Erasmus+

Up and down! Four season activity in the mountains: skimo and trail running
Erasmus+ Sports Project, 2018-2019

Coordinator:

Hungarian Ski Mountaineering Association
(HSMA, Magyar Síalpin és Túrasí Sportegyesület, www.sialpin.hu)

Partners:

Icelandic Alpine Club
(ISALP, Íslenski Alpaklúbburinn, www.isalp.is)

Mountaineering Section of the Mountaineering and climbing club Ljubljana-Matica (MCCLM, Alpinistični odsek Planinskega društva Ljubljana-Matica; http://www.pd-ljmatica.si/)

Both ski touring (backcountry skiing, where both uphill and downhill travel is made on skis without the use of any motorized equipment, e.g. without the use of lifts, also called ski alpinism and ski mountaineering or skimo) and trail running have become more and more popular in the recent years all over Europe. However -especially in non-Alpine and small countries- the necessary background knowledge in health and safety is often missing, and while the two sports are highly complementary, yet cheap outdoor activities, and provide an all year round healthy cardio lifestyle, usually they are still not encouraged strongly enough together. Thus the main focus of the current project is to formulate the necessary steps to increase partaking and the number of voluntary activities in these sports, raise health and safety awareness and the knowledge on their health-enhancing effects, and to start developing a network of European organizations focusing on these sports.

In the following ski touring, ski mountaineering, ski alpinism and trail running together will be referred to as “Skimo sports”.

More specifically the main objectives of the current project are:

  1. to share good practices and work out new methods on:
    1. how to increase the number of people acquainted with outdoor cardio sports, with a special emphasis on ski touring and trail running, as healthy, cheap, environmentally friendly and complementary outdoor sports not requiring any designated maintained areas;
    2. how to increase awareness on mountain safety: on one side with a special emphasis on ski touring and ski associated hazards, e.g. avalanche awareness, winter mountain weather, winter mountain first aid and rescue skills, team psychology, safety for freeriders, etc. On the other side on general mountain hazards concerning trail runners, e.g. weather, first aid and rescue skills, orientation. Associated with these is the question if and how could this kind of safety awareness be extended to further interested parties, e.g. to people leaving the groomed slopes only occasionally, or to trekkers and hikers;
    3. how to make people more willing to visit necessary courses, training sessions, to practice and to promote lifelong learning;
    4. how to increase the appreciation of the health and environmental benefits of outdoor cardio sports and promote a healthy lifestyle;
    5. how to involve young people into Skimo sports;
    6. how to involve people from social layers who have no access to these sports;
    7. how to increase the willingness to volunteer in associated activities, e.g. competition organising, practice session, trail cleaning activities, environmental activities;
    8. competition organizing practices and how to motivate people to take part in such competitions;
    9. how to improve and maintain cooperation with stakeholders, e.g. rescue bodies, official sport organizations, race directors.
  2. to enhance networking between the Project Partners, associated bodies and other relevant associations to found the basis of a network of associations across Europe with the main focus on ski touring, trail running and all their associates sports in order to establish a tradition of working together and sharing good practices in the future.