Jordi Merino: "There's no point in walking four hours to a mountain refuge, having a drinking party, and then trashing it."

BarcelonaJordi Merino has been president of the Federation of Hiking Clubs of Catalonia (FEEC) for fifteen years. At the FEEC headquarters on La Rambla, right in front of Barcelona's Plaça Reial, Merino receives the ARA newspaper and admits that these years "have felt like half a century," as things have changed so much. When Merino took over as president, none of the sports under his umbrella were Olympic. Now two are: climbing and a mountain ski that gives medalsBut things have also changed for the worse, especially the relationship many people have with the mountains. The FEEC (Catalan Federation of Mountaineering and Climbing) knows this all too well, as some of the mountain huts they manage have been vandalized recently, such as the one in Besiberri (Alta Ribagorça).

What goes wrong when someone vandalizes a mountain hut?

— It makes no sense. It seems to be part of a trend fueled in part by social media. People are posting videos of themselves finding a hideaway with beautiful views, saying you can stay overnight for free. TikTok and Instagram are overflowing with them. We know of three people in particular who have been spreading the word and have caused a lot of people to want to go and have a party. People on social media are even asking if anyone is going, as if it were a hotel, to decide whether to spend two or three days drinking in the park. We are contacting influencers To see if we can launch awareness campaigns, to try and use the same tactics that hurt us, but for good. Because to get to the Besiberri refuge you have to walk four hours, you know? It's not like some random person decides to have a party. Walking four hours to have a drinking session and then trash it makes no sense.

You manage this shelter. You bear the entire cost of maintaining it.

— We manage twelve mountain refuges, each with one warden and seven unsupervised refuges. Each free refuge has a sponsoring association that oversees and maintains it. The Besiberri refuge is managed by the Friends of the Mountain Society of Tremp, which recently found it vandalized. They called us, and I was in Montserrat for the renewal of the Flame of the Catalan Language, and I couldn't believe it. Many people don't understand that a mountain refuge has a specific function. It's not a place to go on a week-long party. It's an emergency refuge, with a system that allows the fire department to be notified if someone has an accident.

He has tried to contact them influencers that don't help?

— We've sent them messages, but they're not replying. How can you control what's happening online? This latest incident went viral because it was the most extensive damage, but we've had many cases of people having drinking parties in the shelters. Since this incident went viral, we received support from the rural agents. We were able to get there quickly by helicopter to clean everything up and remove the trash, but we're covering the costs ourselves. We're looking into applying for grants and we're talking to the authorities to see what we can do. We have ideas like installing cameras outside... but we can't do everything with our own resources, which come from the permits. We've even had cases where the warden at one of the monitored shelters turns off the camera to save energy when they leave, because we have to conserve power.

In a context of climate change, where you now have one winter dry and another with surprising snowfalls, having shelters ready can save lives.

— Climate change affects our daily lives in the mountains, and as you rightly say, the weather is changing so rapidly that mountain refuges, strategically located in the Pyrenees, can be crucial. People who go mountaineering know this and take care of them. But the problem is that things have changed since the pandemic. People want to go to nature more than before, and unfortunately, some people arrive without proper knowledge. We see this in the increase in mountain rescues because unprepared people are arriving. Or when you go to a crowded mountain pool or lake, you find people with floats and loudspeakers... in protected areas, mind you! We try to inform them. For example, we created a website with the Meteorological Service of Catalonia It's very detailed, allowing you to reliably track the weather. Much more reliable than checking your phone in the morning... The problem is that we're not reaching those people who go into nature with a different perspective. Everything we do ends up reaching people who are already convinced; we need support from government agencies to spread the message even further. There's a clear divide between educated people who love nature and a new generation of people who lack a mountain culture. A 2023 study stated that one million people were engaging in outdoor activities. But of these, only 95,000 are registered with a mountaineering federation, and...

Is it a global phenomenon?

— Yes. But in the Alps, for example, they have different policies and receive more resources from the government. In Austria, free mountain huts operate with an entry code. I'd say they have more respect than here, but the tension is there, since the mountains have become overcrowded. In some places, access is already being denied to anyone who isn't a member of a mountaineering federation or who can't afford an entrance fee. It's a complicated debate. If you prohibit or restrict access to nature, you exclude troublemakers, but also many good people who are completely innocent.

Now for the good news. The FEEC (Catalan Ski Federation) has been nurturing and promoting ski mountaineering for years, even before it was an Olympic sport. And now the fruits of their labor have arrived with Oriol Cardona's gold medal.

— We bet by the Mountain Skiing Training Centre of Catalonia back in 1997, promoted by Jordi Canals. Thirty years ago. In Catalonia, we're at a higher level than other European countries thanks to this commitment. Consider that perhaps the first documented ski mountaineering race in Europe that wasn't military in nature took place in the 1920s in La Molina. We've come a long way. In recent years, Spain has won the medals in World Cups, but the work has been done in Catalonia, providing resources for athletes to train. And everyone knows it; they congratulated us at the Games. It was a very bold move to create this center, which reached an agreement with the French to allow our young athletes to train in Font Romeu, where they have top-level facilities. This work is now bearing fruit... and there's more to come, because we could say we have a new generation coming up very strong.

We can say that more successes will come after Oriol Cardona.

— Absolutely. In four years, we'll have more people with the potential to become Olympians, and that's incredibly gratifying. We're a federation that combines the more traditional aspects of mountaineering with a more competitive side. We now have two Olympic sports, climbing and ski mountaineering. And in both, we've trained most of the athletes ourselves. Oriol Cardona's gold medal didn't just appear out of thin air; it's the culmination of decades of hard work. We're talking about names like Kilian Jornet, Mireia Miró, Marc Pinsach... role models who inspire young people to follow in their footsteps.

Is it possible to dream of having its own physical headquarters for this technology center in the future?

— That would be the idea. We're working on it. It's still unusual to have a high-performance training center without a physical location, operating out of Font Romeu, thanks to the French. It's even strange, since some of the official funding we receive for the center goes towards paying the French. And there, of course, we can't send as many athletes as we'd like; they give us some space, but it's limited, lest they find that everyone speaks Catalan to them (smiles).

By the way, what was the controversy like in Bormio regarding the removal of Catalan separatist flags and other banners?

— Someone must have seen all the Catalan flags on television and it triggered something, because initially there wasn't any problem. We went through security, the Civil Guard saw the flags and nothing happened. But suddenly people appeared saying "Catalan flag, Catalan flag"I hid mine and in the end I was able to bring out the flag with the medalists just like the Andalusian councilor brought out her flag."

Would it make sense to advocate for an official ski mountaineering team?

— Under the current sports law, it would be possible. Because our federation is older in terms of its founding date than the Spanish one, as is the case in rugby, but there would be no political support for the Generalitat.