Status: 07/10/2022 11:42 a.m
The consequences of the climate crisis also endanger the safety of huts in the high mountains. Suitable countermeasures should be found with the help of science. But the huts themselves also cause problems.
The rock on the Grossglockner moves quickly. To be more precise: 70 centimeters in two years. The slope is getting closer and closer to the Stüdlhütte. At 2802 meters, the Stüdlhütte in the Austrian Alps is a starting point for many mountaineers who dare to climb the Luisengrat or the Stüdlgrat to the summit of the Großglockner. But the question is how much longer this will be the case.
Because climate change is not only melting the visible ice of the glaciers in the Alps, but also the permafrost in the rock. This frozen water in the rock crevices and rock pores acts like cement for the high mountains from 2800 meters. If this permafrost thaws, it affects the stability of the rock.
The Stüdlhütte on the Grossglockner in Austria.
Image: picture-alliance / Reinhard Kung
The German Alpine Association (DAV), whose Oberland section owns the Stüdlhütte, has commissioned scientific studies. Because the hut can only be saved if the movement of the slope can be slowed down. That is why Prof. Michael Krautblatter from the Technical University of Munich and his team first carried out geophysical and geoelectrical investigations there. This enabled them to determine the thermal condition of the slope and determine how much rock is still frozen. “We saw that one of the main problems is the water from the roof of the hut. Because it flows into the ground at three or four degrees plus and transports this heat several meters deep,” says Prof. Krautblatter.
Huts generate heat
The permafrost in the rock is therefore under pressure from two sides: On the one hand, due to the premature melting of the snow, as it did this summer, so that a protective layer from above is missing. On the other hand, through high alpine huts, which in turn give off heat to the environment. “A first and important measure at the Stüdlhütte is to change the drainage of the material cable car and the building so that we drain all the water so that it doesn’t get into the ground,” explains Prof. Krautblatter. Otherwise, the warm water would further accelerate the descent of the slope. But the room temperature of a hut also shines through the floor into the rock.
In order to reduce the warming of the rock near a hut, the buildings are now insulated below. There are also more elaborate methods, for example raising a building and ventilating it from below. In addition, structural measures are generally used to stabilize mountain slopes – for example with the help of so-called rock anchors. All of this is complex and expensive. In the future, the German Alpine Club and its sections will have to invest heavily.
Because the DAV alone has 37 huts that are over 2500 meters high and are therefore threatened by climate change. The Hochwildehaus in the Ötztal Alps, in the very south of Austria, is already in acute danger and has been closed since 2016, reports Hanspeter Mair, Head of Alpine Spatial Planning at the DAV Federal Association. “In order to stabilize the building, it was braced on four sides. It’s still unclear how things will continue. We’re still discussing with the affected Karlsruhe section whether the mountain hut can and should be preserved,” says Mair.
Summit tours and ascents are becoming more difficult
Not far away is the Ramolhaus. There the guests are not affected by a closure, but the mountaineers advise how best to get to the 3537 meter high Schalfkogel. Because of the warm summer this year, snowfields are melting faster than in previous years. As a result, climbers can expect more rubble and brittle rock instead of snow and ice, on which they would find better grip with the appropriate equipment.
But not only summit tours, also the train routes to high alpine huts are endangered. For example, the via ferrata up to the Oberwalderhütte on the Großglockner had to be modified because the slope is in motion. A relocation of the way to the Tauschachhaus was also necessary for similar reasons, says Mair.
The warming of the climate also affects the supply of mountaineers on huts. Example Brandenburger Haus: At 3277 meters it is the highest shelter of the German Alpine Club (Berlin section). There, the drinking water is obtained from a higher snow field. But it is foreseeable that this snow field will no longer exist in a few years. Where is the drinking water supposed to come from at such a high altitude?
“We are faced with great challenges there,” sums up Hanspeter Mair. When building new mountain huts and cable cars, all of these aspects must be taken into account even more in the future.
