Saxon mountaineers are hoping to attract new attention to their tradition by being recognized as an intangible cultural heritage by Unesco. This Tuesday, Saxon mountaineering will receive the official award certificate together with five other German specialties in Wiesbaden. The decision to award the title was made back in March. Since then, public interest has already increased noticeably, said Thomas Böhmer, Head of Training at the Saxon Mountaineering Association.
"We are not assuming that climbing will suddenly double in popularity now," said Böhmer. That was never the aim of the application for intangible cultural heritage. Rather, the aim was to preserve and cultivate Saxon mountaineering. This type of climbing is not something you can just learn on a course. "It's more like a craft that develops over years," said Böhmer. It is not in keeping with the spirit of the times to want to have everything easy.
