The summit crosses in the mountains of Upper Austria are of increasing concern to the alpine clubs that care for them. Because wear increases with more storms and maintenance becomes more difficult and expensive. Existing crosses will be retained, but re-dimensioning cannot be ruled out.
The State President of the Alpine Club, Thomas Poltura, refers to the Alpine Club’s long-standing principle of not building new huts or mountain trails for conservation reasons. Later it was also decided not to place new summit crosses on new mountains. Therefore, only existing copies should be kept.
Responsible for safety
Attention should be paid to the legal situation, Poltura noted: as a protector, you are responsible for the safety of the summit crosses. “You have to be very careful not to make a mistake.” They must be checked regularly. This requires personnel, and also qualified personnel. During the renewal, the alpine clubs are faced with enormous conditions and costs, according to the state manager of the Friends of Nature, Christian Dornauer.
No conservation funding
The statics, tensioning and foundations today require a different effort than in the past. However, there are no subsidies for maintenance. In addition, according to Poltura, landowners are against it because they think the crosses will attract even more people. A rental agreement has already been requested in connection with the crosses.
Storm destroyed the summit cross
The state president of the Alpine Club gave a concrete example of the problems: On the 1717-metre-high Sandling in the Salzkammergut, a storm had recently completely destroyed the summit cross, including the anchorage: “It looked like a bomb had hit there.” volunteers from the Alpenclub could no longer repair it themselves. Part of the work was subcontracted, including the use of a helicopter for the transport of materials. The cross was rebuilt a little smaller. “If someone did not know before, he will not notice .”
financing difficult to obtain
Financing is difficult to secure, especially as the maintenance of the maintained trails and cabins must be managed. The water supply was recently rebuilt at a hut. For technical reasons and also due to hygiene requirements, it cost 275,000 euros. At another hut, a small expansion required 650,000 euros, although 25 volunteers helped out for two months anyway.
Source: Krone
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