Mountain refuge Fusshornbiwak

On the Naters , in the canton of Valais , this shelter is located at 2,780 meters in a clearly alpine sector, above forest levels and in a land where weather and orientation weigh much in planning. The most useful geographical reference is its proximity to the environment of Oberaletschgletscher and the great relief that closes the area of Aletschhorn inside the Berne massif on its Valencian side.

Fusshornbiwak is close to summits that explain their character. Very close the Grosses Fusshorn less than 2 km in a straight line, and also stand out Rotstock and Geisshorn in the same environment of abrupt ridges and slopes. More to the north the Aletschhorn , a mountain of 4,195 m that gives scale to the whole. There are no specific route data associated with the shelter, so it is appropriate to understand it more as basic support on mountain ground than as a point linked to a specific signposted route.

This lack of detailed information on access and tours requires you to read the map well before you leave. In such an area, the main utility of a free or unsaved vivac is often to divide a long day, to serve as a guard on a journey or to approach an ascension, but it is not here to set links or times without clear basis. The altitude, proximity of glacier peaks and relative isolation point to a more mountainous than hiker use.

For logistics, there is a cartographed source about 1.39 km, reasonable distance on paper but that in mountain does not guarantee easy access or useful flow according to the time. Therefore, when it comes to a night or a journey through this point, it is prudent to have water autonomy and to check recent conditions. It is also appropriate not to give for alleged equipment, inner capacity or state of the shelter if no current verification is available.

As a reference for road planning, this mountain shelter fits mainly on routes where it is important to gain position on the Oberaletsch slope and move near the axis formed by Fusshorn, Rotstock and the mountains that link to the Aletsch sector. More than a destination in itself, it works as a support piece in a field where each decision depends on the relief, the present snow and the visibility.