Frischauf Hut at Okrešelj after the fire...

Frischauf Hut at Okrešelj completely destroyed by fire.



The cause of the fire that destroyed the Frischauf Hut at Okrešelj (1396 m), a popular mountain hut above the Logar Valley, is still unknown, as the inspection of the fire site was interrupted today due to extremely poor weather conditions at Okrešelj. The destroyed mountain hut is a major blow to the Mountaineering Association (PD) Celje Matica and Slovenian mountaineering in general, which in just over two years has lost two mountain huts in the Kamnik-Savinja Alps on the Slovenian Mountain Trail route.







The Mountaineering Association Celje Matica learned that the Frischauf Hut at Okrešelj (1396 m) had burned down on the afternoon of November 7th, as no one noticed the fire due to bad weather and the hut's remoteness. There was no one in the hut at the time; the caretaker had left it at the end of this year's season on November 3rd and had announced its operation on weekends with good weather. As reported today by the Celje Police Administration, they have "due to extremely poor weather conditions at Okrešelj interrupted the inspection of the site of the burned hut. We will continue the inspection as soon as weather conditions allow."







After the Kocbek Hut on Korošica (1808 m), also managed by PD Celje Matica, burned down two years ago, the Kamnik-Savinja Alps have lost the most important mountain hut on the Slovenian Mountain Trail (SPP) above the Logar Valley, where hikers will henceforth only have the Kamnik Hut at Kamnik Saddle (1864 m, PD Kamnik) and, off the SPP route, the Hut at Klemenča Jama below Ojstrica (1208 m, PD Solčava) available, both of which are mostly open only during the summer mountaineering season.







"Of the Frischauf Hut at Okrešelj, which was visited by around twenty-five thousand people in the summer season, only the walls remain, which are already collapsing on their own in strong winds. In the last three years, we invested one hundred thousand euros in the hut and are still deeply in debt. We replaced the roof, completely renovated the rooms, renovated the kitchen, dining room and sanitary facilities, and set up a new classroom for lectures, so that the hut could have operated in that condition for at least the next twenty years, but the fire completely destroyed it," explained the president of PD Celje Matica, Brane Povše, and added: "The mountain hut with the auxiliary building is completely destroyed, as is its interior, while the cargo cableway, sewage treatment plant and winter room remained undamaged. According to the first estimate, the damage is at least half a million euros, but we need to take time to think about how to tackle solving this catastrophe, as our association lost two mountain huts in fires in two years and we are practically overnight left without all income that could contribute to the reconstruction of the hut on Korošica as well. First, we need to grasp that this is all real."







Further measures will be addressed at an extraordinary meeting of the management board of PD Celje Matica next week, which will also be attended by a representative of the Alpine Association of Slovenia. "The news of the burned Frischauf Hut at Okrešelj has shaken us, as it was the most important mountain hut in this part of the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, also due to its location on the Slovenian Mountain Trail. This is a major blow to PD Celje Matica and Slovenian mountaineering in general, which in just over two years has lost two mountain huts in this area. Once the investigation results are known, we will sit down together and decide on the next steps. Since winter is at the doorstep, it appears we won't be able to do anything at the fire site before spring, so we will organize what is possible in the valley. Without serious help from the state, however, we unfortunately won't be able to remedy the consequences, which is extremely important for visiting the mountains in this part of Slovenia," said the vice-president of the Alpine Association of Slovenia, Miro Eržen.







The hut on the lower edge of the glacial cirque Okrešelj above the Logar Valley was a popular mountain point, reachable via the hiking trail from the Rinka Waterfall, otherwise the starting point for ascents to Kamnik Saddle, Brana, Turska Gora, Skuta, Rinka, Savinja Saddle and Mrzla Gora. Slovenian mountaineers built the mountain hut at this location as early as 1908. It was renovated and expanded several times, had 80 beds, and in the last three years underwent a thorough new renovation.