Hike Smart

ended

Hiking in the West Carpathian Mountains is highly popular outdoor activity involving thousands of people every year. Hiking involves numerous benefits for physical and mental health, such as improved muscle strength and endurance, balance and coordination, better sleep and reduced stress as well as it is easily accessible – anyone who wants to hike, can hike. However, due to its attractiveness and relatively low entry level, difficulty of hiking is often underestimated, and potential hazards overlooked leading to thousands of accidents every year, including fatal ones. Official Slovak Authorities, including Mountaineering Association and Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic, have reported that in 2022 the record number of accidents and deaths have been registered in the West Carpathian Mountains of local and foreign persons. The most common reasons of accidents and fatal injuries are hypothermia, slipping, falling after slipping. Causes for such accidents are usually the combination of several factors – bad weather conditions and storms, going off the official trail, bad preparation, unreasonable packing, having insufficient equipment or equipment in the bad shape, lack of experience, reckless behaviour, etc. But the saddest truth is that most of the accidents could be avoided. Therefore, our objective is: To promote safety in hiking activities in West Carpathian Mountains by increasing relevant competences and expertise of staff members of partner organizations and developing a set of educational videos contributing to safety in hiking. Hiking is a great sport involving numerous physical and mental benefits, and its relatively low entry level is a great solution to promote physical activity level in Europe. However, the increasing number of accidents, including the fatal ones, cannot be ignored which is the main reason we want to implement this project – hiking can be an amazing experience and sport if done with proper consideration and safety in mind.