You are invited to a museum evening entitled In the spirit of Makalu and Kunaver’s legacy, which will take place on Friday, October 17, 2025, at 6 p.m. at the Slovenian Alpine Museum in Mojstrana.
This autumn, the Slovenian Alpine Museum will mark important anniversaries in Slovenian mountaineering. To mark the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of the primary route on Makalu, the fifth highest peak in the world and the first eight-thousander climbed by a Slovenian team, we are preparing a special museum evening with a presentation of the expedition and a discussion with its participants.
There will also be a traveling panel exhibition entitled “50th Anniversary of the First Ascent of an Eight-Thousander, 30th Anniversary of the Last of All Fourteen,” created in collaboration with the Alpine Association of Slovenia. The rich photographic material was contributed by expedition member Viki Grošelj.
We will also highlight the first organized trekking expedition to the Himalayas, which followed the same route to the base camp below Makalu that same year and met with the mountaineers. Visitors will be able to listen to the memories of members of both groups about this unforgettable meeting below the mighty peak.
At the same time, we are also celebrating the 90th anniversary of the birth of Aleš Kunaver, the doyen of large-scale Slovenian Himalayan expeditions and leader of the Makalu expedition. The museum will dedicate a special display case to him with selected personal items donated by his wife, Dušica Kunaver. The mountain we know as Makalu was called Mahākāla in Sanskrit, meaning “Great Time” or “Great Black,” and it was there that Kunaver led one of his most important expeditions.
Photo: Makalu, 1975, J wall, camp 5 at 8,000 m, Janez Dovžan
