Podbrdo Mountaineering Society (PD Podbrdo) is a relatively young association, as our territory was under the aegis of Italy in the past. The border ran just along the surrounding hills, so the movement there was limited. After the liberation the situation changed, and people started gaining interest for mountaineering, but there was no man who could bring them together. Finally, such person was found. Ivan Anderle, born in Žiri, convened a founding meeting of Podbrdo Mountaineering Society on 03.03.1957.
Members of the Management Board
Anderle Ivan
To become financially independent the society immediately after the establishment took over the inn in Petrovo Brdo and converted it into a mountain hut, which was located by the transversal mountain path. The inn operated until 1959.
But before its closure there appeared an idea of restoring the hut on Mt. Črna Prst. It was the Italian army watchtower, built around 1927, which was temporarily adapted by the Mountaineering Society Most na Soči but closed in 1958.
Despite the uncertainty the reconstruction was finished in 1959. In the first year the lower storey was arranged for providing limited service and accommodation for mountaineers.
Hunt 1959
Recording of the Italian guardhouse about 1930
The construction of the upper storey and its adaptation was carried out from 1959 till 1966.
The opening ceremony took place on the 6th of August 1966. The hut was named after the famous mountaineer from Primorska region, a member of Tigr organization and an exemplary social person Zork Jelinčič and since then formally called »DOM ZORKA JELINČIČA« HUT ON ČRNA PRST.
The costs of the construction, equipment and material transfer amounted to 25 000 000 Yugoslav dinars and over 3000 hours of voluntary work. The construction demanded about 130 cubic meters of sand and 128 tons of other materials transported from the valley by the members of the society themselves or using horses.
After opening the hut started operating normally. Within a few years, especially in bad weather, ensuring the maintenance of the hut was very difficult and expensive. At that time the younger generation came with the idea of building a cargo cableway. In 1975 the president of the Society Peter Čufer gathered some supporters, and the initial works started. The cableway made its first run up to Mt. Črna Prst on the 3rd August 1976 at 17:57. Many locals also cooperated in the construction on a voluntary basis. In the biggest action of transferring the bearing steel wire from Kalarsko Brdo up to the mountain 42 members were involved. The entire construction of the cableway required 3745 hours of work, and the costs were estimated at 18 725 000 Yugoslav dinars. With the construction of the cargo cableway PD Podbrdo and the hut on Črna Prst gained very much, as it had made the maintenance and supplying of the hut much easier and cheaper.
Throughout its history the number of members of the Mountaineering Society Podbrdo varied from 80 and even up to 300. This happened in 2006, on the 40th anniversary of the opening of the hut on Črna Prst and before the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of PD Podbrdo. Today the society is led by the third generation of young followers of mountaineering and my desire is to make the passion of these people never fade away.