NOW this is going back a bit - members of the Scottish Mountaineering Club going for a bit of a climb near Fort William at Easter, 1896.
Facial hair was almost compulsory back then, but as I have said before about this era, some of the lads would not look out of place today buying a locally roasted coffee in an artisan cafe in Finnieston. Smiling in photographs it seems, was also frowned upon.
Look at the casualness of the chap on the right, fag in mouth, hand in pocket, legs crossed. Bet he never panicked in a crisis.
It is somehow cheering that the club, formed in Glasgow in 1889, is still operating today. It was initiated after correspondence in The Herald when a William Naismith, second left on the wall, suggested such a club.
Until then such clubs were formed by locals in mountain areas, and William suggested a club for people in the Central Belt who could then travel to the climbs. The club has since had a great impact on climbing as it not only had huts built on some ranges but also had the first guidebooks to the Scottish hills published.
Sadly the Great War saw a number of members killed in action and the club declined before a fresh influx of young men revived it.
The SMC is still regarded as the premier club for skilled climbers to join. It has a membership of about 450 with women admitted in 1990. Female membership is "fast approaching double figures" says the club. So not that many then.
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