What was the Jubilee of the Alpine Club? It was the celebration of the fiftieth birthday of the oldest of such organizations—the Alpine Club of England. Founded in 1857, this Club has become famous the world over for its thrilling feats in mountain conquest, its records of scientific exploration among the high places of the earth and its introduction of art into the regions of snow and ice.
While the second Annual Camp of the Alpine Club of Canada was in progress, during July of 1907, an invitation was received by the President to attend the Jubilee Celebration. It was accepted, and thus the honor of representing our youthful Alpine Club, the Canadian Rocky Mountains and Canada at this gathering of the clans from all lands, far and near, devolved upon the writer.
The celebration may be summed in a sentence: It was a gathering of the foremost men of the world interested in mountain regions from all except the mercenary aspect, and a review of the foundation and past history of the Club.
For the information of our members, a few words as to its origin and early life may not be amiss. In an address to the Club by its President, the Right Rev. the Bishop of Bristol, delivered at the Winter Meeting, December 16th, 1907, he makes the statement that "the University of Cambridge had the predominant share in the formation of the Club and its earliest activities in literature and art as well as in the world of ice, rocks and snow."
