Throughout 2025, the Club celebrated the 100th anniversary of its foundation, which took place at the very large Palace Hotel in the very small Swiss resort of Maloja (up the valley from St Moritz, and on the pass between the Engadine and Bregalia regions) in December 1925.
Various events and activities took place during the year, both looking back on a century of ski-touring, and forward to the future. A large number of volunteers and organisers, co-ordinated by the Club's Archivist John Barnard, planned and organised the different events.
A survey to assess members' interest in different ideas was carried out in the late summer of 2023 (a report on its results is available here) which, along with informal soundings taken at other club events, were used to help develop the plans and to enble as many members as possible, young, old, recently-joined, and veterans of decades of touring with the club, to participate in one or more of them.
The following sections outline the different events and activities that have taken place. Full reports on them appear in the 2025 yearbook or (for the ones towards the end of the year) will appear in the 2026 one.
[Updated 30 Dec 2025, JMB]
Burns Night Scottish Dinner Meet - 25-26 January 2025
The centenary year started with the now-traditional Burns Night weekend meet at the Balavil Hotel at Newtonmore in Scotland, organised as usual by Tim Winther. Despite the efforts of Storm Eowyn to prevent people getting there, more than 50 members arrived, along with enough snow to allow most to go touring on the Sunday. On the Saturday evening the haggis was piped in by Quint Glen, addressed by Angus Armstrong, and consumed by most of the rest. Many members contributed readings and songs during the meal, posters highlighting the club's early history were displayed, as were a collection of photographs and ski equipment of various degrees of antiquity. There is a full report on pages 6-8 of the 2025 Yearbook.
Maloja Day Tours - 28 Feb - 4 Mar 2025
The 2025 touring programme included a trip to the Maloja area in south-east Switzerland in early March, which was also the scene of the club's 75th Anniversary celebrations in 2000. This time we were based at the the club's birthplace of the Maloja Palace Hotel (which was closed in 2000). Led by Club President Richard Davison, participants explored some of the original routes on Piz Aela, which were used by Club members in the 1920s, and met up with members of the local Ski Club Maloja, which was founded a few years after the Eagles. Gifts were exchanged, and one of their more senior members showed us the Eagle Ski Club Challenge Cup for a junior race, which was presented by our club to theirs in 1931, and which he won three times in the 1950s, after which he was allowed to keep it. There is a full report on pages 9-12 of the 2025 Yearbook.
Centenary Meet - Arolla, Switzerland - 14-17 March 2025
We had exclusive private use of the historic Grand Hotel and Kurhaus for this event, which was organised by Graham Dudley and his team of assistants, with some overflow in other nearby hotels. The weekend incorporated training sessions, guided and member-led day-tours, a re-enactment (not a competitive race) of the type of "patrol race" run by the club before the War, talks, exhibitions, and a celebratory dinner on the Saturday evening. Several of the tours on the club's official touring programme for 2025 were designed to link with the meet.
The event was attended by 178 members and guests, and was generally considered a huge success. Photos taken at the meet can be seen at the top of this website's home page, and a full report and list of attendees appears on pages 12-17 of the 2025 Yearbook.
Centenary London Dinner - Army & Navy Club, Saturday 1 November 2025
London dinners have featured in the club's programme since 1926, with a special Golden Jubilee dinner held at Quaglino's restaurant (just off Piccadilly, and scene of many pre-war dinners) on 1 Nov 1975. Exactly fifty years to the day later, three veterans of that dinner, along with more than fifty other members and guests, attended the Centenary London Dinner at the Army & Navy Club on Pall Mall, organised by Alain Hosley. Many long-standing club members were present (some who joined more than sixty years ago), along with younger and more recent members, and speeches were made by the current President Richard Davison, John Harding (President 1995-97) and recently joined member Vicky Frew. A full report will appear in the 2026 Yearbook.
Centenary Symposium - Kingussie, Scotland - 15-16 November 2025
A special ski-mountaineering symposium, organised by Declan Phelan and his team, was held at the Duke of Gordon Hotel in Kingussie (near Aviemore) on the weekend of 15/16 November 2025, and was attended by over one hundred members and guests. This built on the successful symposia held at various venues in England and Wales over the last few decades, and included lectures, workshops, training events, a dinner, a ceilidh, and the club's Annual General Meeting.
Webinar: Eminent Eagles and Scandalous Stories - 3 December 2025
Club Archivist John Barnard gave a talk about some of the great personalities of the club's history, and their distinguished (and occasionally less distinguished) achievements both on and off the snow, since the club's formation was agreed at a meeting in London, "overseen" by the chap on the left, on 3 December 1925. John's subjects included members who founded the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), advised the IRA, won the Battle of Britain, planned the Battle of El Alamein, liberated Belsen, invented the science of glaciology, climbed (or attempted to climb) Everest, ruled the Empire, escaped from Colditz, won a Nobel prize, designed an iconic chair (but never interviewed Margaret Thatcher), presided over the Supreme Court, ran the Lord Chancellor's office, or were hanged for treason. And those who did quite a bit of interesting ski-touring. The hour-long talk remains available on the club's YouTube channel.
Tracks Through Time - Dispatches from 100 years of the Eagle Ski Club
A special commemorative book was distributed to members in October 2025, along with a centenary edition of the Yearbook. It contains reprints of selected reportsand articles from Yearbooks over the past hundred years, along with specially-commissoned writing on the history of the club, the development of ski-touring over the past century, and prospects for the future. The editorial team was led by Pete Boyd, assisted by John Barnard and Stephen Goodwin.
Historical Posters
Several posters illustrating aspects of the history of the club were put together by club archivist John Barnard, and displayed at various centenary events during the year; copies can also be seen here:
- One hundred years ago...
- Before the War: Maloja and Grindelwald
- Postwar Doldrums and Revitalisation
- Ski Races
- A few words from our sponsors - yearbook adverts
- Expeditions 1
- Expeditions 2
- Club Dinners
Centenary Postcards
Special postcards, illustrated with a painting by club member Janet Johnson (right), were distributed with the 2024 Yearbook, with the idea that members should return them from wherever they get to during the centenary year, as a record of the diversity of the club's activities. A report appears on page 18 of the 2025 Yearbook.
Centenary Merchandise
Tee-shirts and neck-warmers carrying the centenary version of the club's logo were organised by Charlotte Whitmore, with ordering and distribution co-ordinated by Tom Litchfield and Lucy Finch.