MY first encounter with huts of an adventurous nature came in Austria when, as an 18-year-old, my Alpine career started —and almost came to a premature end—in the Stubai Alps. As well as my first 11,000ft peaks, it was also my introduction to the shock of an ‘Alpine start’. To be safely off the mountain before the mid-morning sun triggers rockfall, an Alpinist needs to leave the hut in the early hours. The deep freeze of a pre-dawn glacier is always brutal, but there is the compensation of an Alpine dawn, as the sun creeps over the peaks to set the summit snows alight in a pink blaze against an azure sky.
Doug Scott—who was well known for the first successful ascent of Everest’s southwest face—summed up Alpine huts: ‘When you arrive there’s supper and a warm bed, but getting up a few hours later, to head off, into the dark and cold, well, that’s adventure. Uncertain outcomes and all that, but then dawn breaks—wonderful!’
Supper, too, is all part of the ritual of an Alpine hut and is usually a sociable affair.
In the case of the French, it is also a stylish one with Club Alpin Français-monogrammed crockery. Afterwards, digestion invariably kicks in and a trip to an airy ‘thunder box’ is required. Few, however, surpassed the outhouse of the—now sadly demolished— Abbots Pass Hut. At 9,596ft, located between Mount Victoria and Mount Lefroy in the Canadian Rockies, there was a vista from this ‘loo with a view’ that could captivate, even at risk of frostbite.
Alpine huts first appeared as mountaineering tourism, following the end of the pioneering ‘Golden Age of Alpinism’, developed from the mid 19th century onwards. At about the same time (and rather like Alpinism), fishing was ‘codified’ by British sporting gentlemen. Interestingly, both pursuits had their own London clubs—the Alpine Club and the Flyfishers’ Club—which set conventions. Like its Alpine cousin, a fishing hut was more than a simple shelter.
Esta historia es de la edición August 07, 2024 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición August 07, 2024 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery