A night in a mountain refuge

Last weekend I spent a night in a mountain refuge to celebrate a friend's 40th birthday.  Aside from the daunting fact that me and all my friends are all turning 40, it was only my second time staying in a refuge.  I don't feel that the first experience really counts as the refuge had a guardian.  Our meal was cooked for us, they had electricity and running water, and the rooms were cleaned.  The refuge that we stayed last weekend in was a different story.  Unguarded refuges have no electricity or running water.  In general there is a large room with fireplace, table and benches.  Above this, is a second floor with  matresses for sleeping.  Unguarded refuges are more or less well equipped depending on how popular they are.  They cannot be reserved and operate on a 'first come-first served' basis.  The door is never locked.
We left in mid- afternoon to try and be sure we would arrive before anyone else.  We were carrying all our food and drink.  We chose a refuge not too far from where we left our cars.  After a steep two hour walk, we arrived at our chosen chalet only to discover we had been beaten to it.  Luckily there were five refuges within a one kilometre radius.  However, the people who had bagged our chosen refuge told us that they had already had to move on from another which was full.  So with foreboding we headed off to the next refuge.
As we drew within sight, there was no sign of occupants, the chimney wasn't smoking.  We were in luck it was empty and surprisingly well equipped.  There were pots and pans, two axes and plenty of firewood.  There was a firepit in front of the building, a water source and nearby a toilet (although we only discovered the state of this the next morning).  We had a magnificent view of the mountains, with their first sprinkling of snow on the very summits, to our left, looking right the valley stretched down to the plain.
We settled in and got down to the blind wine tasting we had planned for the evening.  Each person had brought a different wine. These were decanted into bottles marked with letters of the alphabet.  We then tested and tried to guess which wine was which.  I am happy to say my score was two out of six, a hundred percent improvement on my first attempt a few years ago.
Then as darkness fell we heard voices and saw lights bobbing down the mountain.  Other people were on the way to our refuge.  We prepared ourselves to turn them away.  It was a group of young foreign students walking in the mountains, they had been turned away from another refuge higher up.  We began by telling them we were full, but their pleading and the gathering darkness weakened our hearts.  We warned them that our party would go on until late, they could have the sleeping platform but we would use the matresses to sleep down stairs.  After some discussion they agreed and moved in.
It was now totally dark and the lights were twinkling in the valley below.  Then we heard the roar of engines and lights appeared on the track.  Two camouflaged figures appeared on quad bikes.  Their arrival was the only black mark of the evening, as it became they were already drunk and were up to no good.  Luckily our superiority in numbers caused them to back down and move on.  The rest of the evening passed in much merry making, until a rain shower forced us inside and to bed.
I slept surprisingly well and the refuge was quite warm, despite my apprehensions my thermal underwear stayed in my bag.  The next morning, the first to wake, I watched the light gradually reveal the mountain as the cattle lowed.  I felt privileged to witness the mountain like this and made vow to repeat the experience.  Although next time I would choose a refuge inaccesible to quads!