The 45 Degrees Mountaineering Club was founded in December 2014 and is registered with Mountaineering Scotland.

We are at present a fairly small club of with a membership in the mid 20s – with ages ranging from teenagers on the one hand to those who no longer have to pay for their bus journeys on the other. Geographically our Scottish members reside as far afield as rural Aberdeenshire in the North, to Bo’ness south of the Forth and Glasgow in the west. We also have a small handful members based in the North West of England who manage a few monthly meets each year.

A decision to form a club was a natural progression following friendships forged during a chance meeting by some members of the Perthshire strand of the club and those from the Forth Valley. Both these strands of the club contain hillwalking friendships going back many long years – the former Club Secretary and Vice-Chairman first having climbed a Munro together nearly 40 years ago!

Our core activity is our monthly meet which usually takes place in one of the many excellent club mountaineering huts throughout Scotland and available to Mountaineering Scotland registered clubs. In addition, most weekends (and even mid-week) when the weather is fair (or not!) our members can be found somewhere in the hills and mountains of Scotland – or perhaps even further afield. Most of us have long held an interest in many outdoors pursuits including canoeing, kayaking etc as well as mountaineering.

Outside of Scotland our members have climbed and trekked in the Lake District, Wales, Ireland, The Alps, The Andes, The Himalayas, the Rockies, the Pyrenees, The Atlas Mountains, South Korea, Corsica, Spain, Patagonia, The National Parks of the USA and elsewhere.

Almost half of our members have completed at least one round of Munros – the compleatist number having been increased by one more member in July 2019. Several have also completed the Corbetts and the Wainwrights – and some even the Grahams, Donalds and Munro Tops!

The club has members with First Aid, Disclosure and Mountain Leadership certification including those who have been (or still are) actively involved in volunteering their time in respect of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme and Scouts organisation.

The social side of the club is hugely important. Evenings after our walks normally develop (after a glass or two of something refreshing and some exaggerated tale-telling) into an enjoyable and entertaining (at least to ourselves) communal sing-song – with accompaniment from one of several guitarists and possibly even a harmonica player. Overly sensitive souls might feel a little uncomfortable as the banter flies across the room with nobody left spared.