Refuge Remix – Creative Workshop at the Refuge

Mountain huts have geographical, technical, cultural, and functional characteristics that differ from those of conventional tourist accommodations. Under the influence of climate, cultural, and technological changes, their status, functions, and target audiences are evolving. They are becoming true recreational laboratories where issues of heritage and hospitality now go hand in hand with the challenges of introducing visitors to the mountains, providing experiences, passing on knowledge, and observing people’s relationship with the mountains.

The Refuge Remix initiative reimagines the space-time of the mountain hut and its surroundings by reexamining social, temporal, and spatial rhythms with a focus on community and sustainability. It was tested in June 2019 as part of the Refuges Sentinelles research program, in a mid-mountain setting, at the Alpe de Villar d’Arène mountain hut (Écrins).

Refuge Remix uses a three-day methodology to guide multidisciplinary teams through the process of designing and bringing inspiring ideas to life. These ideas address creative challenges developed prior to the event by the research team and stakeholders (mountain hut caretaker, mountaineering club, local municipality, etc.). They are implemented at the mountain hut in the form of usage scenarios and functional prototypes, using lightweight materials and tools that have minimal environmental impact and are easily transportable.

In 2023, a “Refuge Remix” event was organized as part of the HutObsTour project — “Mountain Huts as Observatories of the Tourism Transition” at the Couvercle Hut (2,683 m) in the Mer de Glace basin (Mont Blanc), one of the project’s three study sites. Accessible via a four-hour hike from the Montenvers train station, it is emblematic of the history of mountaineering. Its use by mountaineers of all skill levels is significantly impacted by glacial retreat, with access and climbing conditions becoming more difficult and complex both upstream and downstream.

Using the Couvercle mountain hut as a case study, the goal of Refuge Remix 2023 was to explore creative scenarios that could offer inspiration and design solutions appropriate to the environmental and cultural changes faced by the owners, managers, and caretakers of high-altitude mountain refuges and huts in the Alps: new services, facilities, and target audiences; new activities; and new temporal and spatial dimensions… The prototypes created were exhibited at the refuge during the summer of 2023, then brought down to the valley to be presented to the public in collaboration with local organizations: Maison de la Montagne, the Alpine Museum, and the Alpine Club. A film documenting the participants during the event is currently being edited.

From September 2 to 4, 2024, the Refuge Remix initiative was held once again in Switzerland in the Val Ferret at the Saleinaz hut (2,691 m), offering a unique volunteer hut-sitting experience. Visitor numbers (approximately 900 overnight stays per year) by hikers and mountaineers of all skill levels are significantly impacted by rockfalls and glacial retreat, with access and climbing conditions becoming more difficult and complex both upstream and downstream. However, volunteer management allows the hut to be more economically resilient in the face of fluctuations in visitor numbers, unlike other huts.

Members of the Refuge Remix organizing team:

Victor Andrade (Pacte), Philippe Bourdeau (Pacte), Laine Chanteloup (Cirm), Christophe Clivaz (Cirm), Mélanie Clivaz (Cirm), Sophie De Rosemont (Pacte), Marc Langenbach (Pacte), Jean Miczka (Cirm).