From the Alps to the Adriatic: the challenges of mountain rescue across borders

With the growing popularity of hiking and mountaineering, mountain accidents have increased significantly. The pressure falls on volunteers from rescue groups, who often work in collaboration with their colleagues across the border

“If you wanted to fly, you should have booked a plane ticket, not us”, reads a sarcastic poster signed by Hrvatska gorska služba spašavanja (Croatian mountain rescue), which appeared last summer on the country’s highways.

Mountain accidents are becoming a sensitive issue wherever mountains and tourism meet, and the peaks of Slovenia, Carinthia and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as the reliefs a stone's throw from the Croatian coast, are no exception. And so, after yet another summer of intense activity, the prospects of an increasingly complex service are once again being discussed.

Unlike the countries north of the Alpine arc, in these territories – with the sole exception of Carinthia – rescue remains free, even for accidents that, with hindsight, were perhaps avoidable. A choice defended by the majority of those responsible for rescue in the countries involved.

Rescuers, meanwhile, are preparing to face the challenges of a rapidly changing mountain territory, both because of the spread of new sports activities and the effects of climate change. And they often do so together, in a cross-border collaboration that sees rescuers working across borders to save lives.

Growing numbers

The number of mountain trails and refuges taken by storm in the first months of reopening after the lockdowns might have seemed like a snapshot of a temporary trend, but it was instead a phenomenon destined to become structural.

In recent years, in fact, the numbers of high-altitude tourism have continued to grow, and, in parallel, accidents have also grown. In Friuli-Venezia Giulia, rescue operations even doubled in ten years, going from 217 in 2013 to over 402 in 2023, but Slovenia (which went from around 400 interventions per year to almost 700 in the same period), Carinthia and Croatia have seen similar increases.

The most challenging period is summer. The summer of 2024, particularly rainy in many regions, was perhaps the first, after the pandemic, that did not see records broken almost everywhere. "This year we had a lot of work and we are close to the record numbers from the last year", explains Gregor Dolinar, president of Gorska Reševalna Zveza Slovenije (Slovenian Mountain Rescue).

Countries like Croatia see their inhabitants multiply during the tourist season. “Our country has 3.8 million inhabitants, and in those four months more than 20 million people arrive. Our population increases sevenfold. These people come on holiday and in 7 or 14 days they want to take advantage of all the opportunities. It doesn’t matter if it’s hot, if it rains, if it thunders: they go to the mountains, they go to the sea”, explains Marko Rakovac, president of Hrvatska gorska služba spašavanja.

Greater demand corresponds to a greater number of rescuers, who – apart from helicopter rescue technicians and few other professions – are all volunteers, the vast majority of whom live in the area. Even helicopters, which have seen a significant increase in the timeliness of interventions in recent years, are not always available in all areas when needed.

Hikers in flip-flops: between myth and reality

“Don’t go in flip-flops, don’t go to Biokovo in flip-flops”, goes a song  by the Croatian group Banda Turizma, which ironically attacks tourists who, in between swims, decide to venture carefree onto the mountain overlooking the Dalmatian coast. If things go wrong, no problem: “Brother, it doesn’t matter, the mountain rescue will save me”.

The unwary hiker who gets into trouble, perhaps to take a selfie, has become a recurring figure bordering on cliché even at the highest peaks, let alone among those near the coast, actually frequented by seaside tourists: "In Biokovo the mountain literally comes out of the sea, so they think it is an easy hike. And they end up being burned by the sun, there is no shade, no water, no springs. When we rescue tourists, it often causes a big stir in the media", explains Marko Rakovac.

Similar cases also occur in Slovenia, recalls Gregor Dolinar: "tourists go to the most popular tourist resorts – Bled or Bohinj, for example – for a few days, then they like the great views in the area and decide to go to the mountains. But the mountains can be quite difficult, and we are bringing down quite a lot of uninjured people who just hadn't estimated their capabilities correctly”.

However, recklessness is by no means exclusive to foreign tourists: in most areas at least half of the rescues involve local hikers.

