Hiking

While young people in Salzburg take to the streets for the climate strike, the Austrian Alpine Club stands behind its youth: The planned climate law needs binding consequences, otherwise it will remain ineffective.

The Austrian Alpine Club's mountain huts are heading for another increase in overnight stays after the record year of 2025. However, the results of the 2026 hut season also show that drought, cancellations, and no-shows remain challenges.

Every mountain tour hinges on the weather conditions. We'll show you what's important when planning mountain tours to avoid dangerous situations caused by sudden weather changes or thunderstorms, and how to react correctly in an emergency.

The two rockfalls on Mont Blanc and most recently on the Matterhorn demonstrate how heat and thawing permafrost are exacerbating the danger for mountaineers. While there is currently an acute risk throughout the Alps, climbing is continuing in some places.

Drying springs, lack of precipitation, and weak snowmelt are pushing the water supply to Austrian mountain huts to its limits. All huts are still operating, but if the dry conditions continue, some may have to end their season prematurely.

Bed bugs are frequently spread from place to place – this also applies to the mountains. Alpine clubs offer practical tips on how hikers can prevent their spread between mountain huts.

Up to 40 percent of reservations at Alpine Club huts are being cancelled. Despite high occupancy rates during the summer season, this is causing organizational and financial problems for hut operators. The Austrian Alpine Club is therefore appealing for responsible booking practices and also recommends huts located off the main trails.

From 2027, the Austrian Alpine Club will undertake a comprehensive renovation of the high-alpine Glungezer Hut in the Tux Alps. The project exemplifies the challenges facing alpine hut construction today: exploding costs, extreme weather conditions, short construction times, and the requirement to build sustainably while preserving the historical character.

The Platzertal valley in Tyrol is slated to be replaced by a pumped-storage power plant — a project the Austrian Alpine Club (ÖAV) and the WWF are now jointly opposing. The two organizations are demanding a moratorium on the project by the regional energy company Tiwag. Their reasoning: the project, in its current form, is simply not approvable.

The job sounds like freedom, mountains, and sunrises over peaks. But behind the romantic image of hut life lies hard work – so hard that the Austrian Alpine Club is running out of tenants. In 2025, 17 Alpine Club huts across Austria were advertised for lease, and five of them are empty again after the past season.

Extreme weather is becoming more and more common – this also applies to severe thunderstorms. In this article, you'll learn how to behave properly during thunderstorms in the mountains.