The Britannia 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 ...

: ''Britanniahütte'') 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 ...

of 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 ...

, located south of

Saas-Almagell Saas-Almagell is a municipality in the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. History Saas-Almagell is first mentioned in 1291 as ''Armenzello''. In 1307 it was mentioned as ''Almenkel''. The settlement, at the upper end of ...

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 ...

. It is situated 3,030 metres above sea level, at the foot of the

Allalinhorn The Allalinhorn () is a mountain in the Pennine Alps in Switzerland. It lies between Zermatt and Saas-Fee in the canton of Valais, and is part of the Mischabel range, which culminates at the Dom (4,545 m). It was first climbed by London barrist ...

near the

Allalin Glacier The Allalin Glacier () is a long glacier (2005) situated in the Pennine Alps near the Allalinhorn in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. In 1973 it had an area of . The glacier is bordered on the west by the Allalinhorn, Rimpfischhorn and Stra ...

, in the

Mischabel The Dom is a mountain of the Pennine Alps, located between Randa and Saas-Fee in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. With a height of , it is the seventh highest summit in the Alps, overall. Based on prominence, it can be regarded as the thir ...

massif. It is a starting point for the ascents of

Strahlhorn The Strahlhorn (4,190 m) is a mountain of the Swiss Pennine Alps, located south of Saas-Fee and east of Zermatt in the canton of Valais. It lies on the range that separates the Mattertal from the Saastal and is located approximately halfway bet ...

Rimpfischhorn The Rimpfischhorn (4,199 m) is a mountain in the Pennine Alps of Switzerland. Along its north ridge lies the prominent sub-peak ''Grosser Gendarm'' (4107 m). The first ascent of the mountain was by Leslie Stephen and Robert Living with guides ...

and Allalinhorn. The hut is accessible from the

Felskinn Felskinn is a rocky outcrop of the Pennine Alps, situated above Saas Fee in the canton of Valais. Felskinn is the lower station of the Metro Alpin which gives access to the Mittelallalin The Mittelallalin () is a minor summit below the Alla ...

station via a trail on the

Fee Glacier The Fee Glacier () is a long glacier (2005) situated in the Pennine Alps in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. In 1973, it had a length of and an area of . It lies east of the Mischabel range, between the summit of Dom on the north and Allali ...

History

The hut was officially opened on 17 August 1912 when the keys to the hut were handed over from the Vice President of th
Association of British Members of the Swiss Alpine Club
(ABMSAC) to the Swiss Alpine Club (SAC-CAS) at its inauguration. The building of the hut was funded by contributions from British members of climbing clubs and in particular the ABMSAC, which was founded by British members of the Alpine Club in 1909 with one its objectives to raise money for a hut. The hut was gifted to the

(Geneva Section) in gratitude for the hospitality received by British climbers at the many other Swiss huts in the Alpine region. The hut was completely renovated in 1997 and celebrated its centenary in 2012. The hut maintains strong links with British mountaineering clubs with the ABMSAC, Eagle Ski Club and Ski Club of Great Britain gifting 25,000 CHF for the installation of seven new solar panels to mark the centenary of the Britannia Hut.

References

Swisstopo Swisstopo is the official name for the Swiss Federal Office of Topography, Switzerland's national mapping agency. The current name was made official in 2002. It had been used as the domain name for the homepage of the instituteswisstopo.admi ...

topographic maps

External links

Official websiteThe Britannia Hut on Mount Wiki
{{Valais-geo-stub Mountain huts in Switzerland Mountain huts in the Alps

History

See also

References

External links