The President of the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC), Marco Scolaris, has been invited and attended the 2022 General Assembly of the Union Internationale des Associations d’Alpinisme (UIAA) in Banff, Canada.
Following the warm welcome by UIAA President Peter Muir, Mr Scolaris took the stage and addressed the over 100 delegates and guests.
“Thank you to President Peter Muir for the opportunity to talk to you today,” Mr Scolaris said. “It is great to see so many familiar faces in this house.
“Some of you may remember, it was precisely here, in Banff, that in 2006 we were faced with some difficult decisions about the road ahead of us. It was here that Silvio Calvi of CAI, in the middle of the General Assembly, asked me whether we were ready to create our own organization.
“The last 16 years have been intense, and they have proven that the decision taken in, to create the IFSC was conceptually mature, driven by a concrete, tangible goal: the Olympic dream. Thanks to great determination and a lot of work, the Olympic Dream came true, to the benefit of climbers worldwide.”
The IFSC President also called for a joint action from the IFSC, UIAA, and the International Ski Mountaineering Federation.
“Along with Peter, I look forward to finding a common ground for initiatives on the big themes that affect our world today, and pose a threat to the values that we – as climbers – share. To mention one: climate change,” he said.
“Both IFSC and UIAA are signatories of the United Nations Sport for Climate Action Framework. A project that also includes the ISMF and its President Regula Meier, recently included in the Winter Olympic Games Milano-Cortina 2026. The intention is to work together on a roadmap leading to concrete actions, so I invite the Presidents of our families to exchange on how climbers can speak to the turbulent world.”
Mr Scolaris finally concluded with a heartfelt appeal to the unity of the wide world of Climbing and mountaineering: “I have participated in 14 UIAA General Assemblies, and I conclude with the hope that our communities, our people can stand united in our diversity and be role models in the sport world and in the society of today and of tomorrow.
For a better world through sport, for a better world through Climbing.”
L/R: UIAA President Peter Muir and IFSC President Marco Scolaris
Photo: Amy Liu/UIAA
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