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During the early days of Alpine tourism until the end of the 19th century, the Hannover Section of the Austro-German Alpine Association had the idea of erecting one of the highest refuges in the Eastern Alps on the Bechergipfel (3,195 m), in the innermost part of the Ridnaun valley, and of calling it the Empress Elizabeth Refuge. The project, initiated in 1892, was finished on schedule in 1894 and the building was solemnly consigned on his birthday to emperor Franz Josef (August 18), according to his wishes.
In her precipitous journeyings, the restless empress Sissi often came to the Tyrol, staying several times in Meran. In August 1898, she stayed at the Hotel Karersee and expressed a desire to visit the refuge named after her. In a meeting with the chairman of the Hannover Section, Dr. Carl Arnold, this visit was discussed in meticulous detail and was fixed for the last week in September. Preparations were begun in August at Ridnaun and Passeier. From Maiern, the empress was to be brought to Schneeberg along the ore transport system. Without too much ceremony, she was to be carried along the flat stretches and up the bucket elevators, the last of which acted as counterweights to the ore descending to the Maiern enrichment plant (although Sissi’s weight – 48 kg – would certainly not have been sufficient for this purpose). Fifty miners were ordered to improve the path which, from Schneeberg, crossed the Karlscharte to the Schwarzwandscharte, to make it more easily negotiable. From here, the empress was to be carried on a comfortable sledge across the Übeltalferner glacier to the foot of the peak, and would then have to climb up to the refuge hut on foot.
In early September, Dr. Arnold informed the empress at Geneva that all preparations for her visit were complete. But, on September 10 1898, the word spread throughout the world that the anarchist Luigi Lucheni, using a sharpened file as a weapon, had killed the empress, while she was calmly walking along the street.
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history of mining on Schneeberg
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