Youth and Mountains Already 30 Years

Youth and Mountains Already 30 Years - mountaineering competition as learning for life.



Youth and Mountains (MIG), which is both a knowledge competition and a sports competition, as mountaineering equally combines both elements, has been preparing primary school students for safer and more independent visits to the mountains for three decades, and this year secondary school students will show their mountaineering knowledge and experience for the fourth time. One of the most important competitions for popularizing mountaineering and a respectful attitude towards nature is also an opportunity for socializing and getting to know young mountaineers from all over Slovenia. At the jubilee 30th MIG competition, 24 primary school and 16 secondary school teams will compete in Podnanos on January 26th.



The Youth Commission of PZS introduced the Gore and Youth competition in 1957 in honor of Youth Day to enthuse as many young people as possible for mountaineering. The beginnings of today's Youth and Mountains competition date back to the 1980s, when the youth section of the Domžale Mountaineering Association (PD Domžale) organized meetings of mountaineering groups with the aim of getting to know and strengthening mountaineering and friendly ties, spiced with a mountaineering quiz. The PZS Youth Commission (MK PZS) expanded the competition nationwide in 1989.



"Youth and Mountains has never been just a competition, but socializing and acquiring mountaineering knowledge for life are in the foreground. Demonstrating knowledge and a healthy dose of competitiveness additionally motivate young people to delve into topics important for a broader understanding of mountaineering. It is also an indicator of the work of youth sections, as winning teams come from associations that systematically and qualitatively work with youth. The test writers are experienced mountaineers who make sure the questions also require practical experience. Mentors and mountaineering guides play an invaluable role in working with youth. Many competitors over these three decades have become youth instructors, group mentors, and PZS guides who pass on knowledge and experience to the new generation. The transfer of experience, understanding, and application of acquired knowledge is a guarantee for the further development of mountaineering,” emphasizes PZS Vice President Roman Ponebšek, formerly also the head of MK PZS, a mentor of competitors, and a question writer for MIG.



We Slovenes are a mountaineering nation, which is confirmed by data on the ever-increasing visits to the mountains. "Families are already setting out with small children to explore the mountaineering world and thus instilling in them a sense of nature. Young competitors join mountaineering clubs in primary school, participate in camps and hikes, and thus refine their knowledge. Secondary school students, who will compete for the fourth time this year in the breadth of their mountaineering knowledge, show us how important the connection between school and mountaineering organizations is. They are aware that safety is always first and that we learn all our lives. Therefore, more teams participate in the Youth and Mountains competition every year. Young competitors at MIG show enormous mountaineering knowledge, which they will be able to use effectively for safer mountain trips, and thus mountaineering will later become a way of life for them," explains mountaineering group mentor Brigita Čeh, who has been the competition coordinator since 2003.



The Youth and Mountains competition has been intended for primary school students (from 6th to 9th grade) from the beginning, and this year it will be held for secondary school students for the fourth time. At the regional and first part of the national competition, competitors solve written tests, and four to eight teams advance to the final part, which takes place in the form of a quiz in front of an audience. At the same time, various competitions (art, music, photography, literary) and a meeting of mountaineering group mentors take place. The competitions have been visited by famous guests from the mountaineering world (Viki Grošelj, Davo Karničar, Tomaž Humar, Tone Škarja, Maja Vidmar, Nastja Davidova ...) and other well-known personalities, athletes, and music groups. Participants have had the opportunity to climb on an artificial wall, observe mountain rescuers at work, play board games, participate in fun quizzes, watch films, or go on mountaineering or orienteering hikes. The best teams are rewarded with a mountaineering camp at PUS Bavšica, as well as trophies and medals.



Tests and practical tasks are prepared by experts with a wide range of mountaineering knowledge and experience. "Through the questions, we try to cover the entire mountaineering school, i.e., both practical and more theoretical and social aspects of mountaineering. Nevertheless, we pay special attention to giving an advantage to teams with more mountaineering experience and not just bookworms ... At the end of the day, we ultimately want the awards not to remain just 'on paper', but for the competitors to know how to use the acquired knowledge for independent and as safe as possible movement in the mountains," highlights PZS guide and former MK PZS head Uroš Kuzman, who has been overseeing the MIG competition questions in recent years.



The basic material for competitors is the Mountaineering School textbook, and at the national level, additional material on mountaineering topics published in Planinski vestnik, this year on the international organization of mountaineering and sport climbing at the Olympic Games, as well as a locally colored historical-imaginative excursion to the foothills of the Nanoška planota. In Podnanos, the home of last year's primary school winners - the Fosili team (PD Podnanos, OŠ Draga Bajca Vipava), the jubilee 30th Youth and Mountains competition will take place. POŠ Podnanos hosted the 20th MIG competition, and this year, 24 four-member primary school and 16 two-member secondary school teams will compete for the title of national champions on January 26th. As part of the competition, a literary competition Planinam v pozdrav is organized, and a secret guest from the world of sport climbing will also visit the participants.



The generation of young mountaineers who know how to comprehensively grasp and demonstrate mountaineering knowledge is also forged in the Idrija region, for which credit goes to the dedicated mentor and president of PD Idrija Nacet Breitenberger. “Mountaineering is a team, collegiate sport in which we guide youth to be together, help each other, enjoy games, singing, and experiencing nature. The Youth and Mountains competition is an upgrade, an integral part of the mountaineering school. We prepare using collaborative learning methods, each processes part of the material, but we are all responsible because knowledge is important for everyone, and in addition, each brings their own experiences from the mountains. The mentor must be an example, which is the best educational and learning tool," emphasizes the experienced mountaineer and alpinist, who has been mentoring young mountaineers for almost half a century and is also the most deserving Slovenian volunteer of 2018, adding: "The key is constant and long-term work with young mountaineers, as they have all been in the mountaineering ranks for several years, both in the mountaineering club and with their families. For me, the most important is the team spirit, which the Youth and Mountains competition encourages, as by the good old mountaineering custom, children cooperate - in pairs or quartets striving for the same goal, which is an investment for life.”



Idrija teams with their astonishing mountaineering knowledge have been reaching for laurels for years in both primary and secondary school categories. "The competition covers a really large amount of material, from the history of mountaineering, nutrition, social aspects, dangers in the mountains, equipment, geological composition and geography, orientation, first aid, and more could be listed. This covers most of the knowledge we might need in the mountains at all, and in addition to permanent topics, it also addresses current events in mountaineering. Youth and Mountains is truly a competition that broadens horizons and prepares for life as well," explain high school students Klara Kavčič and Barbara Čibej, both primary and secondary school national champions, who are also forging themselves through the competition for safer independent mountain visits: "We always connect theory and practice. We effectively use the knowledge acquired at the competition on mountaineering trails, and all the knowledge we gain from trips, camps, winter camps, and other forms of organized mountaineering helps us achieve better success at the competition. People never stop learning, and it is the theoretical knowledge from MIG that gives us the feeling in life that we can rely on ourselves, both in preparing and planning a trip and if something goes wrong."