Featured hut by Allan Hartley

Heinrich-Schwaiger-Haus 2802m, Glocknergruppe

Owner: DAV Sektion München

Open:From early June to the end of September.

Facilities: 21 beds / 36 Matratzenlager / 6 places in winter room (not locked). Limited but modern toilet facilities due to scarcity of water. Token operated shower. Modest restaurant facilities The Seilbahn lift for rucksacks is no longer available.

Valley and Hut Connections: Post bus from Kaprun to Kesselfall Alpenhaus (parking), continue by bus to Mooserboden; then 2.5h to hut. Oberwalderhütte 6-8h, Gleiwitzer Hütte 8-10h, Berghotel Rudolfshütte 8h.

Excursions: Großes Wiesbachhorn (3564m) 3h; Klockerin (3422m) 4h.

Address: Hr Stefan Borger, Heinrich-Schwaiger-Haus, Mooserbodenstrasse 30, A5720 Kaprun, Austria

Telephone: 0043 (0) 664 656 5555

Email: info@heinrich-schwaiger-haus.at

Website: www.heinrich-schwaiger-haus.at

Maps: ÖAV 40 Glocknergruppe 1:25,000, Kompass 39 Glockner/Hohe Tauern 1:50,000.

The main reason for visiting this hut is to climb the Großes Wiesbachhorn or to make the traverse to or from the Oberwalderhütte. This is a high hut with extensive views in all directions.

The original hut, with just six beds was built in 1872, was named the Albert-Kaindl-Hütte after a prominent member of Sektion Linz. Located at a slightly lower level than the present hut, the old hut was a simple lean-to affair built into the cliff face; it soon started to disintegrate due to changes in the permafrost and in 1901 it was literally blown off the hill during a Föhn (wind) storm! By 1895 ownership of what remained of the hut had passed from Sektion Linz to the wealthier Sektion München-Oberland which was committed to building a new hut.

The second hut on the present site was opened on 2 August 1902 and is named after Heinrich Schwaiger, a DuÖAV pioneer and committee member who sadly died of pneumonia the day before the hut opened. His portrait is proudly displayed in the main Gastestube along with that of the famous German alpinist Wilo Walzenbach who came to grief during the 1934 German Expedition to Nanga Parbat.

That hut also fell apart due to neglect during the war years as there was simply no business, and no-one to maintain it. By the early 1950's it became unusable. Sektion München-Oberland then decided that a more robust hut should be built. Opened in 1956, the third and present hut is a two storey rather elongated affair and, without being unkind, is a metal clad tin shed. Inside, however, the Gastestube with its timber panelling has a traditional rustic feel, while the first floor has nice sized bedrooms, with the rest of the space given to Matratzenlager. In 1962 a light aircraft crashed into the Materialseilbahn wires, closing the hut for over a year as the legal wrangles were sorted out. In 2010 the hut was closed again when a rock avalanche damaged the back of the hut and the Seilbahn. Apart from closing the Seilbahn permanently, the positive side was the installation of a modern kitchen and new toilets.

This is a good no frills hut in the mountaineering tradition of providing the basic needs of food and shelter.

Source: Trekking in Austria's Hohe Tauern by Allan Hartley published by Cicerone Press Ltd.

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