Awarding of the Highest PZS Recognitions for 2012

On Saturday, December 1, 2012, a ceremonial awarding of the highest recognitions of the Alpine Association of Slovenia for 2012 took place in the Community Center in Prevalje. The Alpine Association of Slovenia organized the event in collaboration with the Municipality of Prevalje and the Mountaineering Association Prevalje.

This year's awarding of the highest recognitions took place practically on the eve of the 120th anniversary of Slovenian mountaineering, which the mountaineering organization will celebrate next year, giving the event an especially solemn note. The highest PZS recognitions are that attention and the only award that the mountaineering organization can give to its most loyal, best, and most successful members for their long-term work in various fields of diverse mountaineering activities.

After the welcome address by the mayor of Prevalje, Matic Tasič, who praised the local mountaineering association and the Alpine Association of Slovenia, and thanked the latter for the trust shown in holding the event in Prevalje, all were also greeted by Jože Merc, president of the Mountaineering Association Prevalje, Jože Melanšek, president of the PZS Awards Committee, and Bojan Rotovnik, president of the Alpine Association of Slovenia. President Rotovnik highlighted all mountaineering associations and individual mountaineers who contribute to the recognition of the mountaineering organization in the wider environment with their volunteer work and that we are still one of the largest and most active non-governmental organizations in Slovenia. On the occasion of the upcoming 120th anniversary of the mountaineering organization, he outlined a wide spectrum of activities throughout 2013, from the highest ceremonies to numerous activities of inter-association committees of mountaineering associations, the Slovenian Mountaineering Museum, and activities for the 60th anniversary of the Slovenian Mountain Trail, the oldest long-distance trail in the world, which the SBT celebrates in 2013. At the end of his address, he congratulated the recipients of the awards and encouraged them to continue working: "A recognition is also an obligation for the future, both for active work in mountaineering and for caring for the transfer of knowledge and experience to those who follow you. Once someone wrote: Love for the mountains can never fade. A person who is once written to them belongs to them forever. This is the most wonderful belonging and blessed slavery."

This ceremony had a very special charm, as guests were with us who, like mountaineers, are connected to nature, but each in their own special way. The keynote speaker at the ceremony was Iztok Čop, the best Slovenian rower of all time, Olympian, winner of Olympic medals and medals from world championships. Olympian Čop, from the foothills of the Karavanke and in the circle of enthusiastic hikers, did a lot of mountaineering in his early youth and experienced the mountains in the most authentic way. Čop congratulated all recipients, emphasizing the importance of volunteering and mountaineering in today's time and world, among other things: "In the past, mountaineering awareness with mountains as a whole, not just Triglav, one of the main symbols of Slovenianhood, has proven itself several times as an important connecting link among Slovenes, so I hope that even in today's times of moral and material crisis it will contribute to greater connectivity and unity among Slovenes and to the transition to a friendlier society. The current state of mind in our society needs to be changed. The Alpine Association of Slovenia or mountaineers could be a model, and the Honorary Code of Slovenian Mountaineers mandatory reading for every citizen."

At the event, the written word was enriched with song by the Vres Male Choir. Dr. Franc Verovnik presented the book Naša gora on the 100th anniversary of the mountain hut on Uršlja gora, while alpinist Ludvik Golob presented the Koroška 8000 Himalayan expedition, with which they realized the thirty-year dreams of Carinthian alpinists by reaching the eight-thousander (Broad Peak, 8051 m).

Recipients of the highest recognitions of the Alpine Association of Slovenia for 2012:

RECIPIENTS OF THE HIGHEST RECOGNITIONS of the Alpine Association of Slovenia, PZS CEREMONIAL DIPLOMAS, for 2012 are:

Tone Tomše (posthumously, PD Radovljica), Franjo Kunej (PD Zavod za zdravstveno varstvo Celje), Zdravko Likar (PD Kobarid), Leopoldina Lorenci (PD Slovenska Bistrica), Albina Mahovne (PD Bohor Senovo), France Malešič (PD Kamnik), Matija Močilnik (PD Prevalje), Vinko Pfeifer (PD Trbovlje), Ciril Pleško (PD Škofja Loka), Vojko Pohar (PD Radeče), Slavko Potrata (PD Trbovlje), Rozalija Skobe (PD Krka Novo mesto).

