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Imagine a place where outside the window, instead of city streets, there are glaciers, and a normal overnight stay begins with a multi-day ascent into the mountains. That is what a trip to a shelter located at 4554 meters in the Italian Alps looks like.
Stuart Butler shared his own experience of climbing to one of Europe’s most extreme mountain shelters for the BBC. To sleep at Rifugio Capanna Regina Margherita, he had to cross a glacier, snowy slopes, and ascend to 4554 meters.
Why is the shelter named in honor of a queen?
Rifugio Capanna Regina Margherita is located in the Monte Rosa massif, right on the alpine border between Italy and Switzerland. The shelter sits atop Punta Gnifetti, or Signalkuppe (the German name for this peak). It was named after Queen Margarita of Savoy.
In 1893 year she personally climbed here for the shelter’s opening and spent the night on the summit. More than 130 years later, the building still operates as a mountain shelter and research center. Each year this challenging route is traversed by about 30 thousand tourists, and roughly 4 thousand of them stay here overnight.
How do you reach Europe's highest overnight stay?
Most travelers choose a three-day route with a local guide. The ascent starts in Alagna-Valsesia, from where ropeways take hikers to Punta Indren at an altitude of 3275 meters. The first day is dedicated to acclimatization. The group proceeds to Rifugio Città di Mantova at an altitude of 3498 meters, where they spend the night before the main ascent.
What Rifugio Capanna Regina Margherita looks like / Instagram casanova.jessica6
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The next morning, travelers set off across the glacier. They use crampons and roped systems to safely traverse sections with crevasses. The route then leads over snowy slopes and ridges to the summit. The rapid increase in altitude can cause dizziness, headaches, or nausea, so acclimatization is an important part of the itinerary.
What is life like at 4554 meters?
Externally, the shelter is a narrow three-story metal building on the edge of the summit. Inside, there is a dining area and dormitory-style sleeping quarters. In summer, up to 70 people can stay here at a time. Conditions are simple: visitors sleep in rooms with seven or eight people each, use two toilets, and there is no shower. However, food and drinks can be purchased at the shelter.
Tourists sleeping in communal rooms / photo by Stuart Butler
The highest shelter in Europe / photo by TripAdvisor
The weather at such an altitude can be severe. During a strong storm, the building shakes, and due to bad weather helicopters cannot deliver supplies, which sometimes leaves the shelter cut off from the outside world. Rifugio Capanna Regina Margherita operates from mid-June to early September. For the climb, winter clothing, sturdy hiking boots, and crampons are required. Despite the challenging route and modest facilities, the shelter welcomes people from various countries every year.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Щоб переночувати у цьому готелі, туристи кілька днів долають льодовики та засніжені схили". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Channel 24.
