New hosts at the Höllental entrance hut: an idiosyncratic stove and nice conversations

Created: 12/27/2021, 05:30 AM

From: Katharina Bromberger

Feel comfortable in their new summer home: Vesna Sterle and Florian Michailoff.

© Private

Their first season as hut owners is behind Vesna Sterle and Florian Michailoff.

A challenging time at the Höllental entrance hut.

The pandemic has accompanied them, a tragic accident affected them indirectly.

Above all, however, the two of them remember the many beautiful moments.

And laugh at their rookie mistakes.

Grainau - Vesna Sterle lights up the wood stove. Like she does every morning. After all, she needs him for cooking and baking. For the guests who will be there in a few hours. Suddenly it stinks and it smokes. The smoke is in the kitchen and therefore in the whole hut. And now? First of all, get out quickly.

Sterle (32) shakes her head when she thinks about that summer day. Florian Michailoff (36) next to her laughs at this "little mess at the beginning". What was it? On rare days, the wind doesn't whistle up from the valley, but down from the mountain - right into the chimney and push the smoke into the kitchen. Mikhailoff climbs onto the roof and turns the pipe - problem solved. "But you have to figure it out first." How happy they were when they succeeded. When they got to know their new home step by step: the Höllental entrance hut. In May they took over the building of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Alpine Club Section. They experienced a season that they could not have expected in any way. With many beautiful moments, with instructive and amusing ones. But also those that you would like to paint.

Neither of them want to talk about the worst experience this summer

Monday the 16th of August. A rainy day. Nevertheless - or perhaps because of it - a few visitors march through the Höllentalklamm. A popular bad weather excursion. Above the gorge, the level rises rapidly by 20 centimeters at around 4 p.m., but nothing huge from a flood point of view, as experts will say later. But a bridge is being moved just as a couple is standing on it. The water apparently carries them away, the woman is found dead a day later, the man is still missing today. A tragic accident, the police and rescue workers agreed. The host couple experienced stressful days. The phone kept ringing. People, some of whom did not reveal themselves, wanted to know “what's going on now”. This is how Michailoff describes the time immediately after the accident.The day after - the gorge remained closed - a man tried to climb over the turnstile at the hut. With camera and lens. Pure sensationalism. The innkeepers held him back. Mikhailoff waves it aside. “We don't want to talk about it anymore.” About the “shitty experience” in their first season, in which two people lost their lives. With that everything is finally said.

The two prefer to talk about the beautiful experiences. About the many questions the tourists asked, about the photos they wanted to take of Sterle in her small kitchen with the four hotplates, in which she cooks and bakes everything herself. About the conversations with locals and guests. Mikhailov was especially happy when he managed to get strangers to talk to each other. He likes the Höllental entrance hut as a quaint, authentic meeting place.

Not everyone wants to rattle. Sterle thinks of the mostly younger guests. Cell phone in hand, looking for reception. There is only one corner on the terrace, not always there or weakly, there is no WiFi either. So also no I-show-the-whole-world-where-I-sit-Instagram-post. “Some didn't quite know what to do instead,” says Sterle with a smile. But many would enjoy just that. The calm. Calm in your head. Not in the sense of loneliness. Because you only experience it in the evening at the Höllental entrance hut. “There is no such thing as a day when nobody comes,” says Michailoff. They hadn't expected a guest on their first bad weather weekend, but the hut was full. Well, it fills up quickly. Without Corona there is room for around 55 people, with Corona around half.

The Höllental entrance hut is extremely popular with tourists and locals.

© Zugspitzdorf Grainau / Gilsdorf

The pandemic and the hygiene concept naturally presented both of them with challenges.

They had expected a lot of unpleasant discussions at the checkout after the mask requirement in the Klamm.

But they largely failed to materialize.

“A nice surprise,” says the landlord.

The two of them could gain another positive aspect from the pandemic: Who knows whether they would have ended up in the hut without Corona.

Both knew how hut life works. Sterle, who comes from Patagonia, wanted to get to know Europe and landed in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 2017. There she found a new home and a job that she loved. She cooked for a long time at the Kreuzeckhaus and the Reintalangerhütte, where she worked as a chef in her last season in 2019. Michailoff's hut career began many years ago at the Kreuzalm, after various stations he also ended up at the Reintalangerhütte in 2019, mainly working in service. It just turned out to be taking over a hut.

In spring 2020 Michailoff came back from Hamburg, where he had studied fine arts while working - which he is currently continuing.

He had to cancel a job because of Corona.

Sterle could not work as a restaurant worker, the Argentine used the lockdown to learn German better.

At exactly this time, the two read the ad from the DAV, who was looking for landlords for the entrance hut.

Perfect timing.

“We were both free,” says Mikhailoff.

For your adventure on the Höllental entrance hut with the idiosyncratic wood stove.