The Swiss Alpine Club SAC can look back on a record year. 2019 is the best of the last ten years, the second best ever in the more than 150-year history of SAC huts. The summer half-year even gave the 153 SAC huts an absolute record.
The SAC huts recorded a total of 355 overnight stays in the past year, which is 268% more than in 3.6. This means that the record result of 2018 was just missed by 2009 overnight stays.
For the first time in history, the Lämmeren hut in the Bernese Oberland is at the top of the most visited huts: 7810 overnight guests were registered there. The hut with the greatest growth - apart from the reopened Albert Heim hut and the Binntal hut - was the Capanna Cristallina in Ticino, which was able to almost double its overnight stays after a change of hut manager.
Best summer season ever
Four fifths of the overnight stays were registered from May to October and the 282 overnight stays (+ 364%) represent an absolute record in the history of the SAC huts. The huts in Central Switzerland (+ 1.4%), in Valais (+ 9.2%) and those in Ticino (+ 7%) were very well attended last summer. The huts in the Bernese Alps (- 4.6%), the Graubünden Alps (- 4.1%) and the Glarner and St. Galler Alps (- 4.3%) had to accept fewer overnight stays than in the previous summer.
Less alpine tours, more mountain hikes
10, 15 years ago, it was primarily alpine and high-alpine huts that could combine most of the summer nights, today it is huts that are located on popular mountain hiking routes or have become popular tourist destinations. The Blüemlisalp hut in the Bernese Oberland is by far the most-visited hut in summer with almost 6000 overnight stays. This is followed by the Terrihütte in Graubünden (5400), the Cabane de Moiry in Walllis (5290), the Almagellerhütte in Valais (4800) and the Carschina hut in Graubünden (4790).
The trend towards mountain and alpine hikes more than makes up for the declines in the huts as starting points for classic high and climbing tours. Because these are becoming increasingly demanding due to climate change.
The very pleasing result was again due to the mostly beautiful and sometimes very hot weather, which lasted well into autumn. Two longer heat waves in late June and late July not only melted the remaining snow and firn snow fields quickly, they also drove numerous flatland residents to cooler heights.
3573 overnight stays with 85 beds
Winter overnight stays between November 2018 and April 2019 increased by 13.1% to 72 compared to the previous year. The huts in the Graubünden Alps (+ 904%) and the huts in Central Switzerland (+ 23.3%) benefited from large amounts of snow and lots of sunshine. After an unusually bad pre-winter, overnight stays in the Ticino huts skyrocketed by 27.3%, which corresponds to a total of only 215 overnight stays.
With 3573 overnight stays - more than ever before - the Lidernenhütte in the canton of Uri was the absolutely most popular hut last winter. This is followed by the Britannia hut in Valais (3549), the Lämmeren hut in the Bernese Oberland (3381) and the Finsteraarhorn hut in the Bernese Oberland (2968).
32 million francs for the hut and section cash registers
In terms of sales, 2019 was also a top year for the huts. Over CHF 8.6 million from the overnight stays alone went into the coffers of the hut teams and sections. The huts also achieved sales of almost CHF 23.9 million with food, drinks and services. The 355 overnight guests and several hundred thousand day guests thus cost around CHF 268 million.
The central smelter fund SAC will receive almost CHF 1.9 million of this, funds that the sections can use for the maintenance and renewal of the smelter infrastructure.
Lively investment activity
The same renovation fund supported the two renovation and expansion projects at Cabane de Chanrion (Geneva section) and Chamanna d'Es-cha (Bernina section) in 2019 with almost CHF 2 million - with a total investment of over CHF 5.5 million In 20 additional SAC smelters over CHF 1.8 million were invested in larger maintenance projects, which were supported with around CHF 650 from the central smelter fund.
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Credits: Cover picture Bürgi Schärer