The Hörnli Hut (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: ''Hörnlihütte'') is a

mountain hut A mountain hut is a building located at high elevation, in mountainous terrain, generally accessible only by foot, intended to provide food and shelter to mountaineering, mountaineers, climbing, climbers and Hiking, hikers. Mountain huts are us ...

located at the foot of the north-eastern ridge (Hörnli Ridge) of the

Matterhorn The , ; ; ; or ; ; . is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the Main chain of the Alps, main watershed and border between Italy and Switzerland. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, ...

. It is situated at above sea level, a few kilometres south-west of the town of

Zermatt Zermatt (, ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Visp (district), Visp in the German language, German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a year-round population of about 5,800 and is cl ...

in the canton of

Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. It is also known as ''Berghaus Matterhorn''. The first Hörnli hut was built by the

Swiss Alpine Club The Swiss Alpine Club (, , , ) is the largest mountaineering club in Switzerland. It was founded in 1863 in Olten and it is now composed of 110 sections with 174,726 members (2023). These include the Association of British Members of the Swiss ...

in 1880 and had 17 beds. It has since been expanded and rebuilt several times. In 1911, the municipality of Zermatt built a hut directly next to the Hotel Belvédère (also Berghaus Matterhorn). Both were merged in 1987 and managed by the municipality and offered since its last renovation in 1982 a number of 170 beds. From 2013 to 2015, the Belvédère was renovated and a new extension built. The original Hörnli hut was demolished. The new hut was inaugurated on 14 July 2015, the 150th anniversary of the first ascent of the mountain. It offers 130 beds (in a total of 34 8-,6-,4- and 2-person rooms) and an enlarged kitchen, modernized sanitation with showers and electricity from solar energy. Camping around the hut is prohibited and there is a winter room with limited provisions. Overcrowding on the several routes have become an issue and guides and local authorities have struggled with how to regulate the numbers. The new Hörnli hut became the first mountain shelter in Europe to purposely limit the number of beds. The hut is accessible to hikers. From the cable car station of

Schwarzsee Schwarzsee () or Lac Noir (; ; rarely ; ), is a small lake in the Canton of Fribourg, Switzerland with an area of . The lake in the Swiss Prealps is bordered by the peaks of Schwyberg (1,628 m) in the West, Les Reccardets (1,923 m) and Spitz ...

(or from Zermatt) a marked trail leads to the ridge and then to the hut. It is used to climb the Matterhorn on the normal route. The

Solvay Hut The Solvay Hut or Solvay Bivouac (German: ''Solvayhütte'') is a mountain hut located on the north-eastern ridge (Hörnli Ridge) of the Matterhorn, near Zermatt in the canton of Valais. At it is the highest mountain hut owned by the Swiss Alpine ...

lies also higher on the same ridge, but can only be used in case of emergency.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hornli Hut Mountain huts in Switzerland Matterhorn Mountain huts in the Alps

See also

References

External links