The Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) is an amateur athletic association with its national office in Canmore, Alberta that has been a focal point for Canadian mountaineering since its founding in 1906.

The club was co-founded by Arthur Oliver Wheeler, who served as its first president, and Elizabeth Parker, a journalist for the Manitoba Free Press.

[1] The club is the leading organization in Canada devoted to climbing, mountain culture, and issues related to alpine pursuits and ecology.

While the ACC's national office is in Canmore, Alberta, the core of the Club's activities are the volunteer-led outdoor recreation opportunities offered to its approximately 10,000 members through the 25 regional sections across the country.

He was eager to create a Canadian climbing institution that focused on mutual appreciation of mountaineering and the environment rather than furthering social status, as it was in Britain's Alpine Club.

Wheeler's wrote many letters seeking support for the creation of a Canadian Alpine Club, which eventually ended up in the hands of columnist Elizabeth Parker.

This charter included: These principles reflected the member's goal to create a club that promoted the natural heritage of Canada while encouraging the urban classes of society to exercise in the outdoors.

[6] After the two World Wars, the ACC's philosophy progressed from being centered around strict conservation of the environment to encouraging outdoor recreation while maintaining a respectful appreciation of Canada's wilderness.

As the National Parks in both the United States and Canada gained popularity, outdoor recreation became a prominent activity for many Canadians, which helped shape the ACC's goal and mission.

The mission of the ACC has evolved since 1906, but since the creation of the original charters, the club has promoted the sport of climbing and the recreational use and protection of mountain wilderness.

The ACC viewed the National parks of Canada as assets that should be used by the public for recreation, but also held in trust to be preserved for future generations.

Canadians have been relatively successful internationally in the disciplines of Lead and Bouldering, with a legacy of athletes including the Weldon sisters and most recently Sean McColl and Alannah Yip.

The Alpine Club of Canada also regulates the competitive sports of ice-climbing (through the UIAA) and ski-mountaineering (through the International Ski Mountaineering Federation).

With donations from both the Federal and the Alberta Provincial government, over 100 members marched their way to the Yoho Pass where a temporary Tent village had been erected with the help of the CPR and volunteers.

While the ACC's national office is in Canmore, Alberta, the core of the Club's activities are the volunteer-led climbing opportunities offered to its membership through 25 regional sections across the country.

The ACC has a calendar of winter and summer programs including leadership training, technical climbing instruction and international expeditions (for example, in 1997 the Saskatchewan section of the Club held a successful trip to Cho Oyu, an 8,201m peak in Nepal and more recently the Club offered a trip to the snowy peaks of Chile in January 2012).

[13] Indeed, the Club played a key role in the progression of the Canadian national park system, especially because of its longevity and its strongly rooted values, which enabled its members to always strike a balance between preservation and use.

Conceived with a wide-ranging agenda beyond the scope of a simple mountaineering club, the ACC has remained an agile and long-lived national organization".

According to the ACC website, the journal provides the reader with "articles and images that reflect the ways that Canadians approach mountain culture, history, sport and science".

[16] The Journal was and still is published every year, collecting route descriptions, records of adventures, mountain photography, geographical and natural science observations, poems, songs, cartoons and obituaries remembering Club members.

Whilst the Journal is an annual publication, the Club also publishes The Gazette, a newsletter released three times a year, one for the spring, summer and winter season.

In the ceremony's opening speech, Mike Mortimer, the Club president in 2006 declared: "Clearly the Centennial was an opportunity to look towards the future – we knew where we came from but what about where we are going?

[5] The club has expanded its activities over the last century – it is now responsible for the largest public backcountry hut system in North America and proposes trip opportunities around the world.

They were encouraged and helped, and after the ACC's first camp it was decided that the dress-code for women would be the same as for men (which was very unusual in the early 20th century society).

In this way the ACC works towards its vision of "Preserving, practicing and promoting Canadian mountain culture and self-propelled alpine pursuits."