Tuesday 13th September 2016, 10:06am
The BMC is set to launch a national archive of historic mountaineering photographs.
The brainchild of mountaineer Rab Carrington (the founder of Rab mountaineering clothing and equipment), the archive is due to be officially launched at the Kendal Film Festival in November.
From the outset it will include images from the Alpine Club, the Fell and Rock Club and the family of the renowned early mountaineering photographers, the Abraham Brothers. There will also be photos from The Climbers Club of Gwen Moffat climbing in the style of the 1950s.
As well as historic pictures, the archive aims to keep right up to date with images of cutting edge ascents from recent years, and images for the archives will involve climbing both in Britain and overseas.
Speaking about the archive, Rab said: “For several years I’d wondered whether there should be a national archive of historic mountaineering images, and the more people I talked to the more times I get the reply ‘Yes’.
“The BMC is the natural home for such an archive, which will give a home to any images of mountaineering/climbing which are of historic importance. The images will be collated into categories so that searches can be made easily to locate the required subject matter.
“We all know someone who has been recording historic climbing events for years. It is fantastic that these records have been logged; how much better would it be if those images could be viewed by all those avid mountaineers, by researchers, by those who have a curious mind. Many of the senior clubs already have their own archivist and collections in varying states of archiving. It would be fantastic if the National Archive could make use of those collections. This would not mean that a club’s collection would be lost in the Archive as all images would be credited to its owner or club. In this way the exploits of a club and its members would receive greater recognition. For individuals, it also gives hope that their memories of great events will not be put in the bin by next of kin who are ignorant of its value.”
Creag Meagaidh in thick weather. Photo by Ian Dawson