About us
We have been here for you for 12 years
We are the official representative of Alpenverein in Slovakia and part of the Austrian section Alpenverein-Edelweiss Vienna. Our job is to take care of members in Slovakia and support them. We help spread the mountain way of life and build a closer relationship between people and nature. More about the Alpenverein mountaineering association.
Support for members
As the direct representative of Alpenverein-Edelweiss Vienna, we register members into the Austrian Alpine Club.
- Consultations about the insurance
- Membership and insurance registration
- Payment processing
- Issuing the membership card
- Support for existing members
Help with a claim
If a claim happens, get in touch with us. We will help you file the notice and keep an eye on the whole process.
- Help with filing the notice
- Sending the notice
- Oversight of how the claim is handled
- Consultations while it is processed
Österreichischer Alpenverein
The Austrian Alpine Club OeAV (Österreichischer Alpenverein) is a respected Austrian mountaineering association with a 150-year history. It has more than 700 000 members. Thanks to its strong internal structure, which covers many activities and sports, it is an influential and socially active institution in Austria and abroad. In short, OeAV, or simply AV, brings together people who love the mountains and alpine nature, as well as active, sporty individuals and families. Anyone becomes a member of the association by their own free decision.
The Alpine Club supports mountain activities such as climbing, ski mountaineering, extreme skiing and snowboarding, with oversight from experts and guides. The association owns and runs mountain huts, maintains hiking trails and climbing routes. OeAV offers expert advice and information in this field, for example maps of climbing and walking routes, training and certification of guides, and various online services.
Education
These movements left their mark on how the Alpine Club developed. Today it is shaped most by new extreme mountain sports, the search for adrenaline and adventure, changes in society, the ties between nations and the effects of modern information and communication technology.
Ecology
Alpenverein is a leading expert voice on environmental questions in this region. The Austrian Alpenverein is a founder and partner in setting up and maintaining national parks and other protected areas. Club members look after the natural balance in places where protected areas face a greater risk of environmental damage.
Culture
The Alpenverein Museum won the Austrian museum award for Tyrolean museums. The OeAV club organises exhibitions and creative programmes and publishes magazines and brochures.
Society
These movements left their mark on how the Alpine Club developed. Today it is influenced most by new extreme mountain adrenaline sports, the search for adventure, changes in society and the ties between nations, all under the influence of modern information and communication technology.
History of the Alpenverein
Founding of the Austrian Alpine Association
On 19 November 1862 a meeting of the Austrian Alpine Club was held in the Green Room of the Academy of Sciences in Vienna. The association Österreichischer Alpenverein (OeAV) set itself the goal of „spreading knowledge about the Alps, encouraging love for them and making travel through them easier“.
Founding of the German Alpine Club 1869–1873 – merger of the Austrian and German Alpine associations
In 1869 German and Austrian mountaineers founded the German Alpine Club (Deutscher Alpenverein – DAV) in Munich. At that time „German“ did not mean Germany, but the German-speaking countries of Europe. The Eastern Alps were then called the „German Alps“. The DAV (Deutscher Alpenverein) had separate sections from northern Germany down to the Adriatic. They managed their own areas, built huts and trails there, provided education, trained mountain guides and handled publications.
The interwar period
Already before the First World War, and especially in the first years after it, anti-Jewish currents took hold of the Alpenverein. Most sections in Austria introduced „Aryan clauses“. At that time Jews could not be members and could not even stay in the club huts. In some parts of the state this began at the start of the 20th century. In 1905 the Viennese, German and Austrian Alpine associations ruled that only a German, a so-called „Aryan“, could be a member. In 1907 and 1910 the academy in Vienna and the academy in Munich banned Jewish membership and other associations followed suit. In 1921 the socialist Eduard Pichl became chairman of the Austrian section of the Deutscher Alpenverein and began to promote antisemitism. In the same year the Danubia branch admitted the Jewish mountaineers A. Viktor Frankl, Fred Zinnemann and Joseph Braunstein. In 1924 this branch was expelled from the whole federation, which at the time had 110 Austrian sections.
The newly formed group of Jewish and liberal members of „Danubia“ became a target of attacks by antisemites inside the Alpenverein. In 1924 a compromise was reached: if the antisemites stayed out of it, „Danubia“ would be excluded.
When Austria was annexed by the German Reich in 1938, the Deutscher Alpenverein was placed by the state under the mountaineering department of the Reich Association for Physical Training (DRL), later renamed the National Socialist Reich Association for Physical Training (NSRL). The headquarters of the Alpenverein, which had moved often before, settled in Innsbruck from 1938 on.
New priorities: sustainability and work with young people
After the First World War the Alpenverein took on many new duties. It lost some sections in South Tyrol and branches in certain territories.
It did not take long and within a few years membership tripled compared with pre-war levels. The huts were overcrowded and the excess comfort was rejected. Conflicts began to arise between the interests of climbers and mass tourism. The Alpenverein built new recreational facilities and focused on work with young people.
Hard post-war years – the Alpine Club fights to survive
After the Second World War the Alpenverein began a difficult path to clarify the legal standing of the Austrian Alpine Club. Its continued existence had to be upheld before the constitutional court and partial reforms had to take place. In 1951 the DAV (Deutscher Alpenverein) returned to the old name Austrian Alpenverein. The huts of the former German sections in Austria were run only on trust until 1955, when a contract was signed based on their actual ownership.
Continuous development
As living conditions normalised, with the economic boom and the growth of leisure activities, membership rose sharply again. People focused more on holidays and free time. In 1980 the Alpenverein was dealing with several new stages of development at once. The environmental movement strengthened nature protection within the Alpine Club, which is one of the largest landowners in the national parks. Sporting events became far more varied and new sports trends appeared. For the Alpenverein the most notable change was the growth of sport climbing on natural rock and artificial walls. Since 1990 the number of members has grown much faster thanks to new services. A great enthusiasm for health and mindful exercise in nature reinforced the importance of huts and hiking trails.