Hut Fund Report 2015
by Janet Britnell
The Salzkofelhütte
The story of Sektion Steinnelke is a very positive one. It was founded in Vienna in 1898 as the 'Alpine Gesellschaft Steinnelke' with the aim of promoting tourism, club activities and support fr children in poor mountain regions. In the early 1920s the section took over two category 1 huts, the Salzkofelhütte (1987m) in1921 and the Feldnerhütte (2182m) in 1923 and with them responsibility for path maintenance in a large area in the SE quarter of the Kreuzeck group (in the south of the Hohe Tauern) in Kärnten. Their commitment to the area helped to promote the Kreuzeck group in Alpine circles. By the 21st century this small Viennese section with only 414 members was concerned for its viability. The last Viennese committee, led by Chairman Norbert Jaksch, decided the way forward was to consider moving the section base from Vienna to Upper Drautal near the section's two huts. After constructive discussions with members from Greifenburg, a town in the southern corner of the section's working area, it was decided at the next AGM in May 2013, that most of the new Vorstand (Executive Committee) would be elected from Greifenburg, and they would take over the management of Sektion Steinnelke, under the leadership of a new Chairman, Armin Leitner. The Viennese members would then form Ortsgruppe Wien (sub-section Vienna).
The new Vorstand immediately took on its duties with great enthusiasm, but well aware of the financial and physical demands of the tasks: the care of two mountain huts, 150 km of mountain paths, a Klettergartenin Potschling bei Irschen and a climbing wall in Greifenburg, as well as extensive touring and training programmes all year round, the youth group, maintenance of the customs and traditions of Greifenburg, nature conservation, and activities for the Ortsgruppe Wien. By the autumn of 2014 the membership had more than doubled to 975, paths damaged in the bad winter of 2013/14 had been repaired, and a lot of work had been done on the Feldnerhütte. This hut was burnt down in 1988. In 1990 a donation was made from our Hut Fund to help refurbish the rebuilt hut.
The Feldnerhütte and the Salzkofelhütte are both key staging posts on the Kreuzeck Höhenweg, a 5 day walk along the spine of the Kreuzeck group, and also on an alternative loop of the Rupertiweg, the Austrian stretch of the E10 Long Distance Path. The Salzkofelhütte is built in the Holzblockstyle, a massive wood construction, with a small cellar, and is in good condition. It is more than a 4 hour walk to the hut, so there are not many day visitors. There are 20 beds in 4 small rooms and 10 Lagerplaces: people walking the Kreuzeck Höhenweg provide most of the 440 overnight guests per year. The net income for the section is zero.
The section owns the hut and the surrounding land. The neighbours are the farmers' association of the valley, and the new tenant, from 2014, is a farmer's wife from the valley. The section are part owners of a private road 30 minutes walk from the hut. The hut is supplied once a year by helicopter; after that supplies have to be carried up from the end of the private road. Clean drinking water comes from a good spring 400m from the hut, and the protective framework around the spring will be given a general overhaul this summer. There is no system for cleaning the waste water, but pollution is under 25 e.v. per day (e.v. is the pollution provided by one person) so, up to now, they are able to argue that it is not necessary to invest in a waste water cleansing system (but this could be a problem in the future). In the long term they will need to provide an indoor shower for the tenant.
A big project for 2015 is constructing a new kitchen for the Salzkofelhütte. The existing kitchen is very small and doesn't meet modern standards. It needs a new oven, new work surfaces, and food storage space. The estimated cost of the new equipment is about EUR 17.5K. Electricity is provided by a micro hydro plant and battery, and solar energy, but they need to increase their solar power in 2015 at a cost of about EUR 5K. The section will provide a lot of the labour themselves but they appealed to Innsbruck for extra help with the equipment costs. Innsbruck thought this could be a worthy candidate for Sektion Britannia's troubleshooting Hut Fund. As reported in the Spring newsletter, several of us met members of the Sektion Steinnelke Vorstand at the 2014 Hauptversammlung in Linz. The Executive Committee subsequently agreed to donate EUR 5K to the section for the work on the Salzkofelhütte in Summer 2015.
Recently we promised a donation of EUR 5K to Alpenverein Gebirgsverein (ÖGV), subject to repair work being carried out on the Hugo-Gerbers-Hütte, another hut on the Kreuzeck Höhenweg. There is no doubt our contributions are needed and appreciated, so please keep the donations coming in.
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