Prime Minister Janša attended an event marking the 100th anniversary of the Skala Mountaineering Association in Slovenia
The president of Skala Anton Žunter and the president of the Mountaineering Association of Slovenia Jože Rovan also spoke at the event. At the event, the August Workers’ Institute awarded a gold plaque to the President of the Republic of Slovenia Janez Janša, Franc Sevšek and Gregor Gomišček, and a silver plaque to the Skala Mountaineering Association – Association of Mountain Clubs. The plaques were awarded by the President of the Management Board of the Institute, Avgust Delavec Miro Eržen. The event was organized by Slovenian actor Pavle Ravnohrib, and featured theater actor Tone Kuntner, Octet Žetev, Quartet Tenth Brother, Trio Mijav, opera soloist Matej Vovk and Youth Folklore Group KUD Oton Župančič Sora. The prayer for the members of the Skala Club was led by the Deputy Chief of Military Chaplains, Father Milan Pregelj.
Below is the solemn speech of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia Janez Janša at the event on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Skala Mountaineering Association in Slovenia:
Club members,
Let me first congratulate everyone for the venerable, century-old effort in Slovenian mountaineering, mountaineering, skiing, ski jumping, sledding, photography, film, writing, music and painting – in short, an honorable effort for the progress of the Slovenian nation. , culture and homeland.
Although a hundred years is not a very long period for an organization, it speaks to its maturity as a result of hard work based on values that will continue to apply in the years to come.
Today, it is a great honor for me to address you on this, our great anniversary.
I myself began to get to know Skala more or less before the Second World War, where everything was happening. Climbing in the directions first tried by the Skala Mountaineering Association. For example, Špik’s direct route, one of the most demanding routes in the Alps back in 1926. This first climbing group was led by a member of Skala Mira, Marko Debelak. Even today – as you know those of you who have climbed in recent years – this route is considered not only beautiful but also challenging. And Čop’s pillar, which was climbed by Skala member Joža Čop at the end of World War II together with Pavla Jesih. While reading the descriptions of the rock paths, their repetition and reading the biographies of the first ascenders, we learned about the little-known history of the Rock.
I am especially pleased that the organizers have chosen this venue for today’s event. As we have heard, the Skala Trail Club was established in the Novi svet inn, which stood on the site of today’s Hotel Lev, which hosts this event. A handful of mountain enthusiasts gathered for a candlestick in 1921 in Prešeren’s room of the mentioned restaurant and founded the Trail Club Skala. At that time, the name of the club referred to mountain trails, and because things changed quite quickly at that time, the Skala Trail Club was renamed the Skala Mountaineering Association just before the outbreak of World War II.
The Skala Mountaineering Association was founded as a democratic and patriotic organization of the great spirits of that time. Given the small number of members, Skala was in a way elitist. Members were accepted on the basis of their achievements, regardless of their social class, profession, age, political or religious beliefs. Today it would be known as meritocracy.
The mountaineering association was founded in quite special times. The Great War, the First World War, ended and left behind extensive material destruction and, above all, a deep psychological mark. Borders have changed, new countries have emerged. After the war, the Slovenian Mountaineering Association took over the ownership of a dilapidated mountain hut and many demolished and abandoned trails. It is therefore understandable that their main goal was to rebuild the mountain infrastructure. But almost everywhere in the Alpine world there was a strong tendency at the time, especially among young mountaineers, to experience the mountains in a different way.
Young people were no longer satisfied with walking on well-trodden and marked paths, nor were they satisfied with food only in mountain huts. They wanted to climb the rocky walls, go to the mountains not only in summer but also in winter – which was considered a daring adventure – with skis and ice climbing equipment. Thus, very diverse groups were formed, who went to the mountains together, exchanging experiences, memories and mountaineering literature. From these groups a formal organization emerged – the Skala Mountain Club. The members of the Skala club decided to continue the work of Kugy, Tum and also the student mountaineering group Dren. In addition to climbing, they were also interested in skiing, photography, art, literature and all activities related to mountains and nature. Of course, they have not forgotten the social side of life either, which makes their biographies an interesting read.
With Skala, Slovenians are equally involved in the advanced European work that takes place in the mountains. In less than two decades of the club’s existence, its climbers have traveled many top routes in Slovenia and elsewhere in the Alps, publishing books, writing articles for magazines and even producing the first Slovenian feature film “In the Kingdom of Zlatorog”. The younger generations were educated in mountaineering, skiing and photography and nurtured their attitude towards nature and the homeland. The rock thus brought together four basic areas of human activity: work, play, sports and art, and passed this on to younger generations, and also made their work known to the general public.
This very positive picture, of course, has another, more negative side. As sometimes happens in Slovenia, with the new wave, there was also strong opposition to the work of club members. Controversy and great polarization arose. At that time, the Slovenian Mountaineering Association was doing a really big and important job in renovating the infrastructure in the mountains, but for the younger generation, at least not at the beginning, they did not appreciate much. Unfortunately, they did not want to accept a different view of mountaineering. Why climb the rocks when there are beautiful and properly secured paths to the top? Why go to the mountains in unsuitable conditions, in snow, ice and bad weather? And why spend the night in makeshift shelters and bivouacs when comfortable mountain huts are available? At the time, Skala members were known as ‘gatekeepers’ and ‘suicide bombers’. There were even ideas to blow up the Turnc pod Grmado climbing wall and thus prevent young people from practicing their climbing skills there. Members of Skala, on the other hand, accused traditional mountaineers of cultivating only “inn tourism” in the mountains.
These disagreements were eventually resolved and both organizations, the Skala Mountaineering Club and the Slovenian Mountaineering Association, began to work more closely together. This collaboration would probably have developed into something more, and then World War II broke out. After the Italian occupation of Ljubljana, an order came for the Skala Mountaineering Club to join the Italian Mountaineering Club. In this situation, the members of the Skala Club showed the highest degree of patriotism and wisdom. They decided that instead of joining the occupier’s society, everyone would leave Skala and thus dissolve the club.
After World War II, the new authorities had little understanding for any individual activity. A working man is supposed to play sports only collectively. Initially, the Slovenian Mountaineering Association was dissolved, but later the Mountaineering Association of Yugoslavia, with its sub-associations established in each Yugoslav republic, was only excluded from the Sports Association of Yugoslavia. Fortunately, mountaineering culture in Slovenia was already strongly rooted enough that the Mountaineering Association of Slovenia gradually and within the given possibilities formally took over many values of the pre-war Slovenian Mountaineering Association and the Skala Mountaineering Association. Ideas for reviving Skala had existed since the break-up of the club, but in those circumstances, individuals who still acted in accordance with Skala’s values could not implement them. It was only within the framework of the independent state of Slovenia, ie in 1995, that the Mountaineering Association dr. Henrik Tuma, and two years later Skala was founded as an association of mountaineering associations.
I am very happy to have been one of the co-initiators of this campaign. When I, together with Tonet Jeglič and Bojan Pograjc, climbed the primary route in the Trenta Mountains, the idea began to arise that on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Skala club in 1996, the first thing we could do was re-establish Skala. the cross on Škrlatica, which was erected as a memorial to all those who lost their lives in the mountains. In fact, the modern Skala club was reborn as an association of mountaineering associations, which has been operating successfully for 25 years and as such represents a longer period of existence than the Skala Trail Club. A sincere thank you to everyone who contributed to this.
There were also some disagreements and misunderstandings at the founding of the modern Skala. We were accused of returning the monument to Škrlatica in the shape of a cross and, of course, competing with the Mountaineering Association of Slovenia. But time did its thing and both accusations proved unfounded. Membership in the Skala club is open to all, and the work of associations and federations is, of course, inclusive. Skala and other mountaineering and mountaineering organizations work together to find synergies in mountaineering projects, some of which are already listed, from nature conservation to mountain safety and the like.
Members of the Skala club,
On this venerable anniversary, the centenary of the club, I not only want to congratulate you on your achievements, but I hope that the motto of the Skala Mountaineering Association will be valid for the next hundred years: We carved the motto into limestone and granite, into ice and snow, into clouds and into the sky. And God protects her as he protects our homeland. Rock, thank you and good luck! “