Kev Reynolds - 100 Hut Walks in the Alps: Routes for day and multi-day walks

About the Author

Kev Reynolds first led mountain holidays in the Alps as long ago as the 1960s, and has returned to walk, trek or climb practically every year since. He has produced brochures and other publicity material for various tourist authorities of Alpine countries, and for many years organised and led walking holidays there, as well as in other European mountain regions and the Himalaya. A member of the Alpine Club, Austrian Alpine Club and the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild, Kev has written more than a dozen guides to different Alpine regions and individual treks.

He also wrote the authoritative Walking in the Alps , which covers the whole range, the comprehensive tome The Swiss Alps , and was the contributing editor of the award-winning Trekking in the Alps all of which are published by Cicerone Press. A Walk in the Clouds , his collection of 75 autobiographical short stories recalling 50 years among the worlds most dramatic mountains, appeared under the Cicerone imprint in 2013. When not trekking in one of the great ranges, Kev lives among what he calls the Kentish Alps and during the winter months travels throughout Britain to share his love of wild places through his lectures. See www.kevreynolds.co.uk.

100 Hut Walks in the Alps

A Walk in the Clouds

Alpine Pass Route

Alpine Points of View

Central Switzerland

Chamonix to Zermatt: The Walkers Haute Route

crins National Park

Everest: a Trekkers Guide

Kangchenjunga: a Trekkers Guide

Langtang, Gosainkund & Helambu: a Trekkers Guide

Manaslu: a Trekkers Guide

The Bernese Alps

The Cotswold Way

The North Downs Way

The Pyrenees

The South Downs Way

The Swiss Alps

Tour of Mont Blanc

Tour of the Jungfrau Region

Tour of the Oisans: GR54

Tour of the Vanoise

Trekking in the Alps

Trekking in the Himalaya

Trekking in the Silvretta & Rtikon Alps

Walking in Austria

Walking in Kent

Walking in Sussex

Walking in the Alps

Walking in the Valais

Walking in Ticino Switzerland

Walks and Climbs in the Pyrenees

Walks in the Engadine Switzerland

Walks in the South Downs National Park

100 HUT WALKS IN THE ALPS

by
Kev Reynolds

2 POLICE SQUARE, MILNTHORPE, CUMBRIA LA7 7PY
www.cicerone.co.uk

Kev Reynolds 2000, 2005, 2014

Third edition 2014

ISBN-13: 978 1 85284 753 1

Second edition 2005

ISBN-10: 1 85284 471 X

ISBN-13: 978 1 85284 471 4

First edition 2000

ISBN 1 85284 297 0

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Printed in China on behalf of Latitude Press Ltd.

All photographs are by the author unless otherwise stated.

Advice to Readers

Readers are advised that, while every effort is made by our authors to ensure the accuracy of guidebooks as they go to print, changes can occur during the lifetime of an edition. Please check Updates on this books page on the Cicerone website (www.cicerone.co.uk) before planning your trip. We would also advise that you check information about such things as transport, accommodation and shops locally. Even rights of way can be altered over time. We are always grateful for information about any discrepancies between a guidebook and the facts on the ground, sent by email to info@cicerone.co.uk or by post to Cicerone, 2 Police Square, Milnthorpe LA7 7PY, United Kingdom.

Warning

All mountain activities contain an element of danger, with a risk of personal injury or death, and should be undertaken only by those with a full understanding of the risks, and the training and experience to evaluate them. Whilst every care and effort has been taken in the preparation of this guide, users should be aware that conditions can be highly variable and change quickly. Rockfall, landslide, avalanche and flooding can affect the character of a route and materially alter the seriousness of a walk or tour. Therefore, except for any liability which cannot be excluded by law, neither Cicerone nor the author accepts liability for damage of any nature (including damage to property, personal injury or death) arising directly or indirectly from the information in this guide.

Front cover: The Burg Hut, backed by the Fiescherhrner (Walk 42)

The Mont Blanc range seen across Lac Lman (photo: Jonathan Williams)

The Ticino has a range of outstanding huts catering for walkers in a quiet part of the Alps (photo: Jonathan Williams)

The Mont Blanc massif seen from the Col dAnterne. The Brvent is in the foreground (photo: Jonathan Williams)

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION

The opportunity to produce a new edition of this guide has enabled me to update the previous edition, replace a handful of routes and introduce some new huts. That is not to suggest that those no longer included were lacking in interest either the huts or their routes of approach but were sacrificed to give a slightly better balance to the collection. Once again I have been encouraged by users of previous editions of the book who wrote to share their experiences and suggest other routes to include. They have my thanks, as do the hut guardians and members of various Alpine Clubs who keep the huts maintained and waymark many of the trails. Im grateful as ever to Switzerland Tourism for generous assistance during research, to Jonathan Williams and his team at Cicerone Press for their continued support and encouragement, and to my wife who makes it all worthwhile.

Kev Reynolds

INTRODUCTION

Extending in a huge arc of more than 1000km (620 miles) from the Mediterranean coast near Nice to the low, wooded foothills outside Vienna, the Alps display the full gamut of mountain landscape features. With such a varied panoply of dramatic and spectacular scenery, theres nothing remotely comparable anywhere else in Europe maybe in the World and for two centuries and more walkers, mountaineers and general tourists have been flocking there in increasing numbers, and coming away enriched.

Walking is unquestionably the best method of exploring, and it is the mountain walker for whom journeys in the Alps reveal some of the finest views, the greatest contrasts. This book then is a guide to just 100 walks out of the many thousands possible, with a geographical span that ranges from the Maritime Alps of southern France to the Julians of Slovenia, from Italys Gran Paradiso to the little-known Trnitzer Alps of eastern Austria, from the ice-bound giants of the Bernese Oberland to the green rolling Kitzbheler Alps and the bizarre towers of the Dolomites of South Tirol, the routes having been especially selected in an attempt to show the amazing diversity of this wonderful mountain chain.