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The Bremer Hut, one of more than a thousand built in the Austrian Alps

Staffed from at least July to the end of September, but often with an open period which extends either side of the high summer period, accommodation on offer ranges from large mixed-sex communal dormitories (matratzenlager) to two- or four-bedded rooms suitable for couples or families. Sheet sleeping bags are obligatory, so take your own. Separate-sex washrooms with showers are the norm, although some of the older and more remote huts are still rather basic in their amenities. However, despite the name, most of Austria’s huts resemble mountain inns rather than the simple refuges of old. Wardens provide refreshments, snacks, meals and drinks (coffee, tea, hot chocolate, lemonade, beer and wine), with a choice of evening meals sometimes matching in variety the menus of local valley restaurants. (See Appendix C for a translation of menu items.) In ÖAV and DAV huts, the evening menu usually includes a Bergsteigeressen (literally, the mountaineer’s meal – available only to Alpenverein members). Low-cost and high in calories, for the hungry walker prepared to take ‘pot luck’ the Bergsteigeressen offers very good value. Since most of the income for self-employed hut wardens is derived from the sale of food and drinks (the overnight fee goes to the club owning the hut), it follows that all users ought to make some purchases. Self-catering facilities are not provided, other than in bivouac huts and winter rooms.