I write this from my home in Leysin in the Swiss Alps, that’s a few kilometres from the UIMLA official headquarters in Villars-sur-Ollon. It’s mid-March and I look out my window to see the green grass on slopes up to the mid-mountain – a sight that hints at the profound changes unfolding in our mountainous regions. We experienced the warmest February on record here with an average temperature at +5.0°c compared to an average between 2001-2020 of -0.3°c. The official record here goes back to 1930 and a 30-year average (February) then was -1.2°c. The impact of these changes is palpable for those of us who call these mountains home, and whose livelihoods are intricately woven into the fabric of this landscape.
In UIMLA, we recognize the urgent need to adapt to the changing climate while also mitigating its impact. Our standards and protocols are continually evolving to incorporate these considerations. From safety measures in the face of thawing slopes to sustainable practices aimed at preserving our fragile ecosystems, every decision is made with a keen awareness of our responsibility to protect and preserve our beloved mountains.
As we look to the future, uncertainty looms large. Yet, amidst the challenges, there lies opportunity – an opportunity to innovate, collaborate, and forge ahead with resilience and determination. The path ahead may be fraught with obstacles, but with unwavering commitment and solidarity, we remain steadfast in our mission to safeguard our mountains for generations to come.
UIMLA Assembly
Back in November UIMLA met for our annual assembly where delegates came from all over the world, as far as Nepal, Japan and Chile. We were hosted by the Verband Deutscher Berg- und Skiführer e.V. (VDBS) who are the German UIMLA (and IFMGA) member organisation. We’d like to thank VDBS for running a great event for us.
We were invited to make a tour of the rescue training centre Bergwacht-Zentrum für Sicherheit und Ausbildung – Bad Tölz which was absolutely amazing. It’s an incredible facility. Another familiar feature of our events is a social gathering where we all bring produce from our home regions. It’s a great event and we enjoy some great food and drink which is often home-made.
I’d like to share some of the some of the other highlights of that assembly.
New UIMLA Members
New Members, we’re happy to welcome three new member countries – Chile, Hungary and Norway. It’s been a challenging process for these new members as their membership process has been disrupted by the pandemic and it’s been challenging for UIMLA as well to make sure the assessments of those countries took place.
We also welcomed Georgia as an aspirant member and we’re looking forward to working with them to plan the assessment process. The application by Georgia follows their successful application to the IFMGA where they became members at the IFMGA Congress in Chamonix 2021. As a guest of the IFMGA at the congress we talked about Georgia joining UIMLA and our colleague Reiner Taglinger from VDBS has been working with them during both their IFMGA and UIMLA membership processes.
Training and representation in Italy
UIMLA delegates also reviewed the organization and training provision in Italy for UIMLA mountain leaders. Delegates have been considering this for several years and had previously agreed to confirm the position of the Collegio Nazionale Guide Alpine Italiane (CONAGAI) as the UIMLA training provider in Italy. The delegates listened to presentations from our longstanding UIMLA member the Associazione Italiana Mountain Leader (AIML) and CONAGAI which made clear the strong and passionate commitment that both organisations have both to the profession in Italy and our international community. UIMLA delegates accepted the proposal that representation in Italy should be through the hiking commission of CONAGAI which should include representation from AIML. This initiative has opened up training for Italian mountain leaders and we’re seeing new IML’s starting their winter training process and others becoming full IML’s.
UIMLA Board
The UIMLA board is five persons who are elected from the IML’s of our full member organisations. We had some really strong candidates for the positions and delegates were able to consider a range of ideas about how UIMLA develops over the next few years. The following election appointed Esther Murciano from Spain as Treasurer and Danijela Bucić from Croatia as General Secretary. And, reappointed Ian Spare (UK) as President, Marian Anghel (RO) as Vice-President and Bill Bailey (CZ) as Technical Head. We’d like to thank Joanna, Peter, Chantal, François and Keven for their candidacy. We’d like to thank Peter and Jitka for their work over the last years on the board as well.
