The finnish alpine club
Suomen Alppikerho (the Finnish Alpine Club) was founded in 1962 which makes it the first and oldest climbing club in Finland. Alppikerho operates mainly in the Helsinki metropolitan area. The club doesn´t have its own climbing gym, but the club members get to climb at the majority of the climbing gyms around Helsinki region for a reduced price during specific club hours.
The club owns the only Drytooling tower in southern Finland called “Draikkatorni”, located in Paloheinä, Helsinki. Alppikerho organizes club evenings, climbing events, courses, and workshops for its members. In addition, we manage the majority of the climbing crags in the Helsinki are and its suburbs. Alppikerho currently has more than 500 members, which makes us one of the largest climbing clubs in Finland.
The name goes back to the early days of Finnish mountaineering when the founder of the club, Matti A. Jokinen, and his friends started training for alpine climbing in Finland. Throughout the past decades the club´s activities have expanded beyond just alpine climbing. Today our members also enjoy bouldering, ski touring, and mountain hiking.
The main goal of Alppikerho is to promote safe and versatile climbing both during summer and winter season. Nowadays, our activities include a variety of mountain and outdoor sports. Alppikerho´s focus areas are the development and access work of the nearby climbing areas (e.g. through the maintenance of climbing crags, the development of the drytooling tower in Paloheinä, and other various events) and supporting the junior ice climbing in collaboration with Suomen Kiipeilyliitto ry (Finnish Climbing Federation).
Alppikerho´s activities are managed and coordinated by the board of the club together with the club officials.
(updated 9.9.2024)