Alpine hut
Almhütten (in the Alemannic-speaking area alpine huts ) are the huts of the alpine farming in the Alps . The name Kaser is also common in southern Germany .
Original function
Alpine huts are the living quarters and stables in which the herdsmen ( dairymen ) live during the summer while they look after the cattle grazing on the mountain pastures. Depending on the region, these huts found in scattered location , in small Rotten (a hamlet similar) or in Almdörfern.
As far as the dairy farm is concerned, the milk was or is occasionally processed into cheese (Kasalm). Where this is not the case, the milk is transported via cable cars or even by pipeline down to the valley for further processing.
Due to the dung of the cattle and thus the higher nitrogen content in the soil, the immediate vicinity of an alpine hut usually has a significantly different flora than the rest of the area.
The number of alpine huts that are managed in the classic sense is decreasing, because pasture farming in the mountains is hardly economically viable and it is difficult to find suitable workers for the physically very strenuous and ultimately very lonely work.
Forms of use
Since the intensive tourist development of the mountains over the last hundred years, the function of an alpine hut has fundamentally changed:
- A number of alpine huts on hiking trails have been converted into shelters or, in winter sports areas , into ski huts , and look after hikers, skiers and tourists
- Many alpine huts also offer gastronomic options. If you could consume self-made dairy products there 20 or 30 years ago, a “hearty” cuisine is still celebrated there today, but the necessary food often comes from the valley. In the context of agrotourism and modern ecological agriculture , however, in favorable locations with a high number of guests, the use of alpine farming can be used again, which then no longer serves for self-sufficiency, but for the production and sale of "regional food". Some alpine huts are called Jausenalm when they function as a snack station and where the rest can be combined with a snack as a small snack .
- A large part of the alpine huts has taken over the function of a holiday home for the owners. In many areas it is also possible to rent alpine huts. The offer ranges from traditional alpine huts with an outhouse and without electricity to well-furnished huts with comfortable beds, electricity, running water and access to the house.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Snack station in the Duden
- ↑ compare search results for Jausenalm on Google