An hour uphill with supplies
There is no access road to the Tegernseer Hütte. Perched at 1,650 meters between the Roßstein and Buchstein peaks, it is known as the "Adlernest," or eagle's nest, according to BR24 and the DAV Sektion Tegernsee. The cable car normally handles the final 400 vertical meters of the supply route.
Hauber, 46, told the Munich newspaper Abendzeitung that he now makes the trip down and back almost every day. The climb from the Buchsteinhütte takes about an hour with a heavy pack. His usual load weighs 20 to 30 kilograms, though he has carried as much as 50 kilograms at once.
Mineral water is a particularly demanding load because the hut has no drinking water. Friends, acquaintances and German Alpine Club volunteers are helping with the hauling. Hauber described the work to Abendzeitung as strenuous, though not a catastrophe.
Less bread and no meat dishes
The limits on what the team can carry are shaping the menu. Hauber has removed meat dishes because refrigeration is difficult, and most Brotzeit cold platters are unavailable because they would require too much bread to be hauled uphill.
The main choices now are soups and Käsespätzle, a cheese-and-noodle dish. Breakfast remains available for overnight guests. On the hut's website, the team says the menu will be severely limited until further notice, asks visitors for understanding and says it is working to keep offering decent meals.
Not all the drinks have arrived on someone's back. Hauber told Abendzeitung München on October 30, 2026, that a helicopter delivered drinks after the breakdown and that the team is drawing on the remaining stocks.
A breakdown after a difficult summer
BR24 reported on October 27 that the cable car had been out of service since mid-September 2026. In a September 25 interview with Merkur, Hauber attributed the failure to a technical defect that sent the gondola crashing into the valley station.
The donor report describes the cable car as roughly 60 years old. Wikipedia dates its construction to 1958, following the acquisition of a mule in 1951 to help supply the hut.
The outage followed an economically difficult summer. Hauber told Merkur that heat, water shortages and lower visitor numbers had weighed on the business. At times, he measured temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius at the hut.
The team has faced a similar supply problem before. According to the DAV Sektion Tegernsee, a cable car failure in 2014 also forced helpers to carry beer crates and food uphill for guests.
Repairs and an uncertain reopening
The first snowflakes have already fallen, and the hut is expected to stay open until November 7. The cable car is scheduled for renovation ahead of the next summer season.
BR24's October 27 report outlined a plan for the hut to reopen in mid-May 2027 and for the fully overhauled cable car to be ready by June. The hut team, however, says the usual mid-May reopening is still uncertain and depends on when the cable car can operate again.
