Chemnitzer Hütte 2420m
Zillertaler Alpen

Featured hut by Allan Hartley

Also known as Rifugio Giovanni Porro and formerly the Alte Chemnitzer Hütte; sometimes known as the Nevesjoch Hütte.

Owner: CAI Sektion Bolzano (Bozen)

Location: Located on the broad saddle of the very prominent Nevesjoch.

Open: Mid-June to mid-October.

Facilities: 12 bunk beds in rooms, 56 Matratzenlager + unlocked winter room.
Good restaurant service but minimal toilet facilities that can feel cramped when the hut is full. However, the hut does have an excellent shower feature that would suit any top hotel and is available for a modest fee.

Valley and Hut Connections: Nearest rail station Bruneck; nearest bus stop Lappach.
Follow the small road from Lappach to the parking place on the Nevesstausee and continue to the north bank. Follow path 24 east, at first steep, to hut: 3h.
Edelrauthütte 4h; Berliner Hütte 5h; Furtschaglhaus 5h; Schwarzensteinhütte 6h.

Excursions from the hut: Großer Möseler 3479m 4-5h; Turnerkamp 3418m 4h (difficult),

Address: Roland and Anna Gruber, Chemnitzer Hütte, I-39032 Sand in Taufers, Italy

Email: info@chemnitzerhuette.com

Web Site: www.chemnitzerhuette.com

Tel: Hut 0039 474 653244; mobile 0039 335 689 8111

The original hut comprised a low wooden building of just two small rooms with a roof loft, being built by members of the local ÖAV Sektion Taufers from 1889- 93 with a modest extension being added in 1895. The hut, whilst un-wardened at the time, was being extended when Sir Martin Conway passed through in 1895 on his Grand Traverse of the Alps. He noted that they had to share the hut with a bunch of unfriendly local workmen that were gruff and unsavoury characters and lots of over friendly mice.

Having no money the local section Taufers sought funds from the DAV Sektion Chemnitz. When ownership was transferred to them they renamed the hut the Chemnitzer Hütte, after the north German town of Chemnitz. The original part of the hut, no doubt where Sir Martin stayed, is the section at the front of the hut that houses the Alte Gaste Stube and first floor bedrooms.

During the First World War the hut was closed, being occupied by the Austrian military. By 1916 due to the ravages of war the hut had been plundered and Sektion Chemnitz had been reduced to just 69 members. With the loss of the South Tyrol to Italy, Sektion Chemnitz forfeited the hut, opting to build a new hut, the Neue Chemnitzer Hütte that opened in 1926 in the Pitztal region of the Austrian North Tyrol. That is when the old hut became known as the Alte Chemnitzer Hütte. The Neue Chemnitzer Hütte would also have a chequered history with ownership passing between various DAV Sektions, until it eventually passed to DAV Sektion Russelheim in 1980/81. They changed the name to Rüsselsheimer Hütte and the old hut reverted to its original name of Chemnitzer Hütte! Under the CAI it is also known as the Rifugio Giovanni Porro.

Meanwhile the Alte Chemnitzer Hütte went through the same saga as all the other huts on the South Tyrol border with Austria up to the Second World War. The hut was strafed by the American air force towards the end of the war and by 1945 the hut was wrecked and almost in ruins.

A hut of sorts was built from the materials of the original hut and managed to open in 1953. However, during the nineteen sixties, smuggling was rife across the South Tyrol due to the ongoing border disputes between Italy and Austria. The Italian military, the Alpini, took over the hut from 1962-1972 and, when the army did vacate the hut, it was again in a ruinous state. Amazingly it was able to re-open in 1974.

This is a good pleasant hut, being the main base from the south for those wanting to make the glacier-free climb of the Großer Möseler 3479m, second highest peak in the Zillertal that some regard as the most beautiful mountain in the Zillertal Alps.

Source; Trekking in the Zillertal Alps by Allan Hartley published by Cicerone Press Ltd

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