Winter rooms in mountain huts make many mountain tours possible and, in the worst case, ensure survival in the mountains.

The hut season in the Alps is starting – and at some huts, the sight of devastation is evident. The winter rooms are littered, some of the furniture has been burned as firewood, windows are smashed, and there are liquor bottles and human remains: Vandalism in the mountains is on the rise, according to the German Alpine Association (DAV).

The winter rooms of the huts, which are accessible from the outside and are usually closed due to ice and snow, are particularly hard hit, reports association spokesperson Julian Rohn. They are supposed to offer mountaineers safe overnight accommodation on often challenging winter climbs. But in some places, they have apparently been discovered as party locations.

The Munich-Oberland section of the Alpine Club was hit particularly hard this season, and has just filed a complaint against an unknown person. The reason: The emergency room at the Knorrhütte in the Wetterstein Mountains was completely devastated. "The conditions were truly terrible; it was the last straw," explains press officer Markus Block.

"There was tons of trash, alcohol bottles, four tents, sleeping bags, and people were defecating all around the hut—that's what it looks like! And as if that wasn't enough, someone ripped out the stove and put it in front of the hut. The hut was even broken into twice!"

"In the winter rooms, there are often cash registers where you deposit the overnight fee, and these have been broken into on several occasions," adds Rohn. "Other vandalism includes sticking all sorts of stickers on summit crosses and, above all, on signposts." What initially sounds harmless can become a real danger for those who are disoriented or exhausted, which is why volunteers from the German Alpine Club (DAV) are scraping the signs clean.

Vandalism on the mountain often entails enormous effort and high costs, which are then usually borne by the DAV (German Alpine Club) community. If a door is broken open, for example, a replacement door must be flown up by helicopter. If a window is broken and snow blows into the hut, water damage occurs.