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Comment by Rochus | Hacker News Reader

These cellars use natural properties of the terrain. In Switzerland, there are many places where it is naturally colder than the rest of the environment. At the foot of rubble slopes it is often colder because inside the rubble the air can sink and cool down. The water present in the rubble evaporates, contributing to the cooling. In earlier times, buildings were built where the cold air escapes from below, which then served as natural refrigerators.

There are still such cellars in my area. Here is an article with pictures about it (in German): https://www.gasthaus-kreuz.ch/Archiv/reportagen_bierchaeller.... It is likely that comparable natural phenomena have been used in other countries as well.

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Be that as it may, but the article you linked actually confirms that places like this exist all over the world: "Kaltluftlöcher wie jenes im ‚Bierchäller’ sind der Menschheit seit jeher bekannt und wurden überall genutzt" ("cold air holes like the one in the "Bierchäller" have been known for a long time and were used everywhere"). Because warm air rises up, cold air tends to accumulate in holes in the ground. That's how an ice cave can form in the not very high and not very cold mountains of Romania (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sc%C4%83ri%C8%99oara_Cave).

In Germany (particularly Bavaria), the ground above the beer cellars was planted with chestnut trees to provide shade and help keep the cellar cool during the summer. Which was also an excellent shady place to serve the beer. For the sake of simplicity, the customers were allowed to bring their own food - thus the Bavarian beer garden.

In the US, one would often put up a stone outbuilding around a spring in a hillside, to be a refrigerator. These were "spring houses."

> It is likely that comparable natural phenomena have been used in other countries as well.

That’s exactly what the parent comment is saying no?

This is literally part of the legendary origins of Roquefort cheese (the Roquefort Caves, which have a few more peculiarities like the “fleurines”, faults in the rock which provide ventilation to the caves, further improving temperature and humidity regulation and stability).

Kinda ironic to see Roquefort cheese in an example of natural cooling and preservation system :)

This is about a scree slope near Ticino -

The scree acts like a chimney during the cold winter periods. Warm and light air is expelled out of the upper part of the scree and is replaced by cold and dense air aspirated inside the lower part of the slope. The process leads to the overcooling of the scree in winter and to the occurrence of permafrost

In summer, the chimney effect is reverse and the permanent expiration of cold air prevents the vegetation from growing normally.

https://www.arlis.org/docs/vol1/ICOP/55700698/Pdf/Chapter_03...

"Near Ticino" is relative. ;) This article is about a famous rocky cirque in the french part of Switzerland, so a completely different region, in Swiss scales. However, around 150 km and some high mountains apart. Interesting article, thanks!

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