History of Mountain Guides in the High Tatras

The first written mention of a mountain guides in the High Tatras was left by the student Simplicissimus in his travelogue in 1683. In the following years, botanists, mineralogists and even born gentlemen came to the High Tatras. Increased interest in the Tatra nature has also led to an increased demand for guiding services.

In 1873, the Carpathian Association was founded with the aim of promoting the High Tatras. It wanted to use scientific conferences, publishing of tourist and professional press, construction of hiking trails and huts for this purpose. At the second General Assembly of the Carpathian Association in 1874 the first statutes of the High Tatra Guide Service were approved, which were registered in Levoča in 1881 with the strong support of Dr. Szontagh.

After the World War I., when all pre-war societies legally ceased to exist, the organisation of the mountain guiding service was taken over by the Club of Czechoslovak Tourists.

The change of the political system after the World War II. brought about the disappearance of the tradesmen and thus also the disappearance of the profession of mountain guide. Nevertheless, mountain guiding has survived under the banner of prevention. In the High Tatras it was performed until 1989 by mountain guides of the Mountain Service of the TANAP administration.

Legislative steps after 1989 made it possible to revive the profession of mountain guide. The last lines of the Slovak history of this profession have begun to be written.

In 1992 the National Association of Mountain Guides of Slovak Republic was founded, which subsequently established contact with the UIAGM (International Association of Mountain Guides Associations). The goal of SMGA was to become a full member of the international association. After adapting the training methodology to international standards and vetting the mountain guides by a committee of experienced Alpine guides, this was achieved.

In 1996 in Zermatt, Slovak guides were accepted into the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations.

In 1996, SMGA started training its own new members – mountain guides, which was to prove the viability of this young association of mountain guides.

Later in 2005, the status of SMGA in the legislation of the Slovak Republic changes from a civil association to a self-governing state institution.

The SMGA continues to educate new mountain guides. Part of the educational process is also the retraining of registered mountain guides.

The current structure of the Association’s committees is as listed above.