Swiss Alpine Club
Swiss Alpine Club (SAC) | |
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sport | Rockclimbing |
Founded | April 19, 1863 |
Chairperson | Françoise Jaquet |
societies | 111 sections and 22 subsections |
Members | 150,000 (as of 2018) |
Association headquarters |
Bern Switzerland![]() |
Official languages) | German , French , Italian |
Homepage | sac-cas.ch |
The Swiss Alpine Club SAC ( French Club Alpin Suisse CAS , Italian Club Alpino Svizzero CAS and Romansh Club Alpin Svizzer CAS ) is the umbrella organization for mountaineers in Switzerland and is a member of Club Arc Alpin (CAA) and the UIAA . The association was founded in 1863 on the initiative of Rudolf Theodor Simler in the Olten railway station buffet . Its 111 sections operate 153 mountain huts in the Swiss Alps .
activities
With around 150,000 members (as of 2018), the Swiss Alpine Club SAC is one of the largest sports associations and the most important Alpine club in Switzerland. His activities are very diverse and are divided into the following activities:
- Maintenance of 153 SAC huts owned by the sections and the Solvay hut (owned by the main association).
- Commitment to alpine training in all areas of mountain sports and promotion of the next generation of mountain sports (in the so-called JO )
- Member of Swiss Olympic , formation of the national teams in sport climbing and ski touring races, staging of competitions (see also Swiss national team of ski touring races )
- Co-founder (together with REGA ) of Alpine Rescue Switzerland - ARS
- Commitment to the protection of an intact mountain world
- Publication of various ski touring, hiking and climbing guides as well as the members' magazine Die Alpen
- Guided tour of the central library of the Swiss Alpine Club , one of the largest libraries in the world for Alpine literature
- Support for the Swiss Alpine Museum, which opened in Bern in 1905
history
At the initiative of Rudolf Theodor Simler from Zurich, 35 gentlemen from Aarau, Basel, Bern, Buochs, Glarus, Lucerne, Olten, St. Gallen and Zurich met on April 19, 1863 in the Olten station buffet and founded the Swiss Alpine Club SAC. Simler was a lecturer in chemistry and geology at the University of Bern. He warned against leaving the then booming conquest of the Alps to foreigners. The Alpine Club was founded in London in 1857 and the Austrian Alpine Club in 1862 . At the end of 1863 the SAC already had 7 sections with a total of 358 members. In the year of foundation, the Grünhornhütte in the Glarus Alps was the first SAC hut to be built.
The main goal at the time was to promote alpinism - namely mountaineering - and to explore the Alpine region . In the 19th century the club saw itself as an association of the bourgeois elite.
In 1900 the SAC had 43 sections with 6,000 members. As a result of the improved transport connections in the Alps, the growing number of SAC huts and the emergence of winter alpinism - namely ski mountaineering - the SAC grew into a mass club in the first half of the 20th century. The number of members rose to 44,500 by 1963.
In 1977 the office in Bern was opened. She is the service center and responsible for public relations.
As a founding member, the SAC participates in the multilateral agreement on reciprocal rights to huts , which was introduced in 1978.
The SAC is a member of the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps (CIPRA).
Since 1964, Charles Egmond d'Arcis years UIAA President , since 1968 Edouard Wyss-Dunant former UIAA President, since 1995 Pietro Segantini and since 2001 Carlo Sganzini UIAA honorary member .
In 1996 the central board was established. So far, the Central Committee has been alternately perceived by an SAC section (on-site principle). In the same year the youth organization (JO) was integrated into the SAC.
In 2006, SAC Mountain Rescue was outsourced to the independent Alpine Rescue Switzerland Foundation .
The SAC and the women
In 1880, the association was asked whether or not women were allowed to enter the association. The arguments of the conservative opponents predominated and it was ultimately left to the sections whether they wanted to accept women at least as passive or honorary members. In 1907 women were completely excluded from the SAC. However, this did not apply to the youth organizations (JO) affiliated to the sections. As a result, several alpinists founded their own club in 1918, the Swiss Women's Alpine Club . It was not until 1980, nine years after the introduction of women's suffrage in Switzerland at the national level, that the SAC merged with the Swiss Women's Alpine Club. From then on the women were welcome in the SAC and the number of members skyrocketed to 69,201. Since 2013 the SAC has been presided over by a woman.
organization
Sections
The SAC has 111 sections , with one or more sections per canton . The sections form the foundation of the club. These are organized as associations and determine their club life largely autonomously. The sections build and operate the huts, organize tours and courses for their members and provide delegates for the assembly of deputies, which presides over the central board and the office. Members are free to choose which section in Switzerland they want to belong to. The section with the largest number of members is the Uto section in Zurich. By becoming a member of a section, you are automatically a member of the central association. Direct membership in the central association is not possible.
Central Association
The central board is the actual management body of the association. Ten specialist commissions support the central board in its work. The activities in the central board and in the technical commissions are carried out on a voluntary basis.
SAC huts
The sections of the Swiss Alpine Club SAC currently operate 153 huts in the Swiss Alps with around 9,000 beds. The huts offer simple accommodation for mountaineers, climbers, hikers, nature lovers and, increasingly, for families with children. The Solvayhütte on the Matterhorn is the only hut that belongs to the SAC Central Association itself. The first SAC hut, the Grünhornhütte , was built in 1863. In the course of time numerous other huts were added. Initially they were used for geographic and natural history exploration of the mountains as well as alpinism, later also for the emerging mountain hikers and skiers. Existing huts are constantly being renovated, expanded or replaced by new buildings.
In addition to the Alpine huts, many SAC sections also have so-called section huts. These often hosted and open to non-members huts on the hills of the Central Plateau , the Jura mountains or in the foothills of the Alps . There is no list of these huts.