According to Bernhard Pichler-Koban of Bergrettung Kärnten (the Carinthian branch of the Austrian mountain rescue service), it is more a question of mindset than of equipment: “It seems like some people have forgotten about the dangers of the mountains (...) There’s a bit of an 'overconfidence' mentality, where people think they can always call for help and be rescued without any problems. Unfortunately, this is not always possible and in the event of dangerous weather conditions or other risk factors, the rescue teams decide in favour of self-protection. One of the biggest problems is the image portrayed by influencers on social media”.

However, according to Raffaello Patat, delegate of the Alpine and Speleological Rescue of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, fuelling the narrative of the improvised hiker who mobilises expensive rescue operations for no reason risks being counterproductive.

“We don’t like to blame those who have a mishap. It’s true that sometimes, when they call us, we wonder how they can’t solve the problem on their own. Almost always, however, once we are on site, we realise that the call was justified. In the mountains, the weather changes, it gets dark, the temperature drops suddenly: it’s better to call immediately, for a seemingly trivial situation, rather than complicate things. Furthermore”, adds Patat, “I believe that in fact today people’s preparation has actually improved slightly compared to the past”.

An apparent paradox that can be explained by considering the prevalent types of accidents. Often, he explains, we imagine that people get into trouble by doing extreme activities. In fact, most of the time they are simply hiking: they slip, stumble on the trail, get lost, suffer from heat stroke.

In areas where the boundary between mountains, countryside and coast is often blurred, in many cases the requests come from mushroom pickers and people engaged in the most diverse activities. “We often rescue cyclists, perhaps with electric bicycles, as well as those engaged in new activities such as canyoning, acrobatic paragliding or mountain biking. These are changes that require us to continually adapt to be ready to intervene”.

Climate change and safety in the mountains

The complex phenomenon of the climate crisis looms over the evolution of mountain dangers, which in this region translates into more frequent landslides at higher altitudes, sudden floods, heat waves, fires.

“We have already had significant impacts, such as the recent case on the Natisone , where three young people were swept away by water. This type of event is not new, but it seems to be occurring more frequently”, continues Patat.

“This is why we are organising at a national level to face the new challenges linked to climate change, such as floods. Even if mountaineering is not directly linked to water, we are still trying to adapt to these new realities”.

In the high mountains of Slovenia, adds Dolinar, another problem is the increasingly sudden change in weather conditions, between violent storms and sudden changes in temperatures that surprise mountaineers: “Recently two foreign tourists died during very bad weather. It's not sure, but our guess is that they were struck by lightning that caused them to fall down”.

In the parched Croatian mountains, the main threat would be the increase in temperatures. It is precisely on the hottest days, underlines Rakovac, that many inexperienced people head to the mountains, often neglecting to bring enough water. “They push their bodies to the limit, they start making big mistakes and bad decisions, which lead to accidents. There are no sources of drinking water, so it is more difficult for people to cool down. In the sun they quickly lose their bearings and this can be disastrous”.

A feature that is common to several areas of the Alpe Adria is the presence of caves. Even in this environment, Rakovac recalls, with the increase in extreme events, speleologists are exposed to the risk of sudden floods more frequently.

Who pays though?

Faced with these new challenges, as in the rest of the Alpine region, the sustainability of the work of the Alpine Rescue is being debated again, with a particularly sensitive issue: the payment of the service.

While in Carinthia the leaders of the rescue organisation remind that "it is essential to have insurance that covers the costs of a possible rescue", in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Slovenia and Croatia mountain rescue currently remains free.

The positions of the leaders of the organisations in these territories are quite similar, but partly linked to the specificities of the different contexts.

In Friuli-Venezia Giulia, despite the fact that the issue has also been raised in the media  and there is a regional law that would allow costs to be charged based on the assessments of a special commission, Raffaello Patat recalls: "we have never implemented this possibility and we have never regretted it. We remain of the idea of intervening without asking for money and without complaining about what happened".

