Rock and Ice Club

The Rock and Ice Club was an English climbing club formed by a group of Manchester climbers. The group regularly climbed on the weekends and met in the week to discuss the past weekends climbs and plan their future trips.

This loose group crystallized on 26 September 1951 with founding members Nat Allen, Doug Belshaw, Joe Brown, Don Chapman, Don Cowan, Jack Gill, Pete Greenall, Ray Greenall, Ron Moseley, Merrick (Slim) Sorrell, Dick White, Don Whillans.^[1]

Notables amongst these founders (in particular Don Whillans and Joe Brown) were at the forefront of British climbing at their time.^[2] They were the first British climbers to compete on equal terms with continental alpinists since before the First World War.^[3]

References

1. Ormerod, Alick, Whillans, Don (1971). Don Whillans: Portrait of a Mountaineer. Heinemann. p. 266. ISBN 978-0-434-86251-1.
2. Perrin, Jim (August 22, 2005). The Villain, Portrait of Don Whillans. Mountaineers Books. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-89886-986-6. ...in terms of a significant series of new climbs, sustained over a number of years and coincident with the very highest standard of the day, there would be few willing to argue with any conviction against the pre-eminence throughout the decade of the members of the Rock and Ice Club.
3. Wells, Colin (2002). A Brief History of British Mountaineering. The Mountain Heritage Trust. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-903908-62-7.