The #BeActive EU Sport Awards are funded through the European Union's Erasmus+ programme.
On 17 September 2026, the day of the deadline, Clubul Montan Transilvania submitted the EXPLORE, Explore Transylvania through Nature Heritage and Mountain Trails proposal once more, in the Volunteering category of the #BeActive EU Sport Awards 2026, funded through the Erasmus+ programme.
What happened to the first attempt
In September 2025 we submitted the club’s first European proposal. The first edition of the awards drew 279 applications from across Europe, 23 of them in the Volunteering category. EXPLORE did not make it among the 15 finalists announced in April 2026, and the winners received their awards on 23 June 2026 in Brussels.
We did not give up. We read the criteria again, put our figures in order and rewrote the proposal from scratch.
What changed in a year
The 2026 proposal shows a club that has grown:
- 141 hikes since the first one in June 2022, and 500 different participants, who have come to the mountains with us more than 2,100 times.
- A team of 20 active volunteers, 10 of whom form the core of the club. They scout routes in advance, help lead the groups, and take care of registrations, car sharing, communication and equipment.
- From participants to volunteers: 10 of today’s volunteers first came as ordinary participants, and 5 of them now scout routes, support the group on the trail or organise hikes.
- More equipment to borrow for free: besides the 30 pairs of crampons, the club now also has 10 pairs of trekking poles.
- A clean-up action together with NTT DATA Romania, planned for spring 2027.
- A larger community online: 5,757 followers on Facebook and 4,147 on Instagram.
- No serious safety incident in more than 140 hikes.
What defines us has stayed the same: the hikes are free, donations are optional and go back into equipment (you can follow them on the Transparency page), we share cars, and the day usually ends with a traditional meal in a village nearby.
Why Volunteering
Without volunteers, EXPLORE would not exist. We estimate that the team puts about 1,600 hours of volunteer work into the hikes every year: 20 volunteers, 10 hikes a year, 8 hours per hike. And the fact that people come as participants and stay as organisers is, for us, the best proof that the model works.
What comes next
The jury is now evaluating the applications. Meanwhile, we keep doing what we do best: heading to the mountains every Saturday.
Thank you to all the volunteers and to everyone who has hiked with us. Without you, this project would have nothing to tell.
See you in the mountains!