Huts & Refuges
The Finse Station as a Mountain House
Finse is the highest stop on the Bergen Line at 1,222 metres. The station and its adjacent DNT hut have functioned as a single mountain establishment for over a century.
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Huts & Refuges
Hut wardens at Bondhusbu in Norway, Schiestlhaus in the Austrian Alps, the John Muir Trail summer crew, a winter in a refuge at 2,500 m.
Huts & Refuges
A Warden Shortage in the High Tatras
Slovakia's mountain huts are full and short-staffed. A summer 2026 visit to Chata pri Zelenom plese and a conversation about the trade.
Huts & Refuges
The CIC Hut Under the North Face
The Charles Inglis Clark Memorial Hut sits in Coire Leis at 680 metres, almost directly under the Ben Nevis North Face. A century of climbing has passed through its door.
Huts & Refuges
The Rifugio Bonatti as It Turns Eighteen
Built in 1998 on the high balcony route of the Val Ferret, the Rifugio Bonatti has become a familiar name to walkers of the Tour du Mont Blanc.
Huts & Refuges
A Winter Month Alone at Cabane de Moiry
The CAS Moiry hut closes to guests in October. A winter caretaker spent November 2025 there alone, by invitation of the Sierre section.
Huts & Refuges
Summer Crew at LeConte Canyon
A backcountry ranger team keeps the John Muir Trail moving between Muir Pass and Bishop Pass. A summer with four rangers at 2,580 metres.
Huts & Refuges
The Highest Hut in the Eastern Alps
The Schiestlhaus sits at 2,156 metres on the Hochschwab plateau in Styria. Its solar passive design, completed in 2005, has quietly become a model.
Huts & Refuges
A Season Warden at Bondhusbu
Ingrid Vestre kept the hut above the Folgefonna glacier from June to September. A field record of one summer at 1,040 metres.