Refuge Alfred Wills is a

mountain hut A mountain hut is a building located high in the mountains, generally accessible only by foot, intended to provide food and shelter to mountaineers, climbers and hikers. Mountain huts are usually operated by an Alpine Club or some organization ...

in the

French Alps The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such as ...

Haute-Savoie Haute-Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè d'Amont'' or ''Hiôta-Savouè''; en, Upper Savoy) or '; it, Alta Savoia. is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its prefecture is Ann ...

. The current shelter, bearing the same name, was built in 1981. At in altitude, it is the site of the former pasture Anterne more commonly called "Cottages Anterne". It is surrounded by five private cottages. The shelter is named after

Alfred Wills Sir Alfred Wills (11 December 1828 – 9 August 1912) was a judge of the High Court of England and Wales and a well-known mountaineer. He was the third President of the Alpine Club, from 1863 to 1865. Early life Wills was the second son of Wi ...

, a British

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

and judge of the High Court of England and Wales, he was also a passionate climber. He tackled many Alpine glaciers, wrote several books about his exploits, and became the third president of the

Alpine Club The first alpine club, the Alpine Club, based in the United Kingdom, was founded in London in 1857 as a gentlemen's club. It was once described as: :"a club of English gentlemen devoted to mountaineering, first of all in the Alps, members of whi ...

, serving from 1863 to 1865. Arriving at

Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval (; frp, Hi) is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department within the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France. It is located at the end of the Giffre Valley. Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval is one of Les Plus Beaux Villages de ...

in 1850, Wills fell in love with the area and wanted to build a chalet. In 1859 construction began of what he named "Eagle's Nest", what the inhabitants later called "the Castle". During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, when France was under Nazi occupation, it was uninhabited and looted. After the war, repair costs proved to be too high, so the family put it up for sale.

References

* Wills Alfred, ''Le Nid d'Aigle et l'ascension de Wetterhorn'', Paris, éditeur : C. Meyrueis, 1864. ASIN : B0019S0GL0 * Hubert Ducroz, ''Les débuts de l'alpinisme à Sixt (Haute-Savoie)'', fascicule édité par l'Association des Amis de la Réserve Naturelle de Sixt Fer-à-Cheval, 1986

External links

Mountain huts in the Alps Mountain huts in France {{France-geo-stub