Climate change threatens Swiss mountain huts

The climate crisis is taking its toll on the Swiss Alpine Club (SAC) mountain huts dotted across the Alps. Many buildings are at risk, but a special fund for hut renovations will soon be empty. An estimated 40% of the SAC huts could soon suffer a similar fate to the Mutthorn hut in the Bernese Oberland. The Mutthorn used to be a popular place to stay for mountaineers, offering spectacular views of the Kander Neve glacier. But since spring 2022 it has been closed to mountaineers because the hut is slowly sliding down the valley due to thawing permafrost. About 100,000 cubic metres of rock loom over the stone hut and threaten to crash down. “We’re afraid that the entire mass could collapse soon and damage the hut,” geologist Hans Rudolf Keusen told Swiss public radio, SRF. The Mutthorn hut is one of 65 facilities badly affected by climate change, as recently revealed in a study published by the Alpine club. “Our huts are mostly in high Alpine areas, so the problems are ...