Will we at some point be able to go back to being packed like sardines in an Alpine hut, for a (disturbed) sleep prior to getting up in the early hours, and get on with achieving our mountain dreams and goals? In the next two years?
June last year I was in Germany in the Wetterstein massif and the huts were pretty empty. Had a six person room for the two of us. Weather was pretty terrible though...
I'm just hoping that none of the (8 or so?) other people in my room were infectious. Masks are supposed to be worn in the hut but obviously people take them off for dinner and then after that no-one seems bothered about it any more. This was the third SAC hut I've stayed in this season and they're all the same, the only solution I see is to go when it's not busy. Easter weekend with wall-to-wall sunshine was always going to be bad I guess.
I'm not sure of the current state of epidemiology of Covid-19 in Switzerland, nor of how their vaccination status is improving, but that's a consideration before going there (again).
As a follow up to this, I note that the Cabane des Vignettes is currently closed, apparently because all the staff got covid. Which comes as no surprise to me. And yet they plan to reopen again on Monday!
This Alpine Conditions page gives a summary of what is being climbed at the moment, what is 'in' nick and what the prospects are...
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