Alpine Club plans more inclusive mountain activities in Vorarlberg

The Vorarlberg Alpine Club plans to expand activities for people with and without disabilities, including hikes, climbing and hut visits, ORF Vorarlberg reported. A new guide is intended to help volunteer leaders organise outings, and two huts have been made easier for day visitors with mobility impairments to access.

The club first reviewed existing inclusive activities and what would be needed to offer more. Its guide addresses questions that can arise when planning a group outing and aims to make it easier for volunteers to get started.

The club defines inclusion as shared mountain experiences for people with different needs. Participants may have mobility impairments, be blind or visually impaired, or have cognitive disabilities. Depending on the group, activities may require suitable routes, assistance or other adjustments.

The Alpine Club’s Montafon section already works with Special Olympics to organise hikes, climbing activities and hut visits for people with and without disabilities under the motto “A club for everyone”. The club hopes regular programmes of this kind will also start in other districts of Vorarlberg. The Alpine Club has worked on inclusion across Austria for more than 25 years.

Alpine Club Youth representative Solveig Meier said the aim is to make better use of existing opportunities. People with and without disabilities are testing routes together to see which can be used with a wheelchair or handbike, while identifying obstacles along the way.

Walter Eberli, who travels in the mountains with a group using a wheelchair or handbike, said gates and turnstiles on alpine and hiking trails can be difficult to pass. Groups also need to know in advance whether a hut’s entrance and toilet can be used by everyone. Eberli said he welcomed the club’s increased focus on such barriers.

The Lustenauer Hut and Heinrich-Hueter Hut have both introduced measures this year for visitors with mobility impairments, including accessible toilets. The changes make the huts easier to visit on day trips, but neither is fully accessible. The Heinrich-Hueter Hut, for example, does not offer accessible overnight accommodation.

Alpine Club chairman Adalbert Burtscher named the Totalphütte as a possible future destination for wheelchair users. He said the Lünerseebahn and an existing materials cableway could offer a way to bring visitors to the hut. This is an idea, not an announced renovation.