Alone in the mountains

2 January 2023Photos and text: Béatrice Prève21 images

01 / 21 · 2 January 2023Béatrice Prève / Collectif DR

Caroline Termier, fifty, is a mountain hut keeper in the Vercors. A mountain overlooking the village of Autrans is home to the Feneys hut, where Caroline has decided to live year-round since the first lockdown.

Caroline’s father is a renowned high-mountain guide. She is “a local girl” and grew up following in the footsteps of her father, who instilled in her a love of nature and wide open spaces. For eighteen years she has been the keeper of the Feneys hut, a place where she feels in complete harmony.

Since the first lockdown, she has decided to live year-round on her mountain. Her life is hard, but her choice of life is non-negotiable. “I have to live here, it’s vital. Nothing matters more than my hut, than my freedom to be here.

“I need this solitude.” Neither her family nor her loves could make her give up her hut. “I used to live in an apartment in Autrans, but now my children are leaving… If I’m asked to choose between the hut and anyone else, it’s the hut above all,” she says. Her days follow a rhythm of walks in the forest, upkeep of the hut, cooking and meditative rest.

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