August 15, 2024 – 3:17 PM
Arthur von Schmid's house in Magas Tauern – Photo: Gabor Tenzer / Telex
Call for help from the Alps: Let's save mountain shelters and hiking trails! With 700,000 members they launched a signature campaign Austrian Alpine Society (Austrian Alpine Club). The petition has been signed by nearly 60,000 people so far..
As stated on the association's website, there are 272 shelters and 50,000 kilometres of hiking trails in acute emergencies. They add that there is a real risk of collapse: Alpine clubs are no longer able to maintain an average of three or four huts per year. In addition, some hiking trails will have to be closed or cancelled. The deterioration of the infrastructure in the Austrian Alps is imminent, so the alarm bells are ringing.
The association is therefore demanding an emergency package of 95 million euros from the Austrian government to save Austria’s shelters and corridors – and this only applies to basic renovations of homes and roads at risk of destruction. They claim that construction costs have increased significantly since the last adjustment to state funding in 2013, and that the climate crisis is causing more and more damage from extreme weather events.
Currently, 429 alpine clubs belong to lodges, huts and campsites, 272 of which are located in more isolated locations in the mountains. Almost none of them can afford to pay for their maintenance. The 50,000-kilometre hiking trail network is constantly being destroyed by increasingly frequent landslides, rockfalls and storm damage, according to the association.
