Mountain hut
A mountain hut is a building located at high elevation, in mountainous terrain, generally accessible only by foot, intended to provide food and shelter to mountaineers, climbers and hikers. Mountain huts are usually operated by an alpine club or some organization dedicated to hiking or mountain recreation. They are known by many names, including alpine hut, mountain shelter, mountain refuge, mountain lodge, and mountain hostel. It may also be called a refuge hut, although these occur in lowland areas too.
Mountain huts can provide a range of services, starting with shelter and simple sleeping berths. Some, particularly in remote areas, are not staffed, but others have staff which prepare meals and drinks and can provide other services, including providing lectures and selling clothing and small items. Permanent staffing is not possible above the highest permanent human settlements, which are 5500m at the latitude of Everest but lower than 3500m at the latitude of Mont Blanc. Permanent staffing has been tried long ago e.g. at Vallot Hut in 1890-91 but had to stop after heart or lung problems apparently due to altitude and cold combined. Mountain huts usually allow anybody to access their facilities, although some require reservations.
While shelters have long existed in mountains, modern hut systems date back to the mid-19th century. The Swiss Alpine Club has built huts since 1863. In the United States, the Appalachian Mountain Club built its first hut at Madison Spring in New Hampshire in 1889.
Huts
The Alps
The construction of refuges and shelters in the Alps date back to ancient times, when Roman roads led across the mountain passes. In the High Middle Ages, hospitales were erected along the trade routes; cottages and sheds on the high mountain pastures served for Alpine transhumance. The long history of mountaineering from the 19th century onwards has led to a large number of Alpine club huts as well as private huts along the mountaineering paths. These huts are categorised according to their location and facilities. They may have beds or a mattress room, kind of simple or double-decker wide mattress where a few dozens people sleep aside one another, no matter same family or group or strangers, for overnight stays. More recent or more popular shelters have more comfortable sleeping arrangements.Just as the Margherita Hut in the Valais Alps is the highest alpine refuge at 4,554 m, the Rifugio Mario Premuda in Trieste is the lowest refuge in the Alps at 82 m.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom the tradition is of unwardened "climbing huts" providing fairly rudimentary accommodation close to a climbing ground; the huts are usually conversions, and are not open to passers-by except in emergency. Many climbing clubs in the UK have such huts in Snowdonia or in the Lake District. A well-known example is the Charles Inglis Clark Memorial Hut - a purpose-built hut below the northern crags of Ben Nevis in Scotland.In the past, some shelters in Scotland were built in exposed locations at high elevation, often as part of military training exercises. However, and particularly following the 1971 Cairngorm Plateau Disaster, these were deliberately demolished because they were thought to pose dangers exceeding their benefits.
Norway
The Norwegian Trekking Association operates about 600 cabins mostly in the mountains and in forested areas.DNT offers three types of cabins: staffed lodges, self-service cabins and no-service cabins. Many cabins are unstaffed and open all year, while the staffed cabins often are just open during summer and the skiing season.