Week 89: Our first sleepover in an Austrian hut

Perched 7,400ft up in the Lienz Dolomites sits the quaint and rustic Karlsbaderhütte. It is one of Austria’s most beloved mountain huts. Here is our recap of what it was like to hike and stay there.

Since last fall, I have been dreaming of sleeping in a mountain hut and hiking along Austria’s dramatic peaks. Visiting mountain huts is an integral part of the hiking experience in Austria. One of many huts I saved in my excel spreadsheets was the Karlsbaderhütte located in The Lienz Dolomites.

The Lienz Dolomites sit in Austria's northeastern region of Tirol, Osttirol, just a handful of mountains away from the neighboring Italian border and three-and-a-half hours from our home in Gmunden. These Dolomites are not to be confused with the more well-known Dolomites to the south. While they are made of the same rock and close together on a map, they are different mountain ranges.

At noon, we parked our car at the Dolomitenhütte parking lot and stopped for a traditional Austrian lunch.

We sat on the terrace, looking out at the clear blue sky, and ordered two käsespätzle. It is our favorite vegetarian-friendly Austrian dish. Being a vegetarian in a mountain hut is easy. Being a vegan is another story.

After we finished our lunch, we set out on the two-hour hike to the Karlsbaderhütte. The hike was strenuous and steep, but we were pacing ourselves. For two hours, we would glance up to see what was ahead of us and cautiously look behind us to see how far we had gone while marveling at the peaks all around us.

*One of many mountain peaks peaking through the trees.*

*Quick stop at this church bell on our hike*

*The trail takes you through the trees for a little while*

*Our bags held our things together quite well*

After 90 minutes, we rounded a corner and the hut was within sight. Rocky green meadows and mountain sheep dotted the landscape.

We finally made it at 2:30 PM.

The hut is surrounded by picture-perfect rugged peaks, the glacial lake Laserzsee, and epic via ferratas.

As we entered the hut, Edith, the hut host, welcomed us in. She was friendly and thankfully bilingual. We started to check-in in German and she quickly switched over to English for us :)

When you visit a mountain hut, it is like visiting someone’s home, and like any home, there are house rules. Edith laid out the hut rules, pointed us in the direction of our room, and handed us our room key - room #14.

Here are a few of the rules Edith shared:

Rule #1: No shoes in the guest rooms
Rule #2: Dinner is from 6:00-7:00pm
Rule #3: Pay at night, before you go to bed
Rule #4: You need a token for a hot shower
Rule #5: Breakfast is from 7:00-8:30 am
Rule #6: Do not leave your trash in the hut

Following the first rule, we turned right at the staircase to the “schuhraum” aka “shoe room”. We strenuously kicked off our hiking boots and grabbed a free pair of “Hüttenschuhe” aka “hut shoes” provided by Karlsbaderhütte. The hut shoes were crocs and this was the first time I had ever worn them. These shoes are worn by all other mountain guests, which is a little unsettling to some degree, but just keep your socks on and all is fine.

We opened the door to our room and immediately felt like we were at summer camp, but with fewer spiders and better accommodations. We sat down, looked out our window, and unrolled our sleeping bags over the mattress.

We hiked up to the hut with Eric carrying our climbing gear. One of the best things about this hut is it sits at the base of several climbing routes. After 20 minutes of relaxing in our room, we went downstairs, reluctantly put our sweaty hiking boots back on, and made our way back out to do one of the “easy” ferratas.

The ferrata I planned for us was the Seekofel. To get there, we had to follow a barely existent trail up to the Ödkarscharte, which is a “saddle” at the top of one of the grey rocky mountains.

By 4:00 pm, we had only made it halfway up the trail and still had a 90-minute via Ferrata, plus the hike back down to factor in. So we stood in the middle of this mountain assessing our options and remembering rule #2 Edith told us about, dinner is at 6:00 pm. We decided to turn back. A sense of relief, but also guilt came over me. Relief because we can stop ascending this kind of scary mountain trail, and also we will not be late for dinner, but also guilt that Eric carried our gear all this way and we were not even using it.

Tip: Stay at the hut for two nights. Hiking up and trying to do a via ferrata the same day is too ambitious.

*Eric by the Laserzsee. The “Ödkarscharte” can also be seen in the middle, creating the saddle-like “U” shape.*

*Hanging out with the mountain sheep while we waited for dinner.*

6:00 PM had arrived and we walked into the dining room for dinner. We noticed we had assigned seats. This is typical in mountain huts if you are staying overnight. The staff arranges seats so you share a table with other guests, ensuring no one eats alone. We sat down with 5 other overnighters. They caught on to our lack of German-speaking abilities and switched over to English for a few minutes. They were a part of the Austrian Alpine Club and were staying at the hut for 5 nights on a climbing training retreat.

