The hiking trails are like a calling card for the local mountains. This also includes the 26.000 km long network of paths that the Austrian Alpine Club looks after. The use of this alpine infrastructure would be unthinkable without the more than 1.000 volunteers in the Alpine Club who take care of the maintenance of the paths.
With the climatic changes, the importance of maintenance work in the mountains increases. The Austrian Alpine Association is therefore once again looking for helping hands for trail maintenance.
“It is almost exclusively volunteers who keep the Alpine Club trails in good shape. They put in thousands of hours of work every year. Without this commitment, the maintenance of the 26.000-kilometer network of trails would be unthinkable,” said Alpine Club President Andreas Ermacora, confirming the great importance placed on volunteers in the club. However, their alpine area of application is exactly the place where the climate crisis is leaving particularly deep traces, from an increase in extreme weather events to more frequent rock and landslides. Modern technical aids such as a digital trail database make the work of the trail attendants and their helpers easier. If someone would like to volunteer in the area of path maintenance, it is best to find out more at: www.alpenverein.at/ehrenamt
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