Slovenia celebrates two mountaineering anniversaries

Slovenia is strongly characterized by its Alpine features and the strong love for mountaineering among Slovenes. The tradition of organised mountaineering in Slovenia reaches back to 1893 when the Alpine Association of Slovenia was established in Ljubljana. In February 2013, this mountaineering association celebrated 120 years of existence; moreover, the Slovenian Hiking Trail, which is the oldest Slovenian and European connective hiking trail, celebrated its 60th anniversary.

Beautifully preserved green nature is accessible in Slovenia at every step. One can reach hiking trails only in a couple of minutes from a town. Even though Slovenia has the surface area of only 20,000 km2 and one can drive across the country on highways in fewer than 3 hours, it is intersected by almost 10,000 kilometres of marked trails, of which around 7,000 lead through mountainous terrain – extremely important among these trails are connective trails or transversals. The Slovenian Hiking Trail was planned in 1950 and arranged in 1953 as the first Slovenian and European hiking trail – it connects the most interesting parts of Slovenian mountains from the South-East near Maribor until the Adriatic sea in Ankaran. This year, this trail celebrates its 60 years of existence.

Considering the features of Slovenia, it is not unusual that mountaineering and hiking are such a popular activity in this country; moreover, one can say that this is one of the most massive and popular Slovenian national sports, which is also visible in the large number of mountaineering associations and their members in Slovenia. The Alpine Association of Slovenia, the successor of the Alpine Association of Slovenia, was established in 1948 and connects almost 280 mountaineering associations with more than 57,000 members.

Mountaineering associations manage 176 mountain huts, shelters and bivouacs with around 6,000 beds, while Slovenian mountains are annually visited by 1.4 million visitors. Hiking in the mountains of the Alps and its pre-Alpine hills in Slovenia is also increasingly becoming an important tourist product that is, in accordance with the main concept of the Slovenian tourist offer, promoted with the slogan "Slovenia is green, active, healthy".

Slovenia has been actively developing green tourism, based on its green features and responsible attitude towards the environment. In accordance with these trends, the Slovene Mountaineering Society as the operator of the strong network of mountain huts in Slovenia follows this policy; the first environmentally-friendly mountain hut certificates were awarded in 2013.

The `Environmentally-friendly mountain hut`certificate is awarded to those mountain huts that are registered among mountain huts on the registry and have mountain hut status and to alpine learning centres owned by the Slovene Mountaineering Society and mountaineering associations. Mountain huts and facilities receive this award by leaving the least possible negative impact on the environment.

A certificate in the form of a sign that reads `environmentally-friendly mountain hut` is hung out in a visible place in the mountain hut promoting the clear message to its visitors that the mountaineering society, indirectly through the operator of the mountain hut, is constantly striving to reduce the impact of the mountain hut on the unspoiled nature around it and beyond. In order to achieve this, the main role is played by the equipment of the mountain hut as well as the education and motivation of the staff.

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