Dinner was a 3-course, family-style dinner. No menus where we could order different things and make vegetarian/vegan-friendly choices. Everyone gets the same thing. The first course was a bowl of soup. The main course was noodles and meat topped with an egg and pickle. Eric and I looked at each other as this dish smelled so good and was so tempting, but we ended up eating everything except the meat. We noticed three of our table guests were given a different dish though. They told us they were also vegetarian and you have to tell the hut in advance of dietary restrictions. Lesson learned!

Tip: Inform the hut of any dietary restrictions

The final dessert course was hut-made tiramisu. Overall, dinner at the mountain hut was a great experience. A sense of community and celebration was felt throughout the room.

At 7:45 pm, we went back outside. While the sunset was not until 9:05 pm, the best time to take photos is the 1 hour, ”golden hour,” before the sun actually goes behind the mountains.

*Eric standing in front of the Ödkarscharte..*

The sunset was magical.

For an hour, we got to enjoy this little slice of heaven in Austria. It felt as if we were the only two people on this mountain, especially because no one else was outside with us. By this time of night, the temperatures dropped about 20 degrees and the wind was intense. We would definitely have benefitted from another layer, even though it is the middle of summer.

Tip: Check the mountain weather here and even if you think you will be fine, pack the extra layer anyway.

*The moon peaked out for just a moment before fading away*

Once the sun was down, we walked back into the hut and ordered hot cocoas as we were chilled from being outside. We guzzled it down and then followed rules #3 and #4. We paid our bill and bought our shower tokens.

We kicked off our shoes for the 3rd time and the smell of the schuhraum at night was intense. Just imagine 75 pairs of worn hiking boots sitting in a room together…Did your nose scrunch up reading that? We thought so.

While we had our own private bedroom, we shared the bathrooms with the other guests. Thankfully, we both chose times to shower when no one else was in there. The €3 tokens bought us each a hot shower lasting for 3 minutes, which sounds short, but those 3 minutes felt long due to being worried someone would walk in on me.

Tip: Bring your own towel. Most huts do not supply towels.

We were both back in the comfort of our own room and, since the sun was down, the room was borderline pitch black. By 10:00 pm, Eric and I were in our sleeping bags ready to drift into a deep sleep and so we did, for a little while at least.

*Admiring the cotton candy sky before bedtime*

The combination of utter silence in our room mixed with the thumping sound of people walking on their heels throughout the hut halls to go to the bathroom throughout the night woke us up at 1:00 AM. We were missing our Tempurpedic mattress and the sound of our fan to soothe us to sleep. So, Eric turned on a fan app on his phone while hooked up to our portable charger and we were able to go back to sleep.

Tip: Bring headlamps and portable chargers. There are no lights or outlets in the rooms.

At 5:00 am, the sound of Eric's alarm went off. I asked him to set it because I wanted to wake up for sunrise. After all, watching the sunrise from a mountaintop sounded amazing the night before, but it definitely does not translate as well when you are running on just a few hours of sleep. I jolted up from my sleeping bag and checked the window only to see fog. No chance of a good sunrise, so we snoozed for another hour.

We could not sleep too long, because of rule #5. Breakfast was at 7 and we did not want to be late. So at 6:50, we walked down to the dining room to find the door locked, Edith running around getting the breakfast buffet set up, and a line of hungry, tired people standing at the door waiting to go in like a bunch of animals at feeding time.

Edith unlocked the door and we sat at our same table from dinner with the same tablemates! A friendly hello and good morning were exchanged, but we were all trying to adjust to the early morning. The breakfast buffet consisted of cereals, yogurt, fruits, bread, meats, cheeses, coffee, and tea.

By 9 am, we left the hut bringing our trash down with us, following the final rule #6, and made the hike down the mountain to our car which was only 90 minutes as opposed to the 2 hours up yesterday.

As I reflect on our time at Karlsbaderhütte and trying to overlook the really sore hips I now have since we got back home, we are left with fond memories of our time up at this mountain hut! I am already looking forward to the next hut sleepover we have planned for this summer. Being able to sleep on the mountain is a privilege and a special moment for all who are able to do it.

A few other highlights from Week 89:

We went to an open-air concert in Gmunden, just across the street at Toscana Park.
On Thursday, I was featured on the SEC website. Check out the article here if you have not read it yet.

Week 89: Our first sleepover in an Austrian hut

Week 90: Overnight at The Grossglockner and some big news!

Week 88: Summertime Gmunden