We got Bernadette McDonald’s Alpine Warriors for Christmas, a book that recounts the history of Slovene alpinism from the 1970s on. It’s a fascinating tale, one that we’ll be reviewing here soon, and as part of the reading process it’s been necessary to go online and check out photographs, videos and maps to get some idea of what this generation or two of climbers achieved, when a few individuals from a small and relatively impoverished country opened up new routes and conquered new faces, driven by an inner fire to continue through terrible conditions with minimal support, and often paying the highest price for their results.
Related: Slovene-British Team Conquer North Face of Latok, the “Holy Grail” Of High Altitude Climbing
Two names that appear in the book are Marko Prezelj and Silvo Karo, and one of the great themes of the stories McDonald tells is the bond that exists among climbers, a breed apart in terms of abilities, motivations and goals. It was thus a delight to find the following video of Prezelj and Caro talking about a young Slovene climber, Luka Lindič, born in 1993. Not only do the older men look happy, healthy and at peace, but they’re still active in the scene and passing on their knowledge and experience to the next generation, alpinists like Lindič who know they’re standing on the shoulders of giants.
So enjoy the video, and – if you’re not aware of Slovenia’s outstanding record in the Himalayas, Patagonia and elsewhere – bear in mind that this is yet another field of human endeavour in which the country is truly first class, and one that it’s well worth paying attention to.
