The Alpinists Shelter

Someone says that people begin to say “hello” to each other in mountains from a height of 1000 meters above sea level, and someone that it starts from 2000. In any case, everyone here goes to informal “you”. At the entrance to the mountain shelter or “hütte”, backpacks and equipment should be left behind the threshold in a specially designated place. In mountain shelters usually there is a topographic map of the area, a book in which it is advisable to mark everyone who comes (thanks to this tradition, if something happens to a person in the mountains, you can determine his or her approximate route) and historical photos of the hütte. Having crossed the threshold of the hütte, it is advisable to leave all the talk behind. Mountains love silence. Communication at the height is not welcome. The rules, although unspoken, apply even at great heights.

If you decide to spend a night in a mountain refuge, you will have to do this in spartan conditions, in a common room on the floor or in a multi-tiered bed, and wash yourself under the shower in which, most likely, will be no hot water. Morning in the mountain shelter usually starts for guests at 3 or 4 in the morning. If in the mountain shelter there is a kitchen, then food and drinks should be ordered at the bar. You don’t need to torment with a long selection of food in mountain huts: in each of them the menu is about the same and consists of a certain set of simple and high-calorie dishes. All the garbage that you bring with you needs to be taken with you back: garbage collection in mountains is a difficult task.

THE WORLD OF MOUNTAIN SHELTERS

Farmers were the first to climb mountains by necessity. They developed highlands in order to feed cattle. In the mid-19th century, mountaineering began to develop and mountain hiking began to be perceived by people as sport or leisure. Wealthy gentlemen went to the heights for new emotions and beauty. Mountain climbing was an occupation of very wealthy people. The gentlemen paid for construction of “mountain shelters” – small houses in which they and their servants could spend several days “on the mountain.” Such huts often became basis for exploring mountains, glaciers and rocks.

 Text: Elizaveta Klepanova

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