Schneeberg as an Alpine refuge
Until the end of work at Schneeberg, mine workers were exposed to the natural hazards of the Alpine world. Every journey was a tiring mountain excursion. Bad weather and snowstorms threatened travellers, and the miners’ wearisome journey to and from the mines and their heavy work did not leave them much time to appreciate the rosy sunsets between the pale rocks of the Schneeberger and Moarer Weißen (the White Rocks of Schneeberg and Maiern) which have always fascinated observers.
Not only mine workers came to Schneeberg. Many of the visitors would, today, be called tourists. Even the high route across Schneeberg, linking the top of the Oetztal valley with the Sterzing area, was traversed by frequent visitors.
The inn which had existed for many years at St. Martin am Schneeberg, at an altitude of 2,354 metres, laid the groundwork for early, high-altitude tourism in the Tyrol.
In 1795, Joseph von Novack of Meran spent a week at Schneeberg, privately.
In 1798, Joseph von Sternbach wrote in the visitors’ book:
‘The first day I entered the galleries, and the next day I climbed the mountains towards the glaciers, partly to admire them, but also to discover new landscapes’.
The natural landscape around Schneeberg, ‘beautiful yet horrendous’, as Johann Nepomuk Tauber wrote in the visitors’ book in 1826, attracted an increasing number of visitors. In 1835, the first Alpine guide, a man called Schmidt, led Alois Bederlunger of Innsbruck across the Stubai glaciers to Schneeberg. In the 1860s, the number of official Alpine guides increased, with guests from the valleys of Stubai, Ridnaun, Oetz and Passeier.
In 1871, Richard Getberlet of Munich, using Stubai guides Urbas and Pferrschaller, left Schneeberg and crossed the Botzerscharte, undertaking the first climb of the Wilden Pfaff and the Wilden Freiger. He wrote in the visitors' book: 'Schneeberg is recommended as a starting-point for a series of very interesting excursions.’
Schneeberg is in the Stubai Alps (or Breonie Alps), straddling the main Alpine chain from the Timmelsjoch eastwards as far as the Brenner Pass. The summits of the Zuckerhütl, (3,505 m), Wilder Pfaff,(3,457 m), Wilder Freiger,(3,418 m) and Botzer, (3,251 m) may be reached from Schneeberg during the course of a day’s excursion, something which is not possible starting from the bottom of the valleys.
Until the opening of true refuge huts in the Stubai Alps between the end of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th, Teplitzer Hütte, 1887; Grohmannhütte, 1889; Müllerhütte, 1891; Becherhaus, 1894, the Gasthaus Schneeberg, at the mouth of the Martin gallery, was the only starting point for high-altitude excursions.
In 1904, the old miners’ lodgings were demolished and gave way to the Obere Kaue (upper dormitory). Between 1902 and 1904, the new state hotel was extended westwards, touching the miners’ house. After the end of mining at Schneeberg in 1967, the Schneeberg Refuge Hut opened again in 1972. The ex-miner Aldo Sartori, from St. Leonhard in Passeier, with great personal commitment and support from the Club Alpino Italiano (Italian Alpine Club, Meran Section) managed to recreate a simple hut out of the ruins of the old miners’ lodgings, which he managed in summer months until 1990. In 1995, the lease which the C.A.I. had had with the new owner, the Autonomous Province of Bozen, ran out, and the Tyrol Museum of Mines took over the refuge.
At the present time, the Schutzhaus Schneeberg, composed of the restored miners’ lodgings and the nearby hotel, is one of the network of refuge huts in the Stubai and Ötztal Alps (Stubaier- und Oetztaler Alpen) and now plays a double role as museum and Alpine refuge. The initiative involves 13 refuge huts between Brenner and Meran, which jointly publicize the area and the high-altitude paths under the motto ‘Von Hütte zu Hütte’ (‘From one refuge to the next’).
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