Hut Fund Report

Salmhütte 2644m - Glockner Group

By Janet Britnell

The Salmhütte, belonging to Sektion Wien with 2235 members, is a category 1 hut on the Hasenpalfen, in Leitertal, beneath the southern ridge of Schwerteck, 3247m, with wonderful views all around including Großglockner, 3798m, the highest mountain in Austria. The hut is increasingly important for the ascent of the Großglockner, and is on the Glocknerrunde and the Wiener Höhenweg, but it is very remote; all access to the hut is on foot, 5 hours from Heiligenblut, 3 hours from the Glocknerhaus and 1 hour from the Glorer Hütte.

Salmhütte with new extension Sep 2017
Photos Sektion Wien

The original Salmhütte was the first recorded ‘hut’ in the eastern Alps, named after Bischof Franz Xaver v. Salm-Reifferscheidt, and was built in 1799 in the cwm of Leitnertal for the expedition he financed for the ascent of the Großglockner (which reached the Kleinglockner). A second hut at the original site was finally abandoned in 1850 due to the advancing glacier. The third Salmhütte built further down the valley into the rock face of the Schwerteck at 2805m in 1883 by Sektion Klagenfurt was abandoned due to damp in 1893, and handed over to Sektion Wien in 1913. The fourth Salmhütte was built on a new site between 1926 and 1928, and looks from the outside just as it did in 1928. Although the cellar was completely rebuilt and fitted with washrooms, the kitchen modernised, the Kachelofen removed, the ground floor and the first floor are otherwise virtually unchanged since 1928. There are almost 60 sleeping places, but only 40 spaces for eating, the long-standing, excellent Hüttenwirten has to sleep in the cellar; the kitchen is very cramped, and there is no drying room. There is a very good water supply from a spring on the Schwerteck. The fittings around the spring source were renewed in 2002, and the area is fenced. In 2008/9, a sewage system that separates the solid from the liquid waste was installed at a cost of EUR140K, on neighbouring land that is fenced. The hut is supplied by helicopter from the Neues Lucknerhaus in late June/early July with 14 trips carrying 600kg, including bottled gas for cooking and heating water. After that they walk to the Glorer Hütte to collect fresh food and extra supplies sent up on the Glorer H7#252;tte Materielseilbahn.

Work in progress July 2017

In 2015 it was decided that it was necessary to extend the hut, by building a free-standing extension that would be in sympathy with the existing hut, and not block the view of the Großglockner from the old Stube or the first-floor windows and leave the original building more or less unchanged. 3 architects were invited to submit plans for the extension to allow for a larger kitchen, 20 more eating spaces, a drying room and better accommodation for the tenant. The design, chosen in 2016, was for a 2-storey extension overlapping the NE corner of the existing hut, containing a food store and a larger kitchen linked by a short corridor on the ground floor to the old Stube and a new reception area, and new accommodation for the tenant on the first floor (freeing up space in the cellar for a drying room). The L shape created between the extension and the north wall of the existing but provides an ideal corner for a terrace facing NW with views of the Glockner. The old stable block built in 1929 now houses the winter room, the electrical equipment and battery room, a store and work room, and PV-panels on the roof. Extending and renewing the photovoltaic system was also included in the project. The next problem was to get all the relevant planning permissions, including the fire protection authorities, the local district and the National Park (the hut is in the Corinthian part of the National Park in the district of Heiligenblut, but the helicopter flights are from the Tirolean part of the park) and to put the project out to tender. Finally, in April 2017 all permissions were in place and the tender was let. In mid-June the prefabricated panels of Cross Laminated Timber were flown in horizontally by helicopter, and then picked up vertically and lowered into place, guided by contractors on the ground who then completed the assembly of the new extension, which was then faced with larch shingles. The chimney was removed from the old stable block, and the new PV panels installed covering the south facing side of the roof. Only after the hut closed early for winter, on 9 September, could the old kitchen be closed and the equipment moved across, freeing up the ground floor of the original hut for the expansion of the Stube and creation of the new reception area.

Work in progress July 2017

The total cost of the project was estimated at €506.5K, the Alpenverein grant is nearly €204K, and they should eventually get an additional €15.8K towards the PV system. Sektion Wien had already put aside €6OK of their own funds for the project leaving nearly €230K to find from other sources. The Alpenverein have agreed to lend €230K at 1.5%, available for 10 years, but the less Sektion Wien has to borrow, the less interest they will have pay! The AAC(UK) Board have agreed to donate another €20K from our Hut Fund, in addition to the €20K donation reported in the Summer Newsletter Hut Fund Report, to this important project undertaken by a relatively small but very committed section with three other huts to maintain.

The responses we receive from the sections who are helped by the AAC(UK) Hut Fund leave us in no doubt as to the value of the fund. The donations are only possible thanks to your generosity, so please keep your donations coming in!

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