Chasing the Himalayan train

In 1960, when Yugoslavian exploration of the Himalayas began, Aleš Kunaver – the leading visionary of Yugoslav Himalayanism – famously wrote: “If you want to catch a moving train, you have to outrun it!” At that time, the global race for the world’s highest peaks was already over. But in just fifteen years, the Yugoslav climbers not only caught up—they became the locomotive and transformed their country into a mountaineering superpower. Since the mid-1980s, Yugoslav alpinism has been among the world’s elite. Their ascent culminated in 1975 with the extraordinary ascent of the Makalu South Face and continued in 1979 with the ground-breaking ascent of the Everest West Ridge. By 1995, the Yugoslavian mountaineers had climbed all 14 eight-thousanders. This article traces the development of alpinism in socialist Yugoslavia and examines the unique characteristics of its physical culture and sport system. It argues that state-sponsored structures, ideology and mass mobilisation were key to the explosive growth of climbing after the Second World War. The article also examines how mountaineering functioned as an instrument of soft power, symbolising national strength, identity and ambition during the Cold War era.