Zittelhaus
by Janet Britnell
The Zittelhaus, the highest hut owned by the Alpenverein, belongs to Sektion Rauris with nearly 500 members. It shares the summit of the Hoher Sonnblick, 3106m, in the Goldberggruppe, Hohe Tauern with the Sonnblick Observatory, the highest European meteorological observatory that is open all year round.
The story of the Zittelhaus is intimately associated with that of the Sonnblick Observatory. Kolm Saigurn at head of the Raurisertal is an old gold mining area. During the 19th century a local man, lgnatz Rojacher, made his money from gold mining. He invested in the development and modernisation of Raurisertal for the benefit of the local inhabitants. ln the early 1880s he recommended the Hoher Sonnblick to the meteorologist Julius Hahn as a suitable high-altitude site for an observatory because it was possible to build directly on rock, The Austrian Meteorological Society financed the 'anemometer-tower' and the telephone connection to Rauris; the DuÖAV (Deutscher und Österreichischer Alpenverein) provided most of the money for the rest of the wooden buildings, and lgnatz Rojacher provided the men from his mines to carry the wood to the summit. The tower and the first wooden block house were built in 1886, and then due to 'demand from tourists' expanded in 1887/88. ln 1889 the accommodation buildings were named the Zittelhaus after the DuÖAV president, Prof. Dr. K. von Zittel. ln Autumn 1891 the DuÖAV gave the Zittelhaus to Sektion Salzburg. ln 1892 the Sonnblickverein was founded to take over ownership and separate management of the observatory, with a formal agreement in 1907.
1956-2018 MSB below Observatory
The Zittelhaus was extended in 1910 and 1911. In 1925 it was sold to Sektion Halle an der Saale, near Leipzig in Saxony. Electric light was installed in 1927. From 1945 to 1984 the Zittelhaus was maintained by a Hüttenwart from Salzburg, and a local carpenter. ln 1946 the first Materialseilbahn (MSB) was built and replaced in 1956/7 by the MSB that was in use until early 2018.
New gondola MSB
ln 1984 the Zittelhaus was sold to Sektion Rauris, and then began 10 years of first planning, then extensive renovation and modernisation of the Zittelhaus with financial support from ÖAV, the Salzburg Landesverband, the management of the Hoher Tauern National Park, and the Salzburg local government. The Sonnblick 0bservatory was also renovated and modernised around this time.
The Zittelhaus can be reached on foot from Kolm Saigurn in the NE in 4-5hours with 1500m of ascent, or 5-6 hours with 1800m of ascent from Heiligenblut in the SW. The latter can be shortened to 4-5 hours and 1300m of ascent by a taxi to the Alter Pocher Gasthof, but either way involves serious mountain walking. There are a number of other huts in the Kolm Saigurn region. The Klagenfurter Jubilämsweg runs along the ridge forming the boundary between Salzburg and Kärnten; the stretch from the Glocknerhaus to the Zittelhaus involves a number of peaks, 8 of which are over 3000m, with the Otto-Umlauft-Biwak (2987m) between the two huts.
Zittehhaus (left) and Observatory on Hohen Sonnblick 3106m
Photo by Hemman Scheer
The Zitttelhaus is manned from March to early May, when access is on skis, then again from the end of June to the end of September. There are 27 beds in seven rooms, and 66 sleeping places in 4 Matratzenlager, and another 20 sleeping places without mattresses in the winter room. The number of visitors each year is very weather dependent. lf the weather is perfect on August weekends, they may have 200-300 visitors per day; in a good year they could have 3-4,000 day visitors. There are about 1,300 overnight guests per year.
Drinking water is carried up to the hut. Other water comes from rain and snow collected from the roof. There is a full biological waste water system in the cellar, that needs a lot of power to keep the room with the tank warm enough for the bacteria to work. They use bottled gas for cooking, share a back-up generator with the observatory, and there is a limited supply of electricity by cable from the valley. They have to be very careful not to do anything to contaminate the hut surroundings, in order not to prejudice some of the measurements made by the observatory. 0ne possible threat to the hut is permafrost melting, but measures against this were taken in mid-2000s. The hut is supplied either on foot, or by using the MSB, which is only Iicensed for people working at the hut or the observatory.
The observatory is staffed by ZAMG (Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamic), financed by funding from the Austrian government and other sources. It is manned by a team of 4, working 14 days on and 10 days off, so there are always two ZAMG members of staff on site to monitor the large number of measuring devices for a variety of meteorological and environmental projects. Other scientists come and go. The 'carriage' on the MSB in use since 1956 consisted of an open 'tray' suspended from the cable. It could carry 3 people who should be strapped in with harnesses, and as the angle of ascent got steeper they would be pressed down against one another. If the wind was too strong, the MSB could not be used, so visiting scientists might have to wait in the valley for several days before they could go up to or leave the Observatory. The new leader of the ZAMG team found this situation incompatible with the increasingly important role of the 0bservatory in international networks, and so raised the money for a more modern MSB to be installed in 2018 (it will still only be licensed for people working on the Sonnblick).
ln order to continue to use the MSB, Sektion Rauris had to find €100K to contribute to the 2018 MSB project (total cost before tax €3.164M). The allocation from the Alpenverein central pot is €40K; the Salzburg local government and Raurisertal council are both donating €15K each. The Hauptverein will probably find some more money for the project from their reserves but, by law, the section has to provide 10% of the money from their own resources, All the money this small section makes is already ploughed back into their two huts. The AAC(UK) Board agreed to make a Hut Fund donation of €10K to Sektion Rauris towards their contribution for the new MSB in 2018.
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