President Frigo does not hide his concern: “Few of the 150 thousand euros made available by the Region”
BELLUNO
Still an abundant meter of snow on the Dolomite slopes crossed by the paths. In two months the mountain hiking season officially reopens, will the sections of the Cai be able to reopen them all? It is a good 6,800 kilometers of high mountain routes (an altitude, in truth, extends over the Prealps where there is very little snow).
“We fear the worst,” replies Renato Frigo, regional president of the Italian Alpine Club. «In truth», he points out with great concern, «we don’t know what we will find under the abundant snow that has fallen this winter. Our concern is that along the steepest slopes, which at times are also the most fragile, the white blanket has also brought parts of the path down to the valley. Or that it has moved stones and earth to cover entire stretches of the route. Our volunteers, in some cases, have already moved to check “the state of the art”, but today it is really impossible to find out what is really under a meter of snow still frozen ».
Frigo imagines that it takes another month of high temperatures to melt the snow in order to check the conditions of the path network. Then it will be a question of mobilizing all possible volunteers to restore at least the most popular itineraries and, in any case, those that can guarantee more effective safety today. «The problem», the manager of the Cai still remembers, «is also financial. It is true that our volunteers work for free but it is also true that we will incur expenses. Our budget, guaranteed by the Region, is 150 thousand euros a year; this figure “, he explains,” is barely enough for us to reopen and secure the many via ferratas of the Dolomites and the Veneto mountains “.
The management of the via ferratas, in truth, is the responsibility of the Montane Unions, which make use of alpine guides, but the bottom from which they fish is always the same, the 150 thousand euros of the Region. An availability that in recent years has practically been exhausted with the intervention on the aided routes, some of which, among other things, have been blocked precisely because it has not been possible to put them back in safety.
The sections of the CAI, therefore, in addition to providing for volunteers will also make subscriptions to replenish the financial resources, given that, with the Vaia storm two years ago, all the resources were used to repair the damage to the shelters and of the paths. It is therefore a question of recreating a quota of possible support for those volunteer realities that will have to face difficult tasks, perhaps in almost inaccessible conditions, to favor the development of summer tourism.
“We will work to reactivate most of the path network, starting with the one that leads to the refuges and connects them with each other”, assures Frigo. «If any route is seriously damaged and cannot be repaired, we will obviously have to close it; hikers will be understanding ». –