The eleventh edition of Youth at the Top was a great success, bringing together around 370 young people at nearly thirty locations across the Alps and the Carpathians on 17 and 18 July 2025.
This year 20 events took place in the Alpine arc and 7 in the Carpathians. Altogether, the 27 local events were spread across eight different countries. Among the participating partner organisations were national parks, nature and regional parks, biosphere reserves and Alpine clubs from France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Romania and Slovakia. All these organisations are active in youth education in the Alps and Carpathians and supervised children, teenagers and young adults aged 5 to 26 within the framework of the project.
Youth at the Top was an authentic mountain experience that enabled young people to directly experience, understand and respect their natural environment. In the context of the project’s eleventh edition, the participating groups explored the transnational theme “Our Footprints in the Alps”. This theme was implemented creatively in many different ways: for example, participants collected litter during a hike and then reflected on the astonishing amount of waste left behind by people in the mountains. Other groups examined the decomposition times of different materials or visited a historic stone furnace once used for iron processing. Visits to Alpine meadows and discussions about traditional mountain farming also provided fascinating insights. In role-playing activities, conflict situations between different interest groups - such as ski lift operators and foresters - were reenacted. In the evening, campfire discussions invited reflection on the traces we leave in the mountains.
Once again, Youth at the Top offered an authentic outdoor experience, encouraging young people to discover, understand and respect their natural surroundings.
© Irene Borgna, Aree Protette delle Alpi Marittime
Youth at the Top is coordinated by ALPARC and supported by the German Ministry for the Environment (BMUKN).
