The new Goûter Hut by Coronium is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
The Refuge du Goûter, located in the French Alps is perched at about 12,582 feet above sea level. It is a four-story lodging for mountaineers and is one of the highest in Western Europe. It serves as a rest stop on the trek to ascend Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps and in Europe west of the Caucasus Mountains.
It takes 5 hours to reach the Refuge du Goûter from the train station, and another 5-hour trek is required to reach the summit of Mont Blanc.
A refuge was first built here in 1859. It took about 80 ascents to transport the supplies. That structure remained there until 1936 when it was rebuilt and later expanded in 1960.
The new Refuge du Goûter by Coronium is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
The Refuge du Goûter we see today was constructed between 2011–2013. A Helicopter was used extensively for transporting the materials. The oval shaped stainless steel exterior was designed to resist winds and snow.
Striving to be as eco-friendly as possible, the building has solar panels and a heat exchange which uses interior heat to warm fresh outside air that is piped in through the double flow ventilation system. In fact, the only fossil fuels used in the Refuge du Goûter are natural gas for cooking and an emergency cogenerator.
Lodging in one of the 120 rooms is available to the general public from June until the end of September at about $62 per night, however, you must book a reservation in advance via their website.
