The Silver Plaque – International Alpine Solidarity Award flies to the mountains reflected in the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other.
The Committee, after carefully evaluating the submissions received, with a keen eye as always on those who generously devote themselves to helping those in the mountains and the new priorities due to climate change and respect for the environment unanimously decided to favour an association that works with great sensitivity in its own territory, awarding the 52nd edition to the Mountain Club of South Africa “which has been doing and promoting mountain culture for over a century with rescue, accompaniment and mountaineering training, and with a punctual, meritorious, priceless activity to protect the environment and its creatures”.
Arriving in Africa with the Silver Plate, after having delivered it to extraordinary personalities of European, American and Asian mountaineering, had always been in the wishes of the cav. Angiolino Binelli, unforgettable creator of the Prize, which we have been missing for two years now. He would have liked to embrace all the peoples of the globe in a big hug in the name of that solidarity that characterizes those who live in the mountains at all latitudes, in an environment, the mountain in fact, where everyone is equal, ready to lend a hand and sacrifice themselves for others in times of need, beyond the color of the skin, the differences of language, creed and nationality.
The handover ceremony will take place in Pinzolo on Saturday 23 September at 12 in the PalaDolomiti Auditorium with the participation of the Presanella Choir, the intervention of the Institutions (civil, military and religious authorities), the presence of the winners of the previous editions and the of the mountain, which never fails to gather around the Committee in this circumstance, a particularly heartfelt appointment. The morning of the previous day there will be the traditional meeting with the students of the Istituto comprensivo della Val Rendena where the winner will illustrate his activity and answer the students’ questions.
The MCSA is a federal club founded in Cape Town in 1891 made up of 15 autonomous sections spread throughout the territory of southern Africa, which operate at a voluntary level with different objectives. Its activity consists in organizing and facilitating mountaineering, protecting access to mountains and mountain areas, initiating and supporting actions aimed at protecting the natural beauty and wild character of the mountains by effectively managing their conservation, in promote the safety and training of mountaineers, in providing search and rescue services and in encouraging the study of mountains and their environments, the conservation of historical heritage and archaeological sites on them and the dissemination of information on mountains and mountaineering . Summarizing what the MCSA has achieved in over one hundred years of history with rescue operations and mountaineering expeditions on mountains all over the world is almost impossible, so many, so different and often so demanding have been. Suffice it to say that even last year he carried out more than 250 rescue operations in South Africa alone and that in 1970 he even flew to Peru with a team of doctors and mountaineers to help the populations hit by a terrible earthquake.
