It is a simple picture that winter paints on the Hochlecken. Windows and doors of the hut are locked, the guest garden, where so many hikers usually sit opposite the Traunstein, is hidden under the snow. The house, which stands elegantly at 1572 meters above sea level between Attersee and Traunsee, will only be woken in three months. Wolfgang Auinger won’t wake it up anymore. The contract with the hut host from Ohlsdorf was not extended. Last fall, the Alpenverein Vöcklabruck feverishly began looking for a new tenant for the popular alpine base.
This was actually already over when another letter of application fluttered into the house: that of Martin Gruber and Eva Fahrenberger. Gruber, a trained chef, and Fahrenberger, a qualified nurse, had already gotten a taste of mountain air: on the Pfaffinger Alm in the Hochschwab area, then on the Schwarzalm in the Mostviertel, before finally finding a temporary home on the Edtalm in Abtenau.
“Great Joy and Excitement”
His great passion for gastronomy finally made Gruber take a high risk last year: in the middle of the corona pandemic, the 41-year-old opened a restaurant in Ried im Innkreis. In December the project began to wobble and Gruber remembered an advertisement that had fascinated him weeks ago: “In the beginning I didn’t want to go up so high, but when I took a close look at the situation, I was enchanted. Then I I said: Come on, Martin, let’s apply now,” says Fahrenberger.
Just one day later, Gruber and Fahrenberger, who live in Schildorn (Ried im Innkreis district), drove to Rutzenmoos with their two children Nikola and Jolanda for an interview. And it worked.
On Palm Sunday, April 10, Gruber and Fahrenberger will officially open the hut for the new season as tenants for the first time. “We attach great importance to the right feeling. And that was quickly there with the Hochleckenhaus. We look forward to being able to redesign the hut with love,” says the 34-year-old. Because the family attaches great importance to sustainability, there is no huge menu, but selected drinks and food.
“Our overnight guests will be able to enjoy Martin’s special dishes,” says Fahrenberger. A fresh wind should blow over the Höllengebirge again, driven by the warmth and joy of the new tenants. “We look forward to meeting many different people and to a team with which we can share life and work,” says Fahrenberger. The new tenants are still looking for members for this team. Applications at: hochleckenhaus@yahoo.com
Source: Nachrichten
