American Alpine Club

Founded by Arctic explorer, zoologist and geographer Angelo Heilprin, the American Alpine Club was established in 1902 and had 45 founding members. These original members were primarily from the East Coast, although a handful resided in the Midwest, Washington, and Alaska. Among them was Annie Smith Peck and the AAC's first president, Charles Ernest Fay, who was also a founding member of the Appalachian Mountain Club. The club was primarily East Coast-oriented for the first half-century of its existence; its headquarters remained in New York until 1993, when the Board unanimously decided to move the AAC to its current location in Golden, Colorado. The club is housed in the American Mountaineering Center, whose other tenants include the Colorado Mountain Club and Outward Bound. The AAC is historically and contemporarily associated with a number of other American and international organizations. It was a founding member of the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (Union International des Associations d’Alpinism, UIAA) in 1932 and the Arctic Institute of North America in 1948. == Library ==

The AAC Library was established in 1916 by a gift from American mountaineer Henry Montagnier, whose collection was added to over time by various early club members. The library was initially focused primarily on the Alps. From 1916 until 1929, the library was housed in the New York Public Library, which devoted an entire room to the AAC. During this time, the library grew to include contributions from many members, as well as cultural artifacts from their various expeditions to the Himalayas and elsewhere. In 1941, the AAC purchased a renovated firehouse in Manhattan to house the growing library. When the AAC moved its permanent headquarters to Golden in 1993, the library, too, moved to its current location in the basement of the American Mountaineering Center, the Henry S. Hall Jr. American Alpine Club Library. == Publications==

American Alpine Journal First published in 1929, the American Alpine Journal (AAJ) is an annual publication which includes news on groundbreaking first ascents, trip reports from high-altitude ascents the world over, and various resources—including book reviews, maps, and topography. Notable members Another notable founding member is naturalist, prolific writer, and Sierra Club co-founder John Muir, who is considered by many to be the founder of the wilderness preservation movement. Muir also served as the club's second president, and was instrumental in bringing the AAC to a central role in environmental conservation in the United States. Lyman Spitzer, noted theoretical physicist and astronomer was a member of the club. In 1965, Spitzer and Donald Morton became the first men to climb Mount Thor , located in Auyuittuq National Park, on Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. Mary Jobe Akeley, who explored the Selkirk Mountains and much of British Columbia between 1907 and 1914, was an early member. Current officers As of 2025, the Board of Directors Executive Committee consists of the following: ==References==