PZS MEMORIAL PLAQUES, which the Alpine Association of Slovenia awards on life anniversaries to its most deserving members for their long-term loyal and exceptionally successful work, were received by:

for 60 years: Marija Grohar (PD Ljubno ob Savinji), Jožica Krof (PD Prevalje), Jože Marovt (PD Ljubno ob Savinji), Antonija Mravljak (PD Ravne na Koroškem), Dora Olenik (PD Sežana), Ladislava Stranščak (Obalno PD Koper), Vili Treven (PD Trbovlje), Marcel Vogelnik (PD Gorje), Karlo Žibret (PD Šmartno ob Paki), Planinsko društvo Ravne na Koroškem and Planinsko društvo Sežana,

for 65 years: Štefan Keber (PD Prevalje), Franc Korpar (PD Ptuj), Marjan Prelog – Jaka (Šaleški AO Velenje, PD Velenje), Stanislav Tomšič (PD Pošte in Telekoma Ljubljana),

for 70 years: Margareta Dremel (PD Rimske Toplice), Franc Fajfar (PD Zagorje ob Savi), Bojan Gorjup (PD Trbovlje), Jože Hribar (PD Pošte in Telekoma Ljubljana), Anton Janžovnik (PD Velenje), Janez Kramar (PD Dovje – Mojstrana), Marija Kravanja (PD Radovljica), Janko Meglič (PD Tržič), Alojz Mohorič (PD Radovljica), Viktorija Pajnič (PD Rimske Toplice), Marija Peca (PD Pošte in Telekoma Ljubljana), Bernarda Pisk (PD Nova Gorica), Martin Vimpolšek (PD Brežice),

for 80 years: Viktor Čebela (PD Litija), Andrej Lodrant (PD Prevalje), Vinko Damjan (PD Litija), Janez Meglič (PD Žalec), Anica Razpet (PD Ruše), Terezija Škornik (PD Rimske Toplice).

On this occasion, the Alpine Association also awarded SPECIAL RECOGNITIONS, which were received by:

• Božidar Lavrič (PD Ljubljana-Matica) received the golden honorary badge of the Alpine Association of Slovenia for meritorious and successful work in the mountaineering organization,

• Jaka Kotnik (PD Dravograd) received a written commendation on the proposal of the PZS Research Group for the diploma thesis Analysis of the quality of the mountaineering trails database,

• Matevž Lenarčič (PD Trbovlje) received a commendation for discovering the useless world,

• Klemen Triler (PD TSK Olimpik) received a written commendation for his great contribution to the promotion of the Slovenian Mountain Trail,

• The Caving Section of the Mountaineering Association Tolmin received a written commendation for meritorious and successful work in the mountaineering organization.

On behalf of all recipients of the awards, Zdravko Likar from the Mountaineering Association Kobarid, recipient of the highest recognition in the Alpine Association of Slovenia, the ceremonial diploma, thanked. Among other things, he mentioned with respect the rules of the Slovenian mountaineering association in Italy, the Planinska družina Benečije, which also awakens national consciousness through mountaineering. At the end, the awardee Likar thanked with the words: "You never forget your first love. And when the mountains once enchant you, they never release you from their embrace. On behalf of all recipients of the highest recognitions, I thank you for noticing our work and honoring us with awards. I wish everyone a happy and safe step into the mountains – where we belong."

We parted with the wish that mountaineers, mountain lovers, remain true to themselves, as they will thus remain true to the mountains and the mountaineering organization. We thank all recipients of the awards for their work in the mountaineering organization and sincerely congratulate them.