Hauptversammlung 2020 – postponed to 2021!

by Janet Britnell

On 5^th October 2020 the ÖAV Hauptversamlung (HV, AGM) scheduled for Saturday 24^th October 2020 in Villach, Kärnten, was postponed until 16^th October 2021. The Huts and Ways Committee and Bundesausschuss (BA, Federal Committee) meetings were moved to Friday and Saturday respectively and held in Innsbruck, with some guests and members, like me, floating in little Zoom ‘clouds’ above the meetings.

The BA had to take over some HV business that could not be postponed until next October. This included the co-option to the BA of representatives of the Landesverbände (Provinces) of Upper and of Lower Austria, and the ÖAV Bundesjugend representative, for 2021 – 2024, and the co-option of Clemens Matt as the new ÖAV General Secretary, all subject to retrospective confirmation at the 2021 AGM.

The 2020 HV should have been the occasion to thank Robert Renzler for his dedicated service to the Alpenverein (AV) as General Secretary from October 2002 to October 2020, and before that as head of the Alpine Department (now Bergsport) from 1986. Instead, several honoured guests attended the BA meeting. President Andreas Ermacora led the tributes to Robert, apologising that the BA meeting was a poor substitute for the HV. This was followed by a tribute from Peter Grauss, Honorary Member and former President with whom Robert worked to transform the Alpenverein between 2002 and 2007. Peter Grauss said this had been one of the best times of his life. Next there were tributes from Christian Wadsack, President 2008 – 2012, and former Bundesjugend Chairman; Josef Klenner, DAV Vice-President; Georg Simeoni, AVS President; Wehrfried Graf, Honorary Member; and Olaf Tabor, DAV Managing Director.

As General Secretary, Robert oversaw the structural re-organisation of the AV, including the setting up of the Präsidium (Executive council) and Bundesaus-schuss and new constitutions for the Gesamtverein2 and the sections. The central administration in Alpenvereinshaus3 was transformed: a modern financial system was put in place; many departments were revitalised to the benefit of the sections and membership; in 2008 they moved from Wilhelm-Greil-Straße to the new Alpenvereinshaus2 in Olympiastraße, still in Innsbruck. Membership almost doubled to nearly 600,000 members, partly due to the development of the AWS insurance, and hut benefits, but also to the encouragement of younger members and the development of climbing as an indoor and competitive sport, to which Robert contributed as a founding member of the Climbing World Cup. Robert is also a fine Alpinist; he is one of the few people who have climbed Masherbrum, 7821m, in Pakistan, having led an AV team via the 3500m North Face in 1985. But above all, Robert is recognised for his loyalty to the AV, supporting everyone – the Präsidium and his colleagues in Alpenvereinshaus and the sections – and solving problems and diffusing arguments. He was always very supportive of Sektion Britannia, not least during his last weeks in Office, helping us with Brexit related problems, in tandem with his successor, who nobly picked up the baton, and continued the good work.

The new General Secretary, Clemens Matt, was selected from nearly 100 applicants in an intensive process. Clemens has been an AV member most of his 48 years and a volunteer alpine guide for Alpenverein (Zweig) Innsbruck3 for 19 years. He is a civil engineer and has 17 years managerial experience in industry. Despite their different professional backgrounds, like Robert, he is keen to develop the AV’s role as an ‘Advocate for the Alps’, is against development of more cable cars in unspoilt areas and is seeking environmentally friendly alternatives for mobility in the alps. He will be encouragingthe further development of digital tools like alpenvereinaktiv.com and hopes to provide a wider range of services so the AV can live up to its claim to be ‘the largest youth organisation in Austria’. In December, all the AV sections were invited to ‘send’ two representatives to a Zoom question and answer meeting hosted by the new General Secretary with Michael Larcher, head of Bergsport, and Peter Kapelari, head of Huts, Paths and Cartography. S. Britannia was represented by Chairman, Tony Cooper, Alpine Team member, Alex Gymer, and me, as Ausland (Foreign) BA representative. The event was much appreciated, and there were calls for it to be repeated soon.

Robert Renzler

Clemens Matt
Photos: N. Freudenthaler

1. Gesamtverein: Literally in English the ‘Whole Association’. The Österreichischer Alpenverein (ÖAV) with its headquarters in Innsbruck is an Overall Association and is both an association and an umbrella association. The Gesamtverein consists of the constituent independent sections and branches of the ÖAV, and the Honorary Members. [Ehrenmitglieder- at this time (2021) there are only two: Dr Peter Grauss, (a former President of the ÖAV), and Ing. Wehrfried Graf (a much respected, former BA member)]. Hauptverein is sometimes used as if it were synonymous with Gesamtverein, but it is more often used to refer to the management of the ÖAV, ie: the Präsidium and the BA plus the General Secretary and his colleagues in Alpenvereinshaus. Olympiastraße, Innsbruck.
2. Alpenvereinshaus in this article refers to the headquarters of the ÖAV in Olympiastraße 37, 6020 Innsbruck, but the headquarters of some of the sections (eg Alpenverein Innsbruck, Alpenverein Austria in Vienna) are also called ‘Alpenvereinshaus’.
3. Alpenverein Innsbruck/Zweig Innsbruck: In 2014 the ÖAV registered the word ‘Alpenverein’. Since then, ‘Alpenverein’ is not only used to refer to the ÖAV, but has become interchangeable with ‘Sektion’ or ‘Zweig’, particularly for some of the very large sections eg Alpenverein Austria, Alpenverein Innsbruck, Alpenverein Edelweiss.

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