legends · 4 min read ·
Hut Book
A mountain hut book records a nightly anonymous arrival at three in the morning, and what he asks.
**Refuge du Col des Mouflons — Livre de cabane / Hut Book**
*Please sign. Name, date, time of arrival, route, comments.*
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**14 Aug.** Marc & Elodie Brun, Lyon. Arr. 15:30. Route: from Pralognan. Superb. Weather clear. Thank you to the guardian for the soup.
**14 Aug.** Mike Tran, Sheffield. Arr. 17:10. Solo. From the Vanoise side. Very tired. Needed this.
**15 Aug.** Group of eight (Club Alpin de Grenoble). Depart. 06:00. Traverse to Col de la Vanoise. Beautiful morning.
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**17 Aug.** Anna Keller, Zürich. Arr. 14:00. From the south. Route steep but fine. Fantastic views.
**17 Aug.** *Anonymous.* Arr. 03:00. From the north. Comment: Cold. Hut empty. Slept on the bench.
*Guardian's note: the night of 17/18 Aug, the hut was full. Eleven guests, in a hut of twelve places. I do not remember an anonymous entry. The ink is blue. It is not one of our biros.*
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**18 Aug.** *Anonymous.* Arr. 03:00. From the north. Comment: Still cold. Hut empty.
**19 Aug.** *Anonymous.* Arr. 03:00. From the north. Comment: Cold.
*Guardian's note: I stayed awake on the 19th. I sat by the stove in the main room until dawn, with a torch and a flask. The door did not open. Nobody came in. In the morning, the book was open on the table, with a new entry. The ink was wet. The time of arrival was 03:00.*
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**20 Aug.** *Anonymous.* Arr. 03:00. From the north. Comment: Someone is awake.
**21 Aug.** *Anonymous.* Arr. 03:00. Comment: Someone is always awake. Please go to bed.
**22 Aug.** *Anonymous.* Arr. 03:00. Comment: I would like to sleep.
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**Guardian's notes, 23 Aug**
There is no sign of a visitor. No boots in the porch. No wet footprints on the boards. The door is bolted at night from inside. I have checked it every evening. Each morning I find the bolt drawn back and the book open.
On the 22nd I counted the blankets on the bunks. The beds were made. Twelve beds, twelve blankets, in neat folds. On the 23rd, one blanket was turned back. The pillow was dented. The shape of a head. It was cold.
I did not sleep on the 23rd. I sat at the stove. At three o'clock exactly, I heard the ladder of the loft creak, one board at a time. A slow tread. The door of the dormitory opened. The tread crossed the floor and stopped by the book.
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**24 Aug.** *Anonymous.* Arr. 03:00. From the north. Comment: Thank you for the stove. It was warm.
*Guardian's note: I wrote nothing in the book. I did not see anyone. I sat at the stove with my eyes shut. I heard a pen scratch. I heard a chair drawn out. I heard a sigh, the sound of someone sitting down at last after a long way.*
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**25 Aug.** *Anonymous.* Arr. 03:00. From the north. Comment: I have been walking since March. I have not found the summit. I do not know which hut this is. Please tell me.
*Guardian's note: I answered in the book, in my own hand, below the entry. I wrote: "Refuge du Col des Mouflons. 2,370 m. You are safe."*
*In the morning there was a reply.*
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**26 Aug.** *Anonymous.* Comment: Thank you. That is not the name I was told. Please check the sign above the door.
*Guardian's note: I went out and looked. The sign above the door says what it has always said. I took a torch and a ladder and read it close. The letters have been repainted. They are the same. But beneath the paint, with the torch at a slant, the old letters show through. A different name. And a different altitude.*
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**Final entry (27 Aug, guardian's hand)**
I am leaving the hut. The season is over, as far as I am concerned. The last guests have gone down. I have bolted the door, and put the key on its nail, and written in the book:
*Closed. Please go down.*
I have taken the book with me. I looked through it on the way down, at the café at Pralognan. The last pages have been filled in a neat hand. A list of names and dates, in blue, beginning in 1893. Beside each, in the column for "Route", the same word, in French and in English and in German and in Italian.
*Up.*