About burglaries, fines and commercialization of the "new" mountain space
The mountain world has long been understood with the advent of "tourism" as a space where a person at least for a few hours sets aside everyday worries. Where the air thins, thoughts clear, and where it seems the world is still governed by some quieter, more human laws. But in recent years, even in the mountains we increasingly encounter a reality once reserved for cities: break-ins, thefts (even legal ones), fines, commercialization, and the feeling that the idyll is slowly giving way to the logic of the "modern era".
A break-in that destroys more than theft
The example suggested by algorithms from the Italian Scarena is just one of many. Climber Giulia Groppi, after a day spent on the wonderful crag, found her car vandalized: broken doors, ransacked interior, destroyed seats, a bag with documents, glasses, mouthguard for …, camera and clothes gone. Total damage: around 2000 euros. But the greatest loss was not the euros — but the sense of safety she had in nature.
Such cases are happening here too. Crags, trailheads, parking lots along forest roads — they are increasingly becoming targets for thieves who know hikers and climbers will be away for hours. The damage from a break-in is often greater than the value of stolen items, but the feeling of helplessness is the greatest lack.
On the other side: fines for parking where "you shouldn't"
The paradox of the modern mountain world is that a hiker parking on the edge of a gravel road can get a fine lower than the damage from a break-in. A police officer or hunting or forestry inspector (from severely understaffed institutions) issues a ticket because the car is a few (centi)meters outside the marked area — while thieves operate unsupervised.
Hikers thus find themselves in a strange position: if you park "correctly", you risk a break-in; if "incorrectly", a fine. In both cases, you pay.
The third story: commercialization of parking lots
And then there is the third layer: commercialization of access. In some mountain areas — increasingly in small "big villages" — parking lots are popping up like on a conveyor belt. Paid, fenced, monitored. Sometimes under the local community, sometimes by individuals who are also alpinists, rescuers, mayors, entrepreneurs, tourism workers, etc.
In principle, an organized parking lot is welcome. But when every access to nature seems to become a business model, one wonders: is this still common space or infrastructure you have to pay for just to step onto the trail?
Is the idyll over?
The question more and more people are not asking is not romantic but very practical: Will we have to get used in the mountains too to lawlessness, crime, commercialization and total disrespect that have gripped the rest of the world?
Perhaps the answer is less dramatic but no less serious. The mountain world with its infrastructure is no longer isolated from social processes. Here too interests, money, control, lack of control, crime and bureaucracy meet. Here too the cracks of modern society show.
But at the same time, the mountain world remains a space where the community can still change something.
Climbers, hikers, local communities and rescuers are often among the most connected communities.
This connectedness can be a counterweight to lawlessness.
It's not moralizing, but reality. Parking lots at trailheads should be safe, not just paid; police and local communities should treat break-ins as a serious issue, hikers should be alert but not scared. Institutions fed also by state money should ensure the mountain space remains accessible, not exclusively commercialized. At the start of every hiking trail (along public road) there must be some parking (meeting reasonable needs) or public transport stop, which custodians (and promoters) ignore despite not receiving mere crumbs from the state.
The idyll may no longer be self-evident. But that doesn't mean it's lost.
Mountains have always been a space where one learns responsibility — to oneself, others and the space used. Perhaps now, before we start writing and talking about "prostituting this space", is the time to extend this responsibility to issues previously not linked to mountains: safety, community, fairness and accessibility.
Source:
https://gore-ljudje.net/novosti/ko-gora-ni-vec-zatocisce/