Owner:
DAV Sektion Berlin
Location:
Located at the head of th e Zemmgrund valley. ÖAV maps 35/1 and 35/2
Open:
Beginning of June to end of September
Facilities:
75 beds in smaller rooms (1-6 beds), 102 Matratzenlager + unlocked winter room (14 places for emergencies only – no mattresses/pillows)
Excellent restaurant and toilet facilities, complete with showers and hot water. Everything you would expect from the biggest hut in the Zillertal.
Only cash accepted.
Valley and Hut Connections:
From Mayrhofen, Postbus to Breithlahner at 0910/1010/1135 (http:// fahrplan.oebb.at): 3h to hut via Berghaus Breitlahner (pay to park). Greizer Hátte 6-7h, Furtschaglhaus 6h; Schwarzensteinhátte 5-6h.
Excursions from the hut:
Schönbichler Horn (3134m) 4h; Großer Mõseler (3478m) 6h; Turnerkamp (3418 m) 6-7h; Berliner Spitze (Dritte Hornspitze) (3254m) 4h; Schwarzenstein (3369m) 4-5h; Großer Mõrchner (3285m) 4-5h; Zsigmondyspitze (Feldkopf) (3087m) 3-4h.
Address:
Rupert Bürgler
Berliner Hütte
A-6295 Grinzling,
Austria
Tel:
Hut 0043 676 705 1473
Email:
berlinerhuette@aon.at
Web Site:
www.berlinerhuette.at
On 28th July 1879 the Berliner Hütte had the distinction of being the first hut to be opened in the Zillertal. The hut was subsequently enlarged in 1885. By 1890 the hut was proving to be much too small for its ever-increasing popularity. As a result, an entirely new hut was built in 1892, which in turn was also extended in 1911 to its present state. The Berliner Há:tte is a magnificent, five storey high building of medieval proportions and more akin to a mountain lodge fit for royalty than a hut for would-be alpinists! The hut reflects the great wealth and pride of the German Alpine Club at the turn of the twentieth century.
As a credit to its original architect, and despite increased use over the years, the hut has remained virtually intact and unchanged except for the addition of modern plumbing and electricity. Indeed, such is the hut’s importance that it is protected by the European Union as a building of historical significance. The reception hall has a very grand timber staircase, complete with decorative timber chandelier, which would have been adorned in the days before electricity with oil lamps. Adjacent walls are graced with portraits of important dignitaries, long deceased Háttenwirte and DAV presidents.
The hut’s lofty corridors of creaking timbers are individually styled in a way that indicates various ranks and social status. The timber panelling reflects an era long past, when the hut was used as much by the Austrian Royal family, the military and political elite, as it was a hunting lodge and base for alpine excursions.
The centre piece of the hut remains the large and substantial dining room which, in years long ago, would have doubled as a ballroom and boomed to the sounds of Strauss and brass bands amid much beer drinking and revelry! Naturally, the exhausted ladies would then have retired to the sanctuary of the adjacent and very private “ladies’ room”.
More recently, during the Second World War the hut was used as a base to train the élite forces of the German army. A small memorial below the hut commemorates those DAV- Sektion Berlin members, both civilian and military, that perished during the conflict.
A very grand, fabulous place and worthy of a visit by all.
Source; Trekking in the Zillertal Alps by Allan Hartley, published by Cicerone Press Ltd
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