Cabane de Tracuit CAS — Attraction in Anniviers

Writing this review I try to be as objective as possible so I will start with positive aspects. ||||The hut is located around 1500 m above Zinal (be prepared for a long approach; only the final part is a bit difficult but supported with chains, the rest is a regular T2 hike) giving an amazing views over surrounding glaciers. It is also (and mainly) an excellent start for climbing Bishorn - one of the easiest 4000ers in Switzerlans (proper equipment and skills are necessary). The building in far from a traditional mountain hut - it is modern and the toilets are built in the way that its not smelly (in contrast to most of other mountain huts, in which sometimes it is difficult to breath).||||Now the story of our experience:||My friend has his birthday and it was important for him to reach a summit of a 4000er exactly that they. We booked the places in the hut around 2-3 weeks before to be sure that we could get the beds (quite difficult in the high season). We drove far from another part of Switzerland in the evening before our reservation. Just before reaching Zinal, I wanted to check the webcam mounted in front of the hut to check the weather conditions and then a message popped out that the hut is closed due to covid infection of the team! No one had informed us about that! We were absolutely pissed off of this situation (imagine carrying all heavy glacial equipment 1500 m up, around 4.5 h, and find out that the hut is closed!). We decided to move to Zermatt and go to Breithorn instead (no need of overnight stay).||||Anyway, we had the second reservation in Cabane de Tracuit for several days later (in case of bad weather conditions; fortunately after the hut was open again). Since at this time the weather forecast was bad, we called the hut to postpone our stay by one day. The stuff there approved the change, but the next day they called us if we were coming (1 - so was our booking changed? or was this the mess in documentation, 2 - for this, they could called us but to inform about the hut closure, it was too difficult). But OK. Finally, we reached the hut (the weather forecast was excellent for the next day to go to Bishorn). The first thing which we noticed was a grumpy atmosphere among the stuff (we had expected that seeing reviews on google). One girl was actually working in the kitchen, two others seemed bored and moody/annoyed. Nowhere in the hut there was information on the obligation of wearing masks (no surprise that the team was infected before) and in fact most of the people did not wear masks and did not really keep distance there. However, to be fair, the stuff checked the vaccination certificates. There were disinfectants provided but no soap in the bathroom (in other, much more remote huts, there was always soap). Furthermore, I have seen that a stuff member used the toilet and did not wash her hands (she used the disinfectant later but disinfectant does not substitute washing hands!!!). I found it really disguising, especially taking in to account that this girl served us meals before (I still had hope that maybe she washed her hands in the kitchen).||The dinner was good and there was a lot of food. But breakfast was really poor: bread, 1 small jam, 1 small butter, 1 small cheese (or another jam), some cereals, both tea and coffee were not good. Taking into account the price of a half-board (99 CHF!) that was really disappointing. Furthermore, the cutlery provided on the tables were dirty. I discovered leftovers from the dinner's dessert on my spoon (I think it was not possible to miss that when putting the spoon on the table as there was a lot of pudding sticked to the spoon). ||Regarding the sleeping conditions: that night there were not so many people in the hut, maybe 20 (so far less than the capacity of the hut). However, separated groups were not assigned to different rooms. We were told not to change beds in the room due to sanitary issues. However still another two people were located on the beds just below us. In the morning I found in my bed a used contact lens, which told me a lot about a level of sanitary regime in the hut. The boxes for storing stuff were also dirty and in many of them there was garbage.||In the night it was very cold. I understand that it was the end of the season but it was colder than a year ago at similar time when I was bivacing in a tent at 3200 m.||Last but not least, there was WIFI in the hut but also a big information next to the counter that there is no wifi available (so asking for a password was pointless). ||||In summary, the hut itself is quite great (unless you prefer traditional old-fashioned wooden buildings) and has a big potential but SAC should hire another stuff who would take care of it better. The big terrace in front of the hut could also look much nicer if a little bit of involvement in its organization would have been provided (at the time of our visit is looked more like some...

