From time immemorial, mountains have attracted nature lovers for the peace they provide. The Cetina region is a God-given area crowned with mountain beauties, the next more beautiful than the last.
Sinj mountaineers and researchers joined the Svilaja Mountaineering Association a hundred years ago, in 1922. The association was officially registered two years later, on May 25, 1924, as the first branch of the Croatian Mountaineering Association in Dalmatia. In its century-old history, PD Svilaja is proud of the construction and management of several valuable mountaineering facilities (Svilaja lodge, “Paunovac” shelter, Vaganj shelter on Kamešnica, Lake Peruća lodge), and today manages the “Orlove stine” lodge on the Svilaja mountain slopes.
As pioneers of mountaineering in the Cetina region, in the mid-1970s, the association began arranging and marking hiking trails in the entire Cetina region. Since the 1990s, it has shared caring for them with newly established institutions. Today, PD Svilaja takes care of the trails on Svilaja and Visoka.
In the hundred years of its operation, PD Svilaja has introduced many enthusiasts to the magical world of mountaineering, tirelessly organizing numerous excursions, mountaineering schools, schools for mountaineering guides, and mountain conservationists, alpinists, training for the Mountain Rescue Service, and always welcome hikes and gatherings.
The association has received numerous recognitions and thanks, including the Golden Badge of the Croatian Mountaineering Association and the City of Sinj Award in 1999.
For the great jubilee, the association is working on publishing a monograph, a new website, marking the Cetina Transversal, and several other activities that will mark 100 years.
The Svilaja Mountaineering Association – Sinj invites all mountaineers and nature lovers to celebrate the centenary of the Association with an organized mountaineering trip in the Cetina region and Dalmatia on June 3 followed by a complete program.
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