ULMER HÜTTE
Am Ursprung der Sonne · 2.288 m
Hut chronicle
The Ulmer Hütte has stood on the Arlberg since 5 September 1903. An Alpine Club hut of the Ulm section, grown with the rise of skiing, run by only four keeper families in 123 years.
From the hut chronicle
When the Ulmer Hütte was inaugurated in 1903, nobody could have guessed it would one day stand in the heart of one of the world's best-known ski areas. The stations of that journey, recorded in the chronicle of the house.
1903
On 5 September 1903 the Ulmer Hütte is festively inaugurated. In its first season a modest 98 summer guests and 62 winter guests make their way up to 2,288 metres.
1913
In the winter of 1912/13 exactly 1,000 guests visit the hut. Even then it is clear that winter draws more visitors than summer, and the story of the house becomes bound to alpine skiing on the Arlberg.
1915
The hut stays closed through the First World War. After Italy enters the war, an aircraft observation post is set up here, and exactly one Italian aeroplane is said to have been sighted.
1921
The winter of 1920/21 brings a record 2,298 visitors, the following summer 2,865. Then inflation devours the numbers, and only the currency stabilisation from 1923 brings them back.
1938
The construction of the material ropeway makes running the hut substantially easier. To this day it carries the luggage of house guests up the mountain.
1941
In the war winter of 1940/41 the chronicle records 14,000 guests and 7,000 overnight stays. Despite all wartime hardship, the house keeps operating until the beginning of winter 1944.
1945
In 1944/45 the hut is seized and, like all huts of German sections, placed as German property abroad under the trusteeship of the Austrian Alpine Club, which lasts until 1956.
1954
On 30 December 1954 the Valluga cable car opens. For the Ulmer Hütte, now in the middle of the Arlberg ski area, the transformation from mountain refuge to mountain inn begins.
1993
On 1 May 1993 Franz Schweighofer hands the hut key to Karin and Heimo Turin, only the fourth keepers in the house's history of more than a century.
1995
Connecting to the public sewer alone costs 320,000 euros. Conversions, extensions and renovations shape the decades; a house at 2,288 metres never stands still.
2003
For the hundredth anniversary the gable is raised, the roof renewed and the attic turned into rooms with daylight and mountain panorama. The dormitories disappear, leaving twin and quad rooms with quiet and comfort.
The keepers
The first keepers, innkeepers of the Posthotel in Stuben.
Run the house for twenty-seven years, until 1972.
Carries the hut key for two decades.
Have looked after the guests of the house with their team since 1 May 1993.
From the house album
The next chapter
123 years of guests, four keeper families, one house above the clouds. The next entry could be yours.
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