diff --git a/internal/remote/firecrest/session_script.sh b/internal/remote/firecrest/session_script.sh
index 755de522..96bcbf8c 100644
--- a/internal/remote/firecrest/session_script.sh
+++ b/internal/remote/firecrest/session_script.sh
@@ -86,22 +86,17 @@ function install_wstunnel() {
 
     >&2 echo "Info: using wstunnel v${wstunnel_version}"
 
-    skip_install="0"
     if [ -f "${wstunnel_bin}" ]; then
         version="$("${wstunnel_bin}" --version || echo "bad executable")"
         expected="wstunnel-cli ${wstunnel_version}"
         if [ "${version}" = "${expected}" ]; then
-            skip_install="1"
+            echo "${wstunnel_bin}"
+            return 0
         else
             >&2 echo "WARNING: found mismatching wstunnel version ${version}"
         fi
     fi
 
-    if [ "${skip_install}" != "0" ]; then
-        echo "${wstunnel_bin}"
-        return 0
-    fi
-
     wstunnel_url="https://github.com/SwissDataScienceCenter/wstunnel/releases/download/v${wstunnel_version}/wstunnel_${wstunnel_version}_linux_${gh_arch}.tar.gz"
 
     mkdir -p "${wstunnel_pkg}"