Pumasillo- 50th Anniversary of the First Ascent by the Cambridge Andean Expedition: In 1957 Pumasillo (20,490' and located in the Cordillera Vilcabamba of Central Peru) was thought to be the highest unclimbed peak in the Americas.  Its first ascent on 23 July 1957 was a significant achievement in the Club's Centenary year. The lecture- recording a hard and photogenic ascent in magnificent surroundings- has been well received ever since, not least by a packed house at the Clubhouse in 1997. George Band has selected the photo of Simon on the top of Pumasillo for the front cover of 'SUMMIT- 150 years of the Alpine Club'

27/02/07 John Earle,Everest 1933: The speaker will provide a commentary to the film about the Everest 33 film. It is a copy of a copy of the film of the expedition that he helped re-edit many years ago after he had got to know Hugh Ruttledge, the leader. Although the quality of the film is pretty awful as it was processed before returning to England, it is an important and interesting insight into the pre-war expeditions. Eric Shipton was on it along with other well known names such as Frank Smythe and Jack Longland. After the reconnaissance of 1921 and subsequent expeditions to Mount Everest in 1922 and 1924 when Mallory and Irvine disappeared the Dalai Lama banned further expeditions travelling through Tibet to the mountain. However in 1933 after considerable diplomatic pressure another expedition was permitted to enter Tibet to reach Everest led by Hugh Ruttledge. This film shows the long march through Tibet to reach the Rongbuk monastery and the north side of Everest. It follows the expedition as they hack steps up the ice to the North Col and their attempts to climb the mountain reaching heights of 28,149 feet just 879 feet short of the summit. This was an extraordinary feat considering the clothing and equipment they had: single-skin nailed leather boots, five pairs of socks, woollen pants and seven Shetland sweaters with a windproof over the top! This is the expedition that discovered an ice-axe lying on the sloping upper rocks of the mountain that could only have belonged to Mallory or Irvine held now at the Alpine Club. Beaten by the start of the monsoon and the fickle weather of Everest the expedition had to retreat in deep new snow. It was however probably the most nearly successful of all the pre-war expeditions.

13/03/07 Leo Dickinson,Don Whillans: Myth and Legend: Introduced by its maker, this new film is packed full of Whillans’ banter and history. It is 80 minutes long and features amongst other things Greg Child’s five best  Whillans’ stories and (some of) Ken Wilson’s infamous interview. DVD copies will be available for sale.

10/04/07 Stephen Venables,Film of the recent ascent of the Eiger by Sir Ran Fiennes and his guide Kenton Cool taken by Ian Parnell will be shown. Stephen covered the ascent for a Sunday Newspaper

12/06/07 John Earle,The Mountains of Glass: Our member will introduce the film he made of an expedition led by Eric Shipton, to the unexplored Darwin Range, in Tierra del Fuego on the Beagle Channel. This is a region of fur seals, where glaciers reach the sea and the winds reach over 100 miles an hour. The film shows the ascent of two unclimbed peaks as well as giving a vivid picture of the animals and geography of this part of the world.

23/10/07 Hamish Brown,The Mountains Look on Marrakesh: After an initial visit of three months to the Atlas Mountains in 1965, our member the well known travel writer, climber and photographer Hamish Brown has been back every year since. His recently published book is about one mans lifelong devotion to the Atlas Mountains and the Berber Highlanders and this slide show covers the same ground.

Alpine Club Lectures 2008

08/01/08 David Jakulis, Tracy Quine,East Greenland 2007: An Arctic Odyssey. David and Tracy will be talking about their eventful 2007 expedition to East Greenland where in addition to the normal rigours of climbing in this remote land they twice had to dig their plane out.

22/01/08 Dave Wynne-Jones,India 2007. This Spring, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Alpine Club & its links with the Himalayan Club, our member Harish Kapardia invited members to join him in the Indian Garwhal to explore the climbing potential of the Kagbhusandi valley surrounded by 5-6000m peaks. 4 members responded & eventually became a team that chalked up 3 first ascents including 5000m AC150.

12/02/08 Mike Grocott,Everest is our laboratory: The Caudwell Xtreme Everest Story. Mike Grocott will be talking about the highly successful televised Everest
expedition this year where a team of specialist doctors studies the effects of low oxygen levels on a variety of physiological parameters with the
objective of trying to improve the treatment and prognosis of intensive care patients.

26/02/08 Henry Day,Climbing and Kalashnikovs (part 2).The 2007 Alpine Club Meet to the Georgian Caucasus. Unlike the 1998 meet, this time the guns were on our side, thanks to the AC Climbing Fund.

11/03/08 Carl Reilly, Graeme Schofield,Peru 2007. Carl Reilly will be talking on his Summer AC Climbing Fund sponsored expedition to the Huayhuash in Peru with three friends where they  focused  their attention on the eastern side of the 'southern spur' of the Huayhuash (Jaurau, Canicero and Huaraca).  Three new routes were completed; the East ridge of Quisillo, the North Ridge of Huaraca, and the North-east Face of Huaraca, with other objectives being abandoned on account of poor conditions.

09/04/08 Mick Fowler,The Matterhorns of Tibet. A Chinese interest is awakening. Now is the time to be racing for Alpine Style first ascents of these spectacular objectives. This lecture covers four expeditions since 2002 - to Siguniang, Grosvenor, Kajaqiao and Manamcho.

