At 2,400 metres, installation isn’t the final stage of the job: it’s the constraint that shapes the whole project. Above 1,800 metres we design every piece as modules that fit within 220x90x60 centimetres and 60 kilograms, because that’s the size that fits in a cable car cabin with staff on board and that two people can carry up a narrow staircase without a crane. Everything else comes after: the finishes, the timber species, the character of the room. We design in-house, manufacture through selected Italian workshops and install with our own teams, even at altitude.
Logistics comes before design
The first question we ask a refuge isn’t about style, it’s how goods actually get there: a dirt track passable with a 4×4, a service cableway with a stated load limit, a gondola with set freight hours, or a helicopter. Each answer changes the project profoundly. With a cableway, the limit is the weight of each individual load, often 250 or 300 kilograms, and long shapes that won’t fit the carrier; with a helicopter, you think in terms of rotations, with sling loads between 800 and 1,000 kilograms and flights lasting a few minutes, so it pays to group everything into one weather window rather than spreading out deliveries.
This leads to a rule we always apply: no monolithic pieces. A 4-metre bar counter arrives as five bolted modules, with screw joints and centring dowels, and goes together on site in two hours. The skirting is cut on site, because a refuge floor is never level. We’ve laid out the typical constraints of high-altitude structures in how a mountain refuge is furnished, from transport to permits.
Gluing happens down in the valley, not at altitude
This is a lesson you learn exactly once. D3-class vinyl adhesives and polyurethane glues have a minimum application temperature of around 15 degrees: below that, curing doesn’t happen properly, the film stays milky, and the joint fails within a few weeks. In an unheated refuge at the start of the season, with 4 degrees inside and cold materials, gluing on site means redoing the work.
That’s why everything requiring glue is done in the workshop, down in the valley: edge banding, veneering, structural bonding, laminated worktops. Only finished pieces travel up to be dry-assembled, with screws, dowels, cam fittings and brackets. Before shipping, we do a full trial assembly in the workshop, number every module and photograph the sequence, so the team on site doesn’t have to improvise. On a 40-bed refuge, this cuts installation time from five days to two, and at altitude every extra day costs board, lodging and weather risk.
The timber that copes at 22 degrees and 20% humidity
In winter, a heated refuge has extremely dry air: relative humidity between 20 and 25%, against 50% in lowland houses. Timber dried to 12% moisture content shrinks in that climate, and a 60 cm wide wardrobe side panel can lose 3 or 4 millimetres, opening gaps at the joints. For high-altitude structures we specify drying down to 6 to 7% and use joints that tolerate movement, with tongue-and-groove boarding and floating-panel frames instead of rigidly glued solid panels.
Brushed spruce, larch and Swiss pine handle the climate well, but need finishing with breathable oils or water-based varnishes; thick film-forming varnishes crack along the grain by the second winter. Where a piece takes knocks and cleaning products, such as refuge worktops or breakfast room backrests, we use a melamine-faced panel or wood-effect laminate that no one can tell apart from half a metre away and that lasts three times as long. The choice between solid timber and melamine-faced panel is made piece by piece, according to exposure and use.
Wet jackets, boots, snow tracked in
Twenty people coming in at five in the afternoon bring two or three litres of water inside between jackets, gloves and boots. Without a properly equipped room, that water ends up on the seating fabrics and the timber floors of the dining room, which swell along the joints.
We design the drying room with steel hanging rails spaced 8 centimetres apart, ventilated boot racks with slatted shelves, a changing bench 45 centimetres high, and enough air changes to clear the moisture within a couple of hours. At the entrance to the dining room we fit grates and recessed matting wells at least 120 centimetres deep, the distance it takes two steps to dry a sole. Seating in the entrance area is done in technical faux leather or fabric rated above 50,000 Martindale cycles with a water-repellent treatment, and removable covers: boiled wool looks wonderful in the lounge, but near the door it lasts one season.
What we build at altitude and in alpine hotels
Dormitories and refuge rooms
Bunk beds in timber or steel with guard rails compliant for shared use, bunks with curtain, shelf, light and socket per berth, and lockable cabinets.
Dining room and stube
Large tables with knock-down bases, benches with storage compartments under the seat, stackable beech or spruce chairs, tongue-and-groove wall panelling with dry-fit installation, and cladding around the stove that respects safety clearances.
Bar counter and service
Bar counters in bolted modules with a metal frame, worktops in compact HPL or local stone, a back bar with compartments for bottles and fridges, and wall shelving on through-brackets. At high altitude we specify mechanical fixings even where adhesive would suffice at lower elevations.
Ski and drying room
Racks for skis and snowboards, ventilated boot storage, hanging rails for jackets, benches and individual lockers for hotel guests. In mountain hotels, this is the amenity that moves reviews more than the room itself.
Wellness and lounge areas
Upholstered seating in technical fabrics, low tables, blanket storage, and bedrooms with upholstered headboards and lit niches. Contemporary alpine hotels keep their aesthetic well away from folklore, and style and materials for a mountain hotel work with a limited palette of timbers and matt surfaces.
Working windows and realistic timeframes
At altitude, installation happens between June and September, with tight margins at the shoulders of the season, and for refuges the lift closing date is a hard deadline. The schedule we usually propose: site survey at the end of the previous season, design and confirmation by December, manufacturing between February and May, transport and installation in the first available window after the thaw. Anyone who decides in March for a June installation risks finding the helicopters already booked by building sites.
In valley-floor alpine hotels, work can also happen in season, room by room in batches, and installing furniture in an open, trading hotel follows precise procedures on timing, lifts and protective covering. The same applies to lightweight structures at high altitude or on open ground, where glamping and lodge solutions follow the same logic of modules that can be carried by hand.
Send us the floor plans, the altitude and how goods reach the building: you’ll get back a quote for furnishing the refuge with modules, weights, a transport plan and installation days.
Frequently asked questions
How does furniture reach a refuge with no road access?
By service cableway, gondola or helicopter, and in every case we design the furniture as modules compatible with the available means of transport: weight per load, maximum dimensions and number of trips all feed into the executive design. We deliver the transport plan together with the design, with weights and volumes for every piece.
What timber withstands a refuge’s climate?
Brushed spruce, larch and Swiss pine, dried to between 6 and 7% and finished with breathable oils or varnishes. The critical factor isn’t the cold but the dry air of a heated winter interior, which shrinks wide pieces, which is why we use frames and tongue-and-groove boarding.
How long does installation at altitude take?
Two or three days for a 40-bed refuge with a four-person team, provided the modules are pre-assembled and numbered. Timing depends more on the weather and transport rotations than on the assembly work itself, so we always build in a spare day within the planned window.
Do you also work on valley-floor mountain hotels?
Yes, rooms, dining rooms, lounges, ski rooms and wellness areas, with the option of working in batches while the hotel stays open. In that case the constraint isn’t transport but coexisting with guests, so we concentrate noisy work during the day and protect walkways and lifts.