Book Review: The Mountain Hut Book by Kev Reynolds
By Laurel Bradley & Sam Demas
With the Mountain Hut Book, the prolific and trusted guidebook author Kev Reynolds offers an enjoyable and highly informative tour of the hut experience, and recommends some favorite huts and hut to hut traverses. The book is an invitation to new audiences – outdoor enthusiasts whom the author is convinced will become hut-to-hut hikers once he uncovers mysteries shrouding this venerable pastime. Hut novices will come away from this delightful prose traverse of alpine huts full of ideas about where they want to go, what to expect, and how to plan a hut trip.
[For a firsthand feel for the book read an excerpt (at the end of this review) from the first chapter.]
What is a hut, anyway? Reynolds skillfully charts the evolution of alpine huts from primitive mountain shelters to comfortable hostelries “claiming eco-friendly credentials”. Two definitions frame the subject: Walt Unsworth, Encyclopaedia of Mountaineering, 1992 offers the original definition of huts as shelters for mountaineers: “a mountain hut is a purpose-built refuge situated at some strategically high place in the mountains so that one or more peaks are readily accessible from it. It may vary in size from a simple bivouac shelter to something resembling a small hotel in size and facilities.” Contrast this specialized notion of the hut with Reynolds’ modern mountain hut: “A bit like a youth hostel, offering simple, reasonably priced accommodation and meals in a magical setting for visitors taking part in mountain activities.”
The mountain huts Reynolds extolls are far from the rudimentary garden shed or simple wooden cabin that the word “hut” conjures for many. This book radiates the author’s enthusiasm, and his many positive experiences. He revels in the architecture: “I love the diversity, the sheer variety of hut buildings.” Photographs, mostly by the author, confirm this observation—readers see small stone huts, large stucco lodges, and a few highly sculptural modernist structures.
Kev Reynolds, courtesy literaryfestivals.co.uk
At the heart of the hut experience is, of course, the gorgeous mountain setting. As a serious outdoorsman and guide, Reynolds provides perspective on how huts support trekkers, climbers, walkers, and wildlife watchers in indulging their passion for high altitude pursuits day after day. The experience of taking shelter, and overnighting at the hut is central to this avocation. Reynolds warmly conveys his appreciation of hut warden hospitality — with delightful sketches of some venerable hut guardians — and conjures the convivial atmosphere of mountain huts. “Arrival at a hut invariably comes with a sense of relief, for it’s a guarantee of shelter, somewhere to relax, freshen up, slake your thirst and settle the nagging hunger that comes from a long day’s effort.” Chapter two initiates the reader into the joys of hut life. With friendly conversational prose, Reynolds provides personal accounts, memories, impressions and information on everything from sleeping and eating, to bathrooms to sociability.
Hut conviviality, courtesy Kev Reynolds
While The Mountain Hut Book is not as detailed as many of Reynolds other 50 guidebooks, it provides expert practical direction to those fired up to learn more. The chapter “Top Ten Huts” highlights a tiny but well chose sampling of these structures, in Switzerland, France, Italy, and Austria. Not surprisingly, the European Alps are closest to Reynolds’ heart; he started his career as a mountaineer and guide, and has written extensively on hiking, mostly in the high heart of Europe. “Hut to Hut,” the next chapter, presents a selection of ten classic multi-day routes in order of difficulty. Illustrated with photographs of massive peaks which dwarf huts below, pristine lakes, verdant meadows, the descriptions are guaranteed to get the reader dreaming about their next walks. This chapter includes clear maps, brief but useful route descriptions, and practical information including hiking times, level of difficulty and scenic features. Recommended guidebooks, many available from Cicerone Press, include even more detail about these classic walks.
Finally, Reynolds sketches in the larger context mountain accommodations. Looking beyond the European alps, he offers brief information about bothies, lodges and huts in other parts of the world. Reynolds omits information about huts in Greece, Slovenia, Scandinavia, Australia and elsewhere. His focus is on high mountain huts; the book is not intended as a comprehensive view of huts. Using the European alps as the model, it admirably evokes and explains the mystique of the high alpine hut experience. The Mountain Hut Book fills a gap in the literature and is highly recommended for purchase as a gift – for ones-self, friends and family – and for purchase by libraries serving communities with interest in the outdoors.
By Laurel Bradley and Sam Demas, January 2019
Excerpt from Chapter 1 of the book, courtesy Cicerone Press: