In the spirit of the Alpine Club, London, created in England in 1857, and the American Alpine Club, founded in 1902, the Alpine Club of Canada was established in 1906.

The inaugural meeting was held in Winnipeg, arranged by Arthur Oliver Wheeler [1860–1945] and Elizabeth Parker [1856–1944], with the support of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

It was his work among the magnificent peaks of the Selkirks that prompted pioneer surveyor A.O. Wheeler to conceive the notion of an “Alpine Club of Canada” similar to ones that already existed in Britain and the U.S. By this means, he hoped, Canadians would take advantage of one of their most valuable assets. The Railway notwithstanding, most found their country too big for them and their mountains “as remote as Afghanistan”.

In 1906, Wheeler met in Winnipeg with other like minded individuals to make the Alpine Club of Canada a reality and, in the process, become its first president. The Club’s aims, as spelled out in its Constitution, were sixfold: 1) promotion of scientific study and exploration of Canadian alpine and glacial regions, 2) cultivation of art in relation to mountain scenery, 3) education of Canadians to an appreciation of their mountain heritage, 4) encouragement of the mountain craft and the opening of new regions as a national playground, 5) preservation of the natural beauties of the mountain places and of the fauna and flora in their habitat, 6) interchange of literature with other alpine and geographical organizations. To promote aims 3 and 4, the Club instituted its annual summer camp. Over and above these aims, the Camp provided the only opportunity for members, along with specially invited guests from mountaineering organizations in the U.S. and abroad, to meet together. This “meeting together” took on formal expression in the Annual Meetings incorporated into the Camps’ program.[1]