Writing this review I try to be as objective as possible so I will start with positive aspects. ||||The hut is located around 1500 m above Zinal (be prepared for a long approach; only the final part is a bit difficult but supported with chains, the rest is a regular T2 hike) giving an amazing views over surrounding glaciers. It is also (and mainly) an excellent start for climbing Bishorn - one of the easiest 4000ers in Switzerlans (proper equipment and skills are necessary). The building in far from a traditional mountain hut - it is modern and the toilets are built in the way that its not smelly (in contrast to most of other mountain huts, in which sometimes it is difficult to breath).||||Now the story of our experience:||My friend has his birthday and it was important for him to reach a summit of a 4000er exactly that they. We booked the places in the hut around 2-3 weeks before to be sure that we could get the beds (quite difficult in the high season). We drove far from another part of Switzerland in the evening before our reservation. Just before reaching Zinal, I wanted to check the webcam mounted in front of the hut to check the weather conditions and then a message popped out that the hut is closed due to covid infection of the team! No one had informed us about that! We were absolutely pissed off of this situation (imagine carrying all heavy glacial equipment 1500 m up, around 4.5 h, and find out that the hut is closed!). We decided to move to Zermatt and go to Breithorn instead (no need of overnight stay).||||Anyway, we had the second reservation in Cabane de Tracuit for several days later (in case of bad weather conditions; fortunately after the hut was open again). Since at this time the weather forecast was bad, we called the hut to postpone our stay by one day. The stuff there approved the change, but the next day they called us if we were coming (1 - so was our booking changed? or was this the mess in documentation, 2 - for this, they could called us but to inform about the hut closure, it was too difficult). But OK. Finally, we reached the hut (the weather forecast was excellent for the next day to go to Bishorn). The first thing which we noticed was a grumpy atmosphere among the stuff (we had expected that seeing reviews on google). One girl was actually working in the kitchen, two others seemed bored and moody/annoyed. Nowhere in the hut there was information on the obligation of wearing masks (no surprise that the team was infected before) and in fact most of the people did not wear masks and did not really keep distance there. However, to be fair, the stuff checked the vaccination certificates. There were disinfectants provided but no soap in the bathroom (in other, much more remote huts, there was always soap). Furthermore, I have seen that a stuff member used the toilet and did not wash her hands (she used the disinfectant later but disinfectant does not substitute washing hands!!!). I found it really disguising, especially taking in to account that this girl served us meals before (I still had hope that maybe she washed her hands in the kitchen).||The dinner was good and there was a lot of food. But breakfast was really poor: bread, 1 small jam, 1 small butter, 1 small cheese (or another jam), some cereals, both tea and coffee were not good. Taking into account the price of a half-board (99 CHF!) that was really disappointing. Furthermore, the cutlery provided on the tables were dirty. I discovered leftovers from the dinner's dessert on my spoon (I think it was not possible to miss that when putting the spoon on the table as there was a lot of pudding sticked to the spoon). ||Regarding the sleeping conditions: that night there were not so many people in the hut, maybe 20 (so far less than the capacity of the hut). However, separated groups were not assigned to different rooms. We were told not to change beds in the room due to sanitary issues. However still another two people were located on the beds just below us. In the morning I found in my bed a used contact lens, which told me a lot about a level of sanitary regime in the hut. The boxes for storing stuff were also dirty and in many of them there was garbage.||In the night it was very cold. I understand that it was the end of the season but it was colder than a year ago at similar time when I was bivacing in a tent at 3200 m.||Last but not least, there was WIFI in the hut but also a big information next to the counter that there is no wifi available (so asking for a password was pointless). ||||In summary, the hut itself is quite great (unless you prefer traditional old-fashioned wooden buildings) and has a big potential but SAC should hire another stuff who would take care of it better. The big terrace in front of the hut could also look much nicer if a little bit of involvement in its organization would have been provided (at the time of our visit is looked more like some...

Location: well you have to get there, +1600m hike from Zinal. Beautiful hike.||||Lodging: rooms (dormitories) are very clean, very convenient. Bathrooms are also very clean and sustainable as a bonus. Room for the equipment is also very convenient.||||Food: very nice food, dinner was very good and served in large quantities essential for a successful summit climb the next day.||||Staff: the hut's manager "gardienne" is much friendlier than many people seem to say - she's simply very efficiently running one of the most popular mountain huts in the Alps, and doing a great job of it. The rest of the staff is very friendly as well.||||Prices: the prices are standard for a popular modern mountain hut. I have seen people complain in writing about the price (I think it's 80chf half-board if SAC member), but I don't understand why. Many much much less nice huts, old, with terrible facilities, cramped, are easily 50-60eur so compared to these, Tracuit's prices are quite fair. Also I wonder when people complain about 6chf hot chocolate or 8chf soup but perhaps have 14chf spritzes on terraces in their home town and find this "normal".||||Big thanks...