EU project: improvement of good governance of climbing and mountaineering in Europe

 

 

EUMA – improvement of good governance of climbing and mountaineering in Europe

The main objective of the Erasmus project is to promote and support hiking, mountaineering and climbing and their facilities and infrastructure at EU level. The project is divided in thre working groups, Mountain huts, trails and rock climbing areas.

 

Mountain Huts

We intend to create a mountain hut database as a Jack-of-all-trades-device.

This means:

  • first of all, the database will contain a minimum of all relevant data that are unlikely to change, such as name, geographical data, link to the webpage, embedded image, and the hut owning organisation
  • provide further information about huts: 
    • How is a mountain hut defined?
    • What are the essential functions of mountain huts?
    • How should minimum standards of comfort be achieved while fulfilling ecological requirements?
  • the information shall also serve as promotional material for underlining the importance of huts in order to find sources of financial support in the EU.

We want to create a Europe-wide quality label for huts administered by EUMA.

We want to identify problems and find solutions at an EU-level.

 

Mountain Trails

We intend to create a visualisation of the European trail network.

This means:

  • create recommendations for trail management
  • define different trail types and difficulties
  • emphasize the importance of trails in respect of alpine tourism, human health and nature protection
  • guarantee free access to mountains in a responsible manner, considering legal aspects, such as liability 
  • demonstrate that mountain trails are THE infrastructure to achieve the goals mentioned above. They are the lifeline for mountain huts, yet mostly maintained by volunteers. 

We want to analyse problems and find solutions.

We want to establish a fair financing model supported by the EU to be able to maintain trails in the future

 

Rock Climbing Areas

We intend to create a “database of databases” for rock climbing areas.

This means:

  • provide an overview of climbing areas as well as local climbing communities
  • analyse best practice examples
  • define standard guidelines for climbing ethics regarding environment, safety and interests of involved people 

We want to guarantee free access to climbing areas, as long as climbing ethics are respected.

We want to emphasise the importance of regulating rock climbing with common sense.