The issue is also being discussed in neighbouring Slovenia and Croatia. The mountain rescue leaders of the two countries point out how often the work and resources of the mountain rescue – beyond the media coverage of the cases of "hikers in flip-flops" – are spent on rescuing people who get lost picking mushrooms, who get injured while going to get firewood in the woods, or who – in the most extreme cases – are found having committed suicide.

Although desirable – they note – it seems unlikely that taking out insurance policies can resolve this type of situation. Gregor Dolinar insists that "Slovenian taxpayers already contribute at least a little by paying taxes" and that the mountain rescue is "not in favour of major changes in this area".

He admits that as far as foreigners are concerned "a way could be found for them to contribute at least a little" and that in general "the issue of responsibility for irresponsible behaviour in the mountains will have to be addressed". But he stresses: “regardless of the government's decision about who will pay for the rescue, we will always go to the rescue if someone needs our help. And we don't want to be the ones to charge for the rescue”.

From Hrvatska gorska služba spašavanja, Marko Rakovac reiterates that the rescue “is a state obligation. Do firefighters charge to put out fires?”. And he adds: “we also want to avoid creating a situation in which people, thinking they will have to pay for the rescue, do not ask for help, worsening the situation”.

The president of the mountain rescue urges us to also take into account a “systemic” aspect. In Croatia “the perception of safety is very high, and this is important for tourism, a sector that represents 20% of the country’s GDP. And when we look at the numbers as a whole, it is a small investment for the effect we get when we save 100 foreigners a year”.

Rescue across borders

Like every year, on November 29, the Alpine rescue teams of Carinthia, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Slovenia will meet for an important coordination meeting. Today, all the organisations in the area are part of the International Commission for Alpine Rescue (ICAR), but the first forms of cross-border cooperation on the topic of Alpine rescue in the border area around the Julian Alps date back to the 1960s.

The representatives of the various organisations agree in stressing the importance of the cooperation efforts carried out over the years, but also the value of direct knowledge and personal friendships among the rescuers themselves.

The geomorphology of the mountain, on the other hand, does not always respect the lines drawn by state borders. "It can happen that the Italian team can drive closer to the accident site than we can, when we would have two hours walking to get there. Then it makes sense for them to handle the rescue”, explains Pichler-Koban from Carinthia.

The border and its implications are not entirely irrelevant, Raffaello Patat recalls: “The removal of a body comes to mind. You have to abide by the laws of the state where it is found, and a local police force must intervene. It is unlikely that a voluntary force will go to operate in a territory other than that of its competence. Maybe we will carry out an intervention, but in the end the police force of that state must intervene on site anyway, for legal reasons”. These aspects will also continue to be discussed at the next meeting.

Cross-border cooperation is not driven exclusively by the need for joint intervention on shared borders, as demonstrated by the growing collaboration  between the Italian and Croatian national rescue services, whose intervention areas do not directly intersect.

There has been no shortage of joint interventions in third countries (as in the case of the American speleologist  stuck 1000 metres above sea level in Turkey), nor shared exercises and exchanges of experiences and know-how.

Marko Rakovac explains: “we have excellent collaboration and we want to learn a lot from the Italians, because we think they have really good rescuers. We will soon have a canyoning training in Italy to learn from their volunteers”.

Dialogue and exchange of ideas are also valued by the Slovenian side, for example on aspects of great importance such as the adaptation of the legislative framework to the new needs of the organisations: “Croatia introduced a special law dealing with all aspects of mountain rescue. And we are trying to pass that kind of law also in Slovenia”.

In the case of the two post-Yugoslav countries, these ties are also maintained through meetings involving mountain rescuers from all the republics that made up the federal state: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, North Macedonia and Montenegro.

Exchanges and collaborations across borders, on the other hand, seem to represent an almost obligatory path to face the many future challenges. Rakovac himself sums it up well: “We always count on the help of Italians and Slovenians in our actions. Our neighbours contribute to making our environment safe. And of course vice versa: we are here for them if necessary".

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This publication has been produced within the Collaborative and Investigative Journalism Initiative (CIJI ), a project co-funded by the European Commission. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa and do not reflect the views of the European Union. Go to the project page