Grünhornhütte , the first SAC hut from 1863
The new Monte Rosa hut
The Britanniahütte , one of the most popular SAC huts
activities
Youth promotion
Membership is possible from the age of 6. For children up to 14 years of age, the sections offer a special tour program called Children's Mountaineering ( KiBe for short ). Individual sections also have a family mountaineering group ( FaBe for short ). In contrast to the KiBe, the children are accompanied by their parents in the FaBe. The young members of the SAC between the ages of 14 and 22 are looked after by the SAC youth organizations ( JO for short ). Camps and weekend tours are carried out in Switzerland and also in neighboring countries.
Alpine rescue Switzerland
In 2006 the SAC founded the Swiss Alpine Rescue Foundation together with the Swiss Air Rescue . Alpine Rescue Switzerland is responsible for rescuing people in the Swiss mountains and looks after 98 rescue stations with 3,000 mountain rescuers and 80 helicopter rescue specialists (RSH) in the Alpine region and in the Jura.
SAC Central Presidents
The SAC has been working with volunteers according to the militia system since it was founded . Until 1999, the members of the Central Committee (CC) came largely from a section (“suburb”) which provided the CC and the central president for three years. Claude Krieg (1992–1995) was the first central president with a four-year term.
Term of office | President | Section «Suburb» |
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1863 | Rudolf Theodor Simler 1 | Bern |
1864 | Christian Meyer-Bischoff | Basel |
1865 | Johann Wilhelm Coaz | Rätia |
1866 | Friedrich von Tschudi | St. Gallen |
1867-1869 | Melchior Ulrich 1 | Uto |
1870-1872 | Albert Hoffmann-Burckhardt | Basel |
1873-1875 | Hermann Zähringer | Pilate |
1876-1878 | Albert Freundler | Geneva |
1879-1881 | Johann Rudolf Lindt 1 | Bern |
1882-1884 | Eugène Rambert 1 | Diablerets |
1885-1887 | Johann Emanuel Grob | Uto |
1888-1891 | Rudolf Gallati | Tödi |
1891-1895 | Heinrich Baumgartner, Johann Friedrich Michel | Interlaken |
1896-1899 | Frédéric Auguste Monnier, Eugène Colomb | Neuchâtel |
1900-1903 | Emil Bosshard | Winterthur |
1904-1907 | Robert Creator | Weissenstein |
1908-1910 | Jules Répond | Moléson |
1911-1913 | August Herme | Rätia |
1914-1916 | Arnold Janggen | St. Gallen |
1917-1919 | Alphonse Bernoud | Geneva |
1920-1922 | Albert Tschopp | Aarau |
1923-1925 | Georg Leuch | Bern |
1926-1928 | Henri Faes | Diablerets |
1929-1931 | Emil Erb | Uto |
1932-1934 | Felix Gugler | to bathe |
1935-1937 | Alphonse de Kalbermatten | Monte Rosa |
1938-1940 | Adolf Spring | Olten |
1941-1943 | Rudolf Campell | Pontresina |
1944-1946 | Robert Furrer | Montreux |
1947-1949 | Hugo Kistler | Biel |
1950-1952 | Mathias Jenni | Glarus |
1953-1955 | Pierre Soguel | Neuchâtel |
1956-1958 | Robert Wenck | Basel |
1959-1961 | Georg Calonder | Chur |
1962-1964 | Edouard Wyss-Dunant | Geneva |
1965-1967 | Albert Eggler | Bern |
1968-1970 | Hector Meier | Uto |
1971-1973 | Robert Virchaux | Diablerets |
1974-1976 | Ernst Geissbühler | Lucerne |
1977-1979 | Hanspeter Wenger | Blümlisalp |
1980-1983 | Carlo Sganzini | Ticino |
1983-1985 | Hermann Milz | Neuchâtel |
1986-1988 | Jakob Hilber | St. Gallen |
1989-1991 | Franz Steinegger | Gotthard |
1992-1995 | Claude war | Yes you |
1996-1999 | Hanspeter Schmid | Basel |
1999-2005 | Franz Stämpfli | Bern |
2005-2013 | Frank-Urs Müller | Obersdorf |
2013– | Françoise Jaquet | Friborg |
Publications
The SAC publishes various ski touring, hiking and climbing guides. To simplify the tour, but also improve the safety of the SAC so that created different rating scales, SAC mountain and high alpine scale , the SAC walking scale , the SAC-ski scale , the SAC hedge scale and the SAC snowshoe scale .
literature
- Daniel Anker (Ed.): Helvetia Club. 150 years of the Swiss Alpine Club (SAC). SAC-Verlag Schweizer Alpen-Club, Bern 2013, ISBN 978-3-85902-362-8 .
- Rolf Maurer: Swiss Alpine Club (SAC). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Web links
- SAC-CAS.ch
- Christian Andiel: A traditional Swiss institution. In: Tages-Anzeiger from 18./19. April 2013
- Jacqueline Schwerzmann: The conquest of the Alps - 150 years of the SAC. Video in: DOK , SRF 1 from October 31, 2013 (50 minutes)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b SAC-CAS.ch: About us
- ↑ SAC-CAS.ch: History of the SAC ( Memento of 29 November 2013, Internet Archive )
- ↑ NZZ of April 19, 2013: May the club part you
- ^ Observer: SAC history - Club der Patrioten; dated March 18, 2013
- ↑ SAC-CAS.ch: Homepage SAC section Uto, Zurich
- ↑ SAC-CAS.ch: sections of the SAC
- ↑ SAC-CAS.ch: Everything about the 153 SAC huts
- ↑ SAC-CAS.ch: SAC: Claude Krieg, Central President 1992–1995
- ↑ SAC-CAS.ch: SAC: Fresh wind in the central board
- ↑ was elected federal judge in 1896