You and the Mount (YATM) is an ErasmusPlus co-funded youth exchange that aims to show what is the relation between the people and the mountain. The project will encourage young people to support sustainable tourism and sport and to reveal them that unwise behaviour in the mountain sometimes leads to serious consequences.

You and the Mount will gather young people aiming to improve the quality of performance of young people in mountains and extreme sports activities and help them and their peers to avoid fatal incidents in the future.

Duration: 8 working days – 20.10-27.10.2021, in a high mountain base near Sofia. The countries involved in the project are: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Romania and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The total number of participants (incl. facilitators+trainer) is 45: 6 participants from each partner country (5 youngsters and 1 team leader from each country + 2 x facilitators – BUL and 1 x trainer – BIH). Open call for participants is launched as well at the project webpage and in Salto network and the selection will be made clear and transparent.

This YE will follow the NFP approach: a combination of individual and / or group activities, knowledge, practice, case solving, exchange of personal experiences and knowledge, games, team work, education through sport (ETS) and lectures on the subject.

The growing popularity of mountain activities, as well as the availability of relatively affordable equipment for them, attracts more and more people to practice extreme sports and mountain tourism. Unfortunately, every year the mountain takes sacrifices, and the problems are very complex. On the one hand, there is a lack of awareness of how to choose the right equipment, on the other hand, there are no skills to deal with situations occurring in the mountain instantly. Only in Bulgaria every year there are dozens of victims and the main reasons are avalanches and riding outside the slops (Freeride), taking climbing without the needed preparation because of the lack of the right equipment, the required physical condition and last but not least underestimation of meteorological conditions. Adding the victims in the mountains from the other countries in the European Union, the number of similar incidents is really worrying.

Another aspect of the project is the lack of an online web site/platform where the youngsters from different nationalities will be able to share information about the conditions in the mountains, routes, slops, equipment quality etc., but also a social platform in which people from EU countries, where there are similar types of sport and tourism, can share experience and information. The lack of experience among young people, the lack of easily accessible information poses risks to their health and lives, as they are mostly the potential victims of unconsidered activities in the mountains.
On the other hand, young people are actively using the Internet, and the creation of such a platform/web site would be a great help for them in the exchange of experience and awareness.
EU is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the MS in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail.

The present project is based on accomplishing those priorities of Erasmus+ through quality cooperation of young people that will develop sensitivity and knowledge on how to build those qualities in youth targets through nature –oriented approach.