June 1991 was a historic month for Slovenia, as the country was preparing to declare its independence from Yugoslavia. As people across the land were getting ready to celebrate, a group of mountaineers summited Triglav, Slovenia’s highest mountain, and unfurled the Slovenian flag. However, their undertaking was more complicated than it had first seemed.

On June 12, two weeks before the declaration of independence, twelve mountain rescuers from town surrounding the Julian Alps were carried by police helicopter to the Kredarica Mountain Hut, not far below the summit of Triglav. The team had wanted to attempt the ascent earlier that month, but had to wait because of poor weather.

A part of the team headed to the summit itself, where there was still so much snow that they had to dig out Aljaž Tower, a metal shelter signifying Slovenia’s highest point.

Once a part of the structure was dug out, the helicopter carried the rest of the team to the summit. They hoisted the Slovenian flag and attached it to the top of the Aljaž Tower. For the first photos, members of the team purposefully posed in the manner of U.S. soldiers hoisting the flag at Iwo Jima.

At sunset, the helicopter circled Triglav. The images of the flag, the lit torches carried by members of the team, and the snow cover at dusk became one of the most enduring images of Slovenia’s independence. The footage was shown two weeks later at the official independence ceremony in Ljubljana.

The famous scene had come close to not happening at all. It turned out that the original torches did not light properly. The team ended up saving the situation by using branches that had been intended for a small bonfire on the mountain.

Those with sharp eyes may have noticed another curious detail. The Slovenian flag raised by the team did not feature the coat-of-arms. The new nation’s flag and coat-of-arms were only adopted several days after the ascent, and the flag unfurled at Triglav was still a temporary version – essentially the old flag without the Communist red star.

Each June, several members of the original team still make their way to snow-covered Triglav in remembrance of an era when a new European country was being born and the spirit of cooperation carried the day.