Volunteer crews race to repair 900 km of Alpine hiking trails before snow

Volunteers have rebuilt or repaired around 900 km of hiking trails across the Alps this season, racing to finish before the first lasting snow covers the high routes. The work was organised by the Alpine Trails Federation, an umbrella group of walking clubs from several countries, after a series of heavy storms washed away paths and brought down rock.

Some of the damage was dramatic. Whole sections of hillside slid away above one valley, taking a popular route to a mountain hut with them. Elsewhere, flash floods filled stream crossings with boulders and swept away wooden bridges. More often the work was slower and less visible: rebuilding stone steps, digging drainage channels and repainting faded red-and-white waymarks.

Shovels, not machines

Most of the work is done by hand because machines cannot reach the paths. Volunteers carry tools, cement and sometimes timber on their backs, while helicopters drop heavier loads at agreed points. Crews of eight to twelve people stay for a week at a time in mountain huts, working from first light.

You can spend a whole day moving one boulder and making three metres of path safe, and somehow it is the best day of your year.

That is how Lukas Steinmann, a crew leader who has volunteered for fourteen summers, describes the work. The federation's coordinator, Elodie Fournier, said this year more than 1,700 people signed up, many of them in their twenties. Several crews included walkers from abroad, among them a group of six from the Wrenhaven Ramblers.

• Trails repaired this season: about 900 km

• Volunteers taking part: more than 1,700

• Bridges replaced: 31

Funding for the season came from walking clubs, tourism boards and small donations from hikers, many of whom left money in collection boxes at huts. The federation estimates that paying contractors to do the same work would have cost several times as much. Tourism officials in mountain villages say keeping paths open is vital for local businesses, because walkers stay overnight, eat in restaurants and hire guides.

Not every path will reopen. Some routes over unstable ground have been permanently closed and new lines are being surveyed. The federation says it will publish a list of affected trails over the winter and is already recruiting crews for next season.