Hut alarm in the Alps: melting snow threatens popular tour destinations

Created: 07/12/2022, 1:45 p.m

By: Stella Henrich

Hut alarm in the Alps.

Many alpine pastures are acutely threatened by climate change.

Summit tours are becoming more difficult.

Tyrol/Munich ‒ Not good news for mountaineers and summiteers.

The warming of the climate affects the supply of mountaineers on huts.

An example: The Brandenburg House.

At almost 3300 meters it is the highest mountain hut of the German Alpine Association (DAV).

Access is only possible via glaciers with many crevasses.

Anyone who has made it there "is rewarded with a magnificent view of some of the highest mountains in the Eastern Alps", makes the DAV want to go on this mountain tour.

But it is already clear that there will be no drinking water up there in a few years.

The reason given by the DAV is that the snow field at this altitude will soon no longer exist.

So where does the drinking water come from at such a high altitude?

This is just one of many challenges that Hanspeter Mair and his colleagues from the DAV are facing.

The Brandenburger Haus in the Ötztal Alps is located at an altitude of 3277 meters.

© German Alpine Club Section Berlin.

Climate change endangers mountaineers: no fun for alpinists

Because the DAV alone has 37 huts that are over 2500 meters high and are therefore threatened by climate change.

The Hochwildehaus in the Ötztal Alps, in the very south of Austria, is already in acute danger and has been closed since 2016, reports Mair on

.

“In order to stabilize the building, it was braced on four sides.

It is not yet clear what will happen next."

So it is still open whether the mountain hut will be preserved.

Not far away is the Ramolhaus.

There the guests are not affected by a closure, but the mountaineers advise how best to get to the 3537 meter high Schalfkogel.

Because the warm summer means that the snow fields there are melting faster than in previous years.

"As a result, the mountaineers can expect more rubble and brittle rock instead of snow and ice, on which they would find better grip with the appropriate equipment," Mair explains the difficulties for alpinists.

Climate change: Danger of snowfields for mountaineers

If you start to slide on a snow field, you should turn onto your stomach and push up into a push-up position as quickly as possible.

This is the only way to slow down the slide, the DAV warns the summiteers on its website.

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But not only the summit tours for mountaineers, also the climbs to high alpine huts are endangered.

The via ferrata up to the Oberwalderhütte at almost 3000 meters with a view of the Großglockner had to be modified because the slope is in motion.

A relocation of the path to the Tauschachhaus at an altitude of around 2500 meters in the Ötztal Alps was also necessary for similar reasons, reports Hanspeter Mair.

• The

  DAV

  warns of the special conditions on the glaciers in the Alps.

  It didn't snow much in winter and the high temperatures meant that there were no snow bridges on the glaciers or they were so weak that crevasses could easily fall.

  According to the DAV, many glaciers in the Alps are already completely free of snow.

  Mountaineers also encounter rough terrain in many places.

  This increases the risk of accidents.

  The glacial streams already carried as much water as in midsummer.

  Normally, the runoff is slowed down at this time of year by the snow cover.

  Danger points that

  mountaineers should take into account when planning their tour

  .

The numerous accidents show how dangerous alpine mountaineering is in times of climate change.

Only last week, rescue workers discovered the bodies of mountaineers who had been buried in the Dolomites.

Apparently they had been swept away by the masses of boulders, ice and snow.

Again and again, experts warn against careless hiking in the mountains.