Featured hut by Allan Hartley

Hohenzollernhaus 2123m Ötztal Alps

Owner: DAV Sektion Starnberg

Location: Located on top of a rock buttress at the uppermost part of the Radurschltal valley in a clearing surrounded by wonderfu Arolla pine trees.

Open: Early June to early October

Facilities: 8 beds, 40 Matratzenlager, Winter room 12. Good restaurant and toilet facilities with hot water on tap all day complete with shower that has to be the most scenic shower in the world. Seilbahnrucksack delivery service.

Valley and Hut Connections: By train to Landeck then by post bus to Pfunds and Kajetansbrücke. Taxi available from Pfunds by Taxi Wachter 0664 531 5809, 0664 252 9611. Forststrasse from Pfunds (10km^#41; and Kajetansbru cke (9km). There is a hut car park at Wildmoos from where it is a 1.5h walk to hut. Gepatschhaus 8h. Weisskugelhütte 8h. Goldseehütte 5.5h

Excursions: Glockturm 3355m 4h, Wildnörderer 3011m 4h, Nauderer Hennesiglspitze 3045m 3-4h.

Address: Hohenzollernhaus, Fam Waldner ZJosef and Christine], A-6542 Pfunds or A-6551 Pians 56, Austria

Email: info@hohenzollernhaus.at

Web Site: www.hohenzollernhaus.at

Telephone: 0043 (0) 664 531 1915 (hut)

Named after the Imperial House of Hohenzollern of medieval Germany dating back to the time of Frederick the Great, the hut also shares the same name as Hohenzollern Fortress in Baden-Württemburg, though not quite on such a grand scale.

The hut is situated to the east of the Silvretta and the west of the main Ötztal massif and provides the only link between the two ranges for mountain wanderers as Frank Smythe noted in his book Over Tyrolese Hills, a journey that he undertook with Secord Campbell in 1936.

Like so many huts of the era, the hut has a spotted history that starts in Berlin around 1905 when Sektion Hohenzollern began to think about establishing their own hut, perhaps prompted by competition from Sektion Frankfurt. Years would pass and the First World War intervened to thwart most hut building plans. The hut was eventually built and opened on the 3 August 1924 with provision for twenty beds. The hut was extended in 1928 to its present size and, apart from building the external winter room and provision of electricity, water and sanitation, the hut remains generally unchanged to make this a very comfortable hut.

During the Second World War the hut was closed as there was simply no business. After the war all the Berlin based sections, including Sektion Hohenzollern, were merged in the new DAV Sektion Berlin. By 1954 the hut re-opened, but times were hard and questions of hut ownership appeared on Sektion Berlin's agenda: perhaps they had too many huts to fund at the time?

More years would pass until the Bavarian Sektion Starnberg had ambitions to own their own high hut, thus entering into transfer of ownership discussions with Sektion Berlin, a long process that was eventually finalised in 1978.

Due to its age the hut has a rustic style with most things being made of wood; the dining room is particularly charming though it can feel cramped when the hut is full. Here you will find the original DAV Hohenzollern wooden plaque and other mountain memorabilia including a portrait and link to Hohenzollern history of the Bavarian Königin Marie, Princess of Prussia and mother of Kaiser Ludwig II of Neuschwanstein fame.

History apart, the hut is an ideal venue for families and small groups looking for something different and off the beaten trail with glacier free excursions to peaks over the magical 3000m and many walks suitable for children.

Because the hut is surrounded by Arolla pine trees, the speciality of the house is the sweet tasting, pine-flavoured Zirben Schnapps. If you visit in July then you may have opportunity to help collect the pine cones from the top of the trees but beware of the territorial instincts of the Nutcracker, a bird that will fiercely defend its rights against anyone taking its cones and nuts: it is not called the Gratschen Ratschen for nothing.

Source: Allan Hartley, Across the Tyrol (awaiting publication).

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