13/05/08 Olly Metherell,The Super 7 Challenge . In 2006 Oliver, along with Ian Parnell, climbed a new Grade VIII on the Sioux Wall of Ben Nevis. Earlier that year, he was part of a Scottish team that climbed a new direttissima up New Zealand's Matterhorn. These two routes are part of a mission to pioneer a new route on every one of the seven continents. This lecture covers the whole adventure; from his bizarre action-packed temporary jobs such as road testing 200mph super-bikes to raiding bins with dirt-bagging climbing vagabonds in Chamonix. Combine this with his award winning photography and you have an evening of inspirational entertainment.

10/06/08 John Cleare,Perspective From High Places. Member and well-known mountain photographer, John Cleare, will be describing some of the incidents which have taken place in forty years of climbing photography . This will be similar to his presentation given in Sheffield as the 2007 Paul Nunn Memorial Lecture.

24/06/08 Jim Milledge,Forty something years of altitude medical research. Jim Milledge will give us his talk on his life and hard times combining research into altitude acclimatization, acute mountain sickness and club climbing in the Himalayas mostly, but also in China, Africa, Bolivia, Switzerland and the UK. Since his first expedition, the Silver Hut in 1960-61 led by sir Edmund Hillary with Griff Pugh as the scientific leader, Jim has been on some 14 expeditions which have a research component.

08/07/08 Mike Soldner,2007 Chilean Nanga Parbat trip. AC Member, Mike Soldner is an up-and-coming young Alpinist from Germany, currently based in Bristol. Together with Carlos Bascou (AC) he was part of the successful Chilean expedition to Nanga Parbat in 2007.  The successful first Chilean ascent was big news (in Chile) last year and the documentary, to be broadcast nationally, will be available for us to see.  For more background see the following links:
Expedition Website: http://www.nangaparbat.cl/
Expedition Blog: http://nangabase.blogspot.com/

09/09/08 George Band,Red Snows; 50 Years on. George and Alan Blackshaw are the only survivors of the first group of foreign mountaineers (all from the Climber's Club) allowed to penetrate the Iron Curtain in 1958 to climb in the Russian Caucasus. Their adventures were recorded in 'The Red Snows' by John Hunt and Christopher Brasher.  They befriended Soviet mountaineers in Moscow and the mountains, and in the spectacular Bezingi area climbed Jangi-tau, Shkara and Dych-tau, the latter by a new route adjacent to the classic ascent by Mummery and Zurfluh in 1888.

23/09/08 Colin Scott & David Tait,Makalu - A View From Both Sides. Sir Edmond Hillary described Makalu (8463m) as 'without doubt one of the hardest propositions of all'. The presentation will focus on the recent attempt on Makalu by two teams of climbers from the British Services: a team of 10 lead by Suadron Leader David Tait on the North side of the mountain (via the Makalu La) and the 6 man team (led by Squadron Leader Colin Scott) attempting a first British ascent of the South East Ridge (integral).

14/10/08 James Edwards,Edwardian Adventures (Tales of Modern Alpinism)  Not a historical retrospective, as the title may suggest, but a journey into the climbing adventures of one James Edwards. James has been a keen new router up in Scotland over the last decade and has transferred these skills to tackle adventurous faces as far away as the Himalaya and Southern Alps of New Zealand. During the evening James will take us through some of his new routing trips and discuss the idea that you don’t have to be a superhero to have adventures.

28/10/08 Hywel Lloyd,High Adventure in Mongolia: This August, a team of ten AC members with 4 friends went to the Altai mountains at the western tip of Mongolia.  The Altai are as large as the Alps and nearly as high.  Having flown into the capital of Mongolia - Ulaan Bataar - they took a plane back west to Olgii and used jeep-like 4-wheel drive vans to go nearer to the Altai.  They then trekked – using camels to carry their equipment - for 6 days to see the country and meet fascinating local people.  Base camp was established next to the Potamin glacier.  From there they climbed Malchin 4037m which is on the Russian border with Mongolia.  From a camp on the glacier at 3660m and - despite 2 nights of ferocious storms - they found a break in the weather to climb Huiten - the highest of the Altai at 4356m.  Huiten is on the border with China; so, at high altitude, the team visited both China and Russia without any visas!

11/11/08 Ian Smith,Edward Whymper: the making of a Mountaineer. An AC Member and a professional librarian, Ian has been working on a biography of Edward Whymper for some while. Whymper kept a detailed diary for six years during his apprenticeship in Lambeth. Now fully published for the first time, Ian will look at what this document  tells us about Whymper’s character, his background, his remarkable family and London during the 1850s.  This first diary is the only record Whymper left of his life in London, but he kept detailed journals of all his travels. Ian will briefly look at what Whymper chose to record, and what he didn’t, at the important points in his life – the Matterhorn, Greenland, Ecuador - and consider the nature of his, often candid, diaries. Over his life Whymper’s diaries give a hitherto unrecognised picture of an often misunderstood character.  The lecture will also promote the launch of The apprenticeship of a mountaineer: Edward Whymper’s London diary 1855 – 1859, edited by Ian Smith and published by the London Record Society.

25/11/08 Paul Knott,Exploring the Chinese Tien Shan. In August this year Guy McKinnon, Bruce Normand and Paul Knott overcame China's Olympics pananoia and gained permission to climb in a virtually unknown part of the Tien Shan mountains.  Here they found a wealth of unclimbed 6000m summits, seen until now only in low resolution aerial shots on Google Earth.  Paul will show slides of these imposing mountains, and talk sbout the surprises, successes and frustrations of their adventure.

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