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In the mountains, nothing or very little works alone, successes are achieved together - as a rope team in which you can blindly rely on each other. This also applies to South Tyrol's mountain and ski guides, who mostly lead climb in their day-to-day work. The situation is slightly different for the provincial professional chamber and association: they are also involved in rope teams, but meet their rope partners as equals. In many cases, this has been the case for decades.
For decades, the South Tyrolean mountain guides have enjoyed a close partnership with the Alpenverein Südtirol (AVS), which was founded immediately after the end of the war. Up until the 1980s, the AVS even had its own mountain guide group. But even if this has become obsolete since the founding of the mountain guide association, the cooperation between mountain guides and the AVS, the association with the largest membership in the region, is still close. On many levels.
More about the AVS
For half a century, from the 1920s to the early 1980s, the Club Alpino Italiano (CAI) was something like the patron of mountain guides. The vast majority were organised in the CAI, which also acted as the mouthpiece and representative of the interests of mountain guides. This changed fundamentally with the founding of the Association of South Tyrolean Mountain and Ski Guides in 1980. Since then, the relationship between mountain guides and the CAI has no longer been one of dependency, but one of co-operation on an equal footing. And a fruitful one at that.
More about the CAI
Historically, South Tyrol's mountain guides were also the first mountain rescuers and were even obliged to do so by the first mountain guide regulations. Such an obligation no longer exists today, but it is also not necessary. The vast majority of mountain guides volunteer their expertise and time to the South Tyrolean Mountain Rescue Service (BRD) and thus form an important pillar of the BRD, which comes to the aid of all those who need it in the mountains. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
More about the BRD
What applies to the South Tyrolean Mountain Rescue Service also applies to its Italian counterpart, the South Tyrolean Mountain and Cave Rescue Service. This is the local branch of the National Mountain and Cave Rescue Service (Corpo Nazionale Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico, C.N.S.A.S.), has around 700 members in the country (including numerous mountain guides) and is called out when people are in distress in the mountains. And here, too, the volunteer rescuers are on hand around the clock.
More about the South Tyrolean Rescue Service
What do South Tyrol's mountain guides have to do with the Joint Construction Committee? And what is this committee anyway? Let's answer the second question first: the Joint Construction Committee is an organisation that was set up by the social partners in 1989 to provide training and further education courses to improve safety in the construction industry. Mountain guides also benefit from these courses, for example when it comes to working on suspended ropes. They are also used as instructors.
More about the Joint Committee in construction
