The Himalayan Club, founded in 1928, is one of the earliest clubs to have been established in the sub-continent.
In the pre-war years, every expedition to the Himalaya and Karakoram was assisted by the Club members - right from clearing baggage from the docks, to assisting them with advice, routes and purchase of provisions and even selecting the Sherpas and porters.
After Everest (1953), the number of expeditions increased in frequency. Nepal opened its doors to foreigners, and in India mountaineering caught on as a sport inspiring the youth to aspire for high adventure.
The role of the Himalayan Club has modified to an extent to keep pace with the changing times. A plethora of climbing clubs and trekking-cum-mountaineering agencies have taken up their own localised activities. The Club, therefore, continues in its main mission by offering a meeting ground for its members - talks, slide-shows and films are organised regularly; the Club offers scholarships to the courses run by the three mountaineering institutes in India, for needy students; it has a fair stock of equipment which it hires out to its members for a nominal charge and its in house journals every year the Himalayan Journal and the Himalayan Club Newsletter. These publications have now been recognised as the foremost authority in climbing in the Himalaya, Kararoram and the Hindu Kush.
The club enjoys a worldwide membership with its presence in almost all the countries, and has most of the famous mountaineers amongst its members.
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