We, the peo­ple of Vo­rarl­berg, are con­sid­ered to be rather re­served when it comes to mak­ing new friends. How­ever, we are si­mul­ta­ne­ously very ac­tive and pas­sion­ate about our in­volve­ment in clubs, vol­un­tary work, and hob­bies. En­thu­si­asm for a cause con­nects us, so here are a few sug­ges­tions on where you can get to know us bet­ter:

Bar­bara Nöken is an ac­tive mem­ber of the Na­ture Friends Vo­rarl­berg and has com­pleted train­ing as an in­struc­tor for moun­taineer­ing and hik­ing at the Na­ture Friends Acad­emy.

What do the Na­ture Friends do?

For me, the Na­ture Friends are one of the most im­por­tant leisure and en­vi­ron­men­tal or­ga­ni­za­tions in Vo­rarl­berg, with a core com­pe­tence in alpine ac­tiv­i­ties. We have been around for al­most 130 years and have al­ways aimed to offer a very broad and, above all, af­ford­able range of leisure ac­tiv­i­ties. This in­cludes an in­ten­sive pro­gram for chil­dren and young peo­ple, es­pe­cially in the areas of climb­ing, ski­ing, and moun­tain bik­ing. For adults, the range is in­cred­i­bly large – from sim­ple hikes to moun­taineer­ing, high-al­ti­tude tours, sport climb­ing, in­clud­ing boul­der­ing, to moun­tain bik­ing – there is some­thing for every­one.

The area of ed­u­ca­tion and train­ing is also very im­por­tant to us. We en­sure that our vol­un­teers, who offer tours on a vol­un­tary basis, are suf­fi­ciently skilled so that the safety of the par­tic­i­pants is guar­an­teed.

In ad­di­tion, the Na­ture Friends Vo­rarl­berg, with their local groups, man­age 8 Na­ture Friends huts and houses, 5 of which are leased as alpine refuges. The Na­ture Friends Train­ing House No. 1 in the Sil­vretta re­gion is par­tic­u­larly im­por­tant. The struc­tured train­ing courses for chil­dren and young peo­ple dur­ing the sum­mer hol­i­days are a unique fea­ture, and in win­ter, pop­u­lar ski tour­ing courses for all skill lev­els are held there.

How often do you meet?

The Na­ture Friends are di­vided into a fed­eral or­ga­ni­za­tion, 9 state or­ga­ni­za­tions, and in Vo­rarl­berg into 13 local groups. There are also var­i­ous spe­cial­ist de­part­ments such as moun­taineer­ing, snow sports, or sport climb­ing. Within these de­part­ments, there are groups in areas like climb­ing or moun­tain bik­ing that meet weekly.

In other areas, there is a truly fan­tas­tic and ex­ten­sive year-round pro­gram – it’s worth tak­ing a look at our home­page: vo­rarl­berg.naturfre­unde.at

Why are you a mem­ber of this as­so­ci­a­tion? What was your best ex­pe­ri­ence with the as­so­ci­a­tion?

“We live na­ture.” is not just a slo­gan for the Na­ture Friends in Vo­rarl­berg – it’s what at­tracted me the most. Our de­part­ment for na­ture and en­vi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion is be­com­ing in­creas­ingly im­por­tant and re­spon­si­ble. We are rec­og­nized by the min­istry as an or­ga­ni­za­tion that can ex­er­cise party rights in en­vi­ron­men­tal im­pact as­sess­ment pro­ce­dures, which we do – and we are very proud of it.

My best ex­pe­ri­ence was when a new­comer joined a hike I was lead­ing and en­joyed it so much that she has since been very ac­tively in­volved in women’s moun­taineer­ing.

What is spe­cial about the Na­ture Friends?

I have al­ways found that it doesn’t mat­ter where you live in Vo­rarl­berg. Mem­ber­ship in a local group is not re­ally rel­e­vant – you can par­tic­i­pate every­where, and I have al­ways felt wel­come.

It is also spe­cial for me that it doesn’t mat­ter what you are phys­i­cally ca­pa­ble of achiev­ing. We do not en­gage in com­pet­i­tive sports but cre­ate op­por­tu­ni­ties for every­one. I have been on tours with par­tic­i­pants aged 30 to 75+ years – it was en­rich­ing and in­cred­i­bly fun.

How did you come to join the as­so­ci­a­tion?

After mov­ing from Ger­many to Aus­tria, I was happy to have found peo­ple with the Na­ture Friends who shared my pas­sion for being in na­ture. Through this, I had the op­por­tu­nity to get to know and love the Vo­rarl­berg moun­tains.

Are you ac­cept­ing new mem­bers? If so, what should they bring?

The Na­ture Friends are open to all peo­ple and cul­tures, and there are no pre­req­ui­sites. The ex­ten­sive range of ser­vices and great ben­e­fits of the as­so­ci­a­tion should be high­lighted as mo­ti­va­tion.

Where and what do you work as?

I came to Vo­rarl­berg through a job offer and have been work­ing at the Em­ploy­ment Ser­vice in Bre­genz for 13 years. For me, it is par­tic­u­larly ful­fill­ing and im­por­tant to spend time in na­ture as a bal­ance to the in­ten­sive con­tact with peo­ple in my job.

How do you bal­ance the as­so­ci­a­tion and your job?

The state of Vo­rarl­berg ben­e­fits from enor­mous vol­un­tary en­gage­ment. Even­tu­ally, I also felt the de­sire to give some­thing back from what I had ex­pe­ri­enced with the Na­ture Friends. After thor­ough train­ing as a hik­ing guide, I felt equipped to offer tours my­self and get in­volved in other ways in the as­so­ci­a­tion.

I al­ways find the time for it be­cause I make time for it – from my point of view, it’s all about pri­or­i­tiz­ing where I in­vest my time mean­ing­fully. I am happy to take a few days off to pre­pare and lead tours. The smiles on the par­tic­i­pants’ faces and won­der­ful ex­pe­ri­ences are the re­ward for it.

Photos (c)provided by Naturfreunde Vorarlberg

Do you also have a pas­sion for the Vo­rarl­berg moun­tains?

Learn more about the as­so­ci­a­tion and its di­verse of­fer­ings on the Na­ture Friends Vo­rarl­berg web­site.

What other op­por­tu­ni­ties are there to ac­tively spend your free time?

In this ➡️blog post, you will find more ideas.

Where can I meet peo­ple in Vo­rarl­berg?