General Assembly 2022 in Slovakia

The past week, in Slovakia, from the 23rd to the 25th of November, the IFMGA annual General Assembly took place, hosted by the National Association of Mountain Guides of the Slovak Republic. 

Delegates from all the associations gathered in the Grand Hotel Stary Smokovec and for three days dicussed the most important developments for the federation and its associations. 

Among some of the topics that were reviewed in the workshops and in the presentations made by the comissions were:

Climate Change: Presentation from Angela Hawse, collecting Input from the Member Associations, should become part of platform and CPDs, we need to change our mind set. Guides should lead with a good example, e.g. reducing their personal carbon footprint by 10-15%.

Canyoning: Presentation from Marco Heltai showed the possibility of work beside classical guiding. And showing that Canyoning is an important touchpoint to younger generations.

Communication: Presentation of current work by Juliana and request to collaborate (survey).

Illegal guiding: Cosmin Andron (EEMGA) went through different aspects, not only concerning non-guides, but also concerning IFMGA guides working without the necessary permissions.

Mobility: Hanno Dönz presented the work situation in different countries. It stays one of the most crucial topics for the IFMGA. New person on EU side is in charge in Brussels, contact has to been re-established. Insurance for UK and US guides could be solved thanks to Vienna association.

Rope Acces: Urs Wellauer showed the history but also his future vision for Rope Access. Huge potential in the future for Mountain Guides to work together with geologist, engineers in the field of Natural Hazards. But we ned now to start in this direction.

Briefings GA:  Budget, Process for elections at GA and Motions (from Board and one from Norway). We welcomed new members to our Managing board,:

IFMGA President: Urs Wellauer 

Technical Director: Hervé Qualizza

Board Member: Javier Garrido

Sponsorship: Angela introduced our new title sponsor, Lenz Products. Claudio Lohs from Lenz gave a short presentation about the enterprise but also how the sponsorship agreement came into place and spoke about possibilities for our joint work. Soon we will be announcing more information about our new sponsor. 

The detailed minutes will be sent to the delegates.  

We closed the meeting, with the Climbing Championship for Mountain Guides, read bout it here

Once again, the General Assembly leaves us with much more to keep working on, and once again, realizing how the constant collaboration between federation and associations is a tool for continous growth.