The IMC was founded in 1942 by Bill Perrott and a group of other climbers in south Dublin, within easy reach of
Dalkey Quarry. They established several climbs in Dalkey and at other locations around Dublin such as
The Scalp,
Bray Head, and
Ireland's Eye; these were the first steps in the development of climbing in Ireland. This group, now known as "The Old IMC", disbanded in 1944. In 1948, the IMC was revived on a more formal basis by Perrott, Joss Lynam, and others, with the intention that it become a national club drawing its membership from all around Ireland, with local branches in the major cities. The first president was the naturalist
Robert Lloyd Praeger. During the 1950s branches of the IMC were established in Dublin and
Belfast, and one for the "
Wild Geese", Irish emigrants living abroad. In 1957, with the aid of a grant from the
Guinness brewing company, the club purchased a farmhouse at Glendasan, near
Glendalough,
County Wicklow, and converted it into a
mountain hut, to be run by the Dublin section. Later another hut (called the "Bloat House") was established in the Annalong valley in the
Mourne Mountains in
County Down; this was to be run by the Belfast section. The increasing affluence of the 1960s saw the emergence of other mountaineering clubs in Ireland, and the IMC's dominance began to weaken. In 1971, the
Federation of Mountaineering Clubs of Ireland (FMCI, later the
Mountaineering Council of Ireland (MCI), now
Mountaineering Ireland) was formed, which ended the IMC's national aspirations. The struggling Belfast section was finally dissolved in 1991, two years after the Bloat House burnt down resulting in several serious injuries. ==Activities==