The Culminum Magister 2024 award is presented in Madrid

On March 24, the Brotherhood's gala dinner took place at the Madrid casino, in which the new members were named and the Culminum Magister award (Master of the Summits) was awarded, an award given to the figures hallmarks of high mountain hunting. All members of the Brotherhood are life candidates to receive this award, but Alain J. Smith has been the lucky one for 2024.

At the gala dinner, President Ignacio Ruiz Gallardón presented him with the award. Alain is a mountain hunter with an extensive collection of trophies, having in possession many trophies of 32 different species of goat and 32 of sheep. A musician, prolific writer, successful businessman and a great disseminator of the values ​​of ethical hunting and conservation, he has been deservedly awarded.

What is Culminum Magister?

Culminum Magister was born at the First World Hunting Congress, inaugurated by King Juan Carlos I in Madrid in 1984. There you could find an exhibition of Spanish and international trophies, a commercial exhibition of the hunting industry and trade, and another scientific section with three hunting symposiums. The group of people who organized the event thought that this initiative should not be lost and thus Venatoria was born.

ABC 1984

After the success of the fair and the acceptance of the great trophies that were exhibited, it was decided to create an award beyond the mere trophy, an award that would reward effort in the mountains, for those in love with the silence and solitude of the highest peaks. wild The emblem that was chosen was the peregrine falcon "which stings in flight at nearly 300 kilometers per hour and kills by percussion of its claws, turning at the last moment to avoid a head-on collision that, at the speed of its flight, could be deadly for the hunter. The Sevillian artist Chiqui Díaz was commissioned to sculpt the figure of said falcon in bronze and since then that image has been the prize. Now the hunting trophy was no longer rewarded but rather the performance of a hunter.”

The brothers also looked for a motto that would express the essence of hunting in the high mountains, that land of storms and blue skies, of subtle air and severe cold, of hanging meadows and impossible cliffs, where the gaze is lost in horizons that They are only conquered by a firm will. They found it in three concepts: "Silence, solitude, effort."

Belong to the Brotherhood

• Having received an invitation from the Board of Directors
• Fill out an admission application
• Having hunted in the mountains of three continents
• Have obtained the first mountain trophy at least ten years before the date of application for candidacy
• Having hunted in open land, without artificial aids, traditional behaviors, 25 or more animals of different species that appear on the Brotherhood's list which you can access here https://www.culminummagister.com/distribution-maps 

Author: María Balletbó