The Rucksack Club was founded in Manchester in 1902 and has a current membership of well over 400 men and women. According to the Rules, "The objects of the Club are to facilitate walking tours, cave explorations and mountaineering in the British Isles and elsewhere, and bring into fellowship men and women who are interested in these pursuits, and to do whatever shall be deemed by the Committee from time to time to be conducive to the foregoing objects."
The Club opened the first climbing hut in Britain in 1912 and, with the purchase of Craigallan in 1993, became the first club to own a hut in each of Wales, England and Scotland. It was a founder of the British Mountaineering Council in 1945. A longer summary of the Club's history is on the History page.
The meets programme is at the core of the club's activities. Ranging through general mountaineering, climbing, fell running, Alpine meets, winter climbing and skiing, the meets are only limited by the creative imagination of the members.
From its very early days the Rucksack Club has published an annual Journal, which provide nearly 9000 pages to record mountaineering activities throughout the 20th Century.
Candidates for membership must be proposed and seconded by members of the Club, and are expected to show evidence of an active and sustained interest in some of the pursuits of the Club. Further details are available here.