"WANTED: Active adults interested in forming an Explorers Club."

This simple newspaper ad placed in 1947 by Ivan Jirak, a former U.S. Marine and college student at Carnegie Institute of Technology, attracted 30 men and women who founded the Explorers Club of Pittsburgh.

Adopting the motto "Research, Education, and Adventure," this small group included some of the pioneers of today's "earth-sports" and began a tradition of exploration, from the mountains, caves, and streams of Pennsylvania to the Rockies, Andes, and Himalayas.

For generations, the ECP has provided to any interested person the opportunity to learn new skills and meet new friends who share a willingness to accept the physical and mental challenges of outdoor exploration and adventure.