Journal

The Journal of the MCSA is published annually and serves as a record of the mountaineering-related activities of the Club’s members. Its contents represent the fulfillment of many of the objectives of the MCSA and the articles, photographs and sketches in each Journal show members and friends engaged in mountaineering activities at home and abroad.

Each year there are articles and illustrations focusing on the environment, on the flora and fauna encountered in remote parts of South Africa and elsewhere, on search and rescue, and on the history, geology and archaeology of mountain areas. With this extensive range of content, the Journal not only provides a record of mountaineering activities, but is an interesting, informative, entertaining and inspiring work, reflecting the spirit of adventure of the mountaineers and explorers of South Africa.

The Journal also features Annual Reports of the Sections, book reviews, new route descriptions and obituaries. The Journal therefore serves as a work of reference for those seeking information about mountaineering and mountaineers, about the Sections of the MCSA, about South Africa’s wilderness areas in general. It is for this reason that Journals are kept by individual members, by the Section libraries, by University libraries and by the libraries of overseas climbing clubs. As the Journal enjoys a wide and varied readership, and caters to the tastes of all mountaineers, hikers, explorers and “armchair” travelers, it has proved to be an enduring publication: the first Journal was published in 1894. An index is available for the Journal. Quality printing on matt finish paper, quality typesetting, reproduction and binding, the glossy hard cover and superb colour photographs have made the Journal a welcome addition to many a private bookshelf, and an enduring and often-consulted work of reference in many libraries.