From the end of May to mid -June, shelters find their guards and the reservations are open.
On June 20, Olet de Gaub’s refuge, the most common in the Pyrenees with nearly 9,500 nights last year, will open his summer and a guarded season. He will be one of the last to welcome their views. Since the end of May, most of the 120 establishments Montana Guided by the French Federation of Alpine and Mountain Clubs (FFCAM), which has about 40 % of the park – the balance depends on many actors – they welcomed their guards and the reservations are open.
It is better not to be long. The shelters have experienced unprecedented mania from the end of the pandemic. Last year, they recorded 315,000 nights. “It is a level of very high and higher than the period before the cavity, but the record dates from 2023, with 320,000 people greeted“Exhibits Maria Isabel Le Mur, director of FFCAM refugees and huts, which promotes and controls mountain activities. The popularity of certain routes such as Tour de la Vanoise in Savoy, The Wonderland in Mercantour or the Canigou area in Pyrenees Also robbers of the shelter spotlights.
Lightweight
The moody time early last summer, the closure of Venon’s sites after Berarde’s disaster In June, it may have been played at the slight withdrawal of nights in 2024. But the observation remains: beyond the population of tourist skiers, climbers and practitioners of Haute-Montagne, the peaks attract a new population, especially in medium altitude establishments.
The modest price of the night is certainly not related to this success. “The average price is about 20 €”Calculates the manager. With very strong differences he also knows that at the price of the night, a tourist tax and additives (sometimes heating, catering …) are added in the collective hostel …). And this is the big gap according to the establishments with, without surprise, higher prices, as soon as relief accumulated. For one night in the asylum held in breakfast, the highest in France landed 3835 m on the “normal” route of the MES-Blan, counting 68 euros per bed; EUR 50,20 EUR FROM; 20 € Breakfast … Unlike them, the popular Mercantour refuge in Mercantour allows Bivouac and fixes the maximum price from one night at 22 € and 66 € full board in this quite easily accessible, despite its altitude (2130 m).
Renewal
Challenge for FFCAM, launched in a competition to renovate these heights, where nature does not forgive much. “Since 2017, we have dedicated an envelope of 20 million euros to the renovation of 26 buildings, half of which are being carried out so far”Shows Maria Isabel Le Moore. The roar of the sidewalks, one of the many that in tunes the eccrines, was completely renovated last summer. The one of the Galbeni Ocelets will still have to wait a little, the summer major overhaul planned this year to be postponed for reasons for financing -a necessary envelope of 1 million euros.
The work is added to a stronger expectation of these new populations, knowing that the balances are very fragile in refuge, even more so with the climate disturbances. “The logic of a collective hostel continues to maintain less grip on the ground, we also need to integrate buildings into the landscape as much as possible, to develop renewable energies and to manage the water and sewage caps as effectively”, “as effective as possible” as possible “summarizes the manager.
Increasing uncontrollability, which accompanies increase in attendance, including during the non-publication period, is even more difficult. “There are some actions of pure malice, but most facts are due to ignorance of good practices”However, it sets a perspective, citing poorly closed doors in winter or waste abandoned on the spot. FFCAM summarizes a campaign to display “good asylum practices” this summer.
10 most busy mountain shelters in France
| Refuge | Array | Number of Nights 2024 |
| Vanoise Pass Asylum | Northern Alps (Vanoise) | 14 688 |
| Olet de Gaub’s refuge | Pyrenees (Vinemale) | 9471 |
| Refuge of wonders | Southern Alps (Mercantour – Roya) | 7982 |
| Refuge | Pyrenees (Canigou) | 7971 |
| Breakfast | Northern Alps (MES-BLANK) | 7536 |
| Bonhomme Cross Refuge | Northern Alps (BOFT – MES -BLAN) | 7350 |
| The murder of the head of a redhead | Northern Alps (MES-BLANK) | 7333 |
| Whitewasher | Southern Alps (Scriptures) | 7155 |
| Refuge | Southern Alps (Scriptures) | 6111 |
| Drayères’ belief | Southern Alps (Scriptures) | 6020 |