The Alpine Club, the world’s first mountaineering club, was founded in 1857. For over 150 years, members have been at the leading edge of worldwide mountaineering development and exploration.
With membership, experienced and aspiring alpinists benefit from a varied meets programme, regional lectures with notable guest speakers, reduced rates at many alpine huts, opportunity to apply for grants to support expeditions, significant discounts at many UK retailers, extensive networking contacts, access to the AC Library and maps - and more!
Harish Kapaida is a renowned Himalayan mountaineer and author. He has written extensively on the Himalayas as well as being an Editor of the Himalayan Journal. In 2023, along with a substantial collection of images, Harish donated an archive of video interviews to the Alpine Club Library. These interviews, which feature notable figures from the world of mountaineering, will be released weekly on the Alpine Club YouTube channel from December 2023 onwards and will also be available to browse via this page.
In the first episode, Harish Kapadia interviews Nicholas Clinch (1930-2016), the successful American mountaineer and former President of the American Alpine Club. The pair cover Clinch's expedition career, including his ascents of Masherbrum, Gasherbrum I and Antarctica's Mount Vinson, while also touching on his climbs in Yosemite, his experiences in the US Air Force and his tangential role in the first traverse of Everest.
In the second episode, Harish and Nicholas move on from discussions of his expedition experiences to the many famous personalities he has known, worked and climbed with. Amongst others, they discuss Charlie Houston, Brad Washburn, Bob Bates, Will Unsoeld, Royal Robbins and John Salathé. The pair conclude by talking about Nick's tenure as President of the American Alpine Club.
In 2011, shortly after George Band's death, Harish sat down with Susan Band to discuss her husband's life and accomplishments. Over two interview sessions, the pair discuss George's early life, his climbing experiences during his national service and university life, his famous parts in the 1953 Mount Everest and 1955 Kangchenjunga expeditions and his work for Shell. The pair also touch on Susan's work for the UK Foreign office and her experiences of Eric Shipton.
This episode, recorded in February 2008, features Aamir Ali (1824-2018), a climber, author and honorary member of the Himalayan Club. Amir and Harish discuss Mr Ali's youth in Japan and India, his first trekking trips to the Greater Ranges in the 1940s, his first ascent of Mrigthumi, his move to Geneva to work for the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and his passion for literature.
In our 25th episode, Harish talks with legendary British mountaineer and former Alpine Club president Doug Scott. The pair discuss many of Scott's expeditions to the greater ranges, starting all the way back in the 1960s with a trip to the Hindu Kush and including his unplanned bivouac on Everest which Scott insists was "No problem for a man from Nottingham". They also cover Scott's mountaineering philosophy, his work with Community Action Nepal and the enormous mental benefits he felt he gained from mountaineering.
For this audio-only recording, Harish sits down with Japanese mountaineer Hiroshi Sakai. They discuss the 2002 Indo-Japanese East Karakoram Expedition alongside Sakai's other expeditions, his experiences climbing in the Alps and his family life.
The image of Nanga Parbat used to illustrate the video was taken by Daniel Martin and is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 unported license. The image has not been altered from the original, but it has had a waveform placed on top of it for the video.
In this audio-only recording from 11 April 2007, Harish sits down with Japanese mountaineer and fellow Himalayan Club member Yuichi Matsuda. The pair discuss Matsuda San's early experiences of hill walking during the Second World War, his various expeditions to the likes of Manaslu, Himalchuli (pictured) and Everest, and how he met his wife through the Japanese Alpine Club.
Here, Harish speaks with journalist and mountaineer Manik Banerjee. They discuss Mr Banerjee's introduction to mountaineering, his family life and his various expedition experiences.
Harish interviews one of the most important figures in Indian mountaineering, Jagdish Nanavati (1928-2011).
In Part 1, the pair discuss Jagdish's early experiences of the mountains, his first expeditions, his involvement with the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and the associated Climbers Club as well as his work dealing with controversial summit claims in the Indian Himalaya.
In Part 2, they move on to discuss Jagdish's work ratifying summit claims from Himalayan expeditions and his memories of key developments in the Himalayan Club.
In episode 19, recorded in February 2008, Harish interviews Indian bureaucrat, politician and writer Manohar Singh Gill. The pair discuss Gill's youth, his work in the Indian Administrative Service, his enduring love of the mountains and his work as a writer.
In 2007, Harish interviewed renowned Japanese mountaineer Yoshio Ogata. In this audio-only interview, the pair discussed Ogata san's numerous expeditions to the Himalaya, his infamous ascent of Himalchuli, which saw him temporarily banned from Nepal, and his family life.
