International Mountain Summit 2011

12 000 enthusiastic visitors at the international mountain platform in Brixen

On the 3 November the responsible parties of the township Brixen, the tourism management as well as the director of the Alpenverein Südtirol and the organizers of the International Mountain Summit took stock of the event in the municipal hall of Brixen.

From the 21 October to the 30 October exceptional mountaineers, slackliners, top alpinists but also experts, scientists, Alpine Clubs and first of all mountain lovers met in Brixen at the mountain platform IMS in order to discuss, to celebrate and socialize with each other.

Photo by IMS

The IMS registered approx. 12,000 visitors in its third edition in 2011. This is an increase of more than 2,000 visitors compared to the year 2010. There were 2,700 visitors in the slackline world championship on the dome square, 2,900 mountain lovers visited the AVS-Boulder Festival, while 6,300 attended the program in the Forum Brixen. More than 1,200 came to South Tyrol from abroad to join the IMS. The Mountain Festival was a meeting place also for the international media. With the discussion IMS Media as well as with 118 accredited journalists from 9 countries, the IMS was able to establish itself as an attractive event, for the technical media and the daily magazines. Many renowned companies from the world of media were present.

There were many highlights at the IMS 2011. The talks of the twelve top mountaineers were very personal and quite different and in their diverse perspectives they showed the whole variety of the mountain cosmos. Thanks to the IMS Walks, the trekking program, the visitors of the International Mountain Summit could get in direct contact with the best mountaineers of the world. The walks are a very special adventure for the visitors and are very unique. The demand was quite high this year again and all walks were almost fully booked. Markus Gaiser and Alex Ploner emphasized: “We are very happy about that because the top mountaineers appreciate the possibility to exchange ideas with their admirers”.

The director of the Südtiroler Alpenverein, Gislar Sulzenbacher who is very happy about the success of the IMS stated: “We are happy to take over the host role as a local mountain organization for the mountain friends and alpine clubs of the world. The AVS bouldering festival is very popular and in the congress on health and climbing various developments were discussed which will still give a lot of topics for conversation within the Alpine Club, for example the topic on disabilities and climbing“.

Photo by Manuel Ferrigato

In the three round tables the central aspects of the relationship between mountains and human beings were discussed and examined by international experts and mountaineers. While the round table on Mountain Tragedies at the opening on the 21 October 2011 dealt with mountain accidents and tragedies, the IMS discussion on Mountains and Spirituality on Sunday 23 October tried to illustrate the power of attraction of mountains on human beings and the correlating background. The highlight of the IMS 2011, on Friday 28 October was certainly the discussion between top mountaineers (Reinhold Messner, Stephan Glowacz, Adam Ondra, David Lama) journalists, photographers and representatives of the industry on the topic of Show Alpinism.

At the IMS congress there were also other highlights: the relationship between outdoor sports, ecology and forest management was discussed in the congress „Sports-Forests-Boundaries“ organized by the Forstverein of South Tyrol while the congress „Climbing and Health“ organized by the Alpine Club of South Tyrol dealt with health in relation to climbing.

The whole city was in a mountain fever. The dome square of Brixen was an outdoor cinema as well as the stage for the Slackline World Championship, where the second slackline world champion, Michael Payton from the US, was awarded. The pictures which won the IMS Photo Contest 2011 by KIKU were exhibited there as well. In the rearranged handball hall in Brixen South bouldering fans, students and climbers met for the AVS-Boulder Festival looking forward with enthusiasm to the final of the IMS CUP 2011, which was won by Anna Stöhr and Adam Ondra.

The next International Mountain Summit will take place in October 2012.