Formerly reserved for mountaineers, the huts are today delighted with tourists and families. Their asset: increasingly comfortable infrastructure. Report at the Mont Fort hut in Verbier (VS) which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
The small refuge of the beginnings has now become a comfortable place where to spend the night.
“Before 2001, everything was in stone, people slept in the attic or on the ground in the dining room if they were too numerous,” describes Audrey Galas, goalkeeper of the Mont Fort hut.
In the evening, we are around a table with people you don’t know, there are exchanges and it’s very beautiful
Widespread trend
More neighboring snoring, the rooms are now double or family to meet the expectations of tourists. We find the trend of these comfortable rooms in more and more huts, even the least accessible. More people want to live an experience in the mountains and bring new demands with them.
“Mountaineers get up at 3:00 am and leave. Spending night in a cabin is therefore less important than for hikers or families,” analyzes Ulrich Delang, chief of the huts at the Swiss Alpine club.
Owner of more than 150 huts, the Alpine club incorporates these changes in all renovation projects. But he sets limits: no question of losing the mind that saw him born. “In the evening, we are around a table with people you don’t know, there are exchanges and it’s very beautiful,” said Ulrich Delang.
Céline BRICHET / JUMA