The sight is bizarre. In front of the snow-capped peaks above the Aletsch Glacier, in the midst of mountain pines, spruce trees and alpine roses, a Victorian villa sits enthroned on the saddle of the Riederfurka, visible from afar, with turrets and projections, with half-timbering and high windows. This house does not fit here in the Valais, at an altitude of a good 2000 meters above sea level. Is that a kind of Swiss Neuschwanstein? An exclusive second home on the Alp with no road connection?
Well, this assumption is not that wrong. The villa was built at the beginning of the 20th century on behalf of the German-English banker Sir Ernest Cassel, who sought relaxation in the mountains from the burden of life as the financier of the English royal family. Today his former summer residence is in the area of the Unesco World Heritage Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch and belongs to the nature conservation organization Pro Natura. The touch of English upper class still wafts through the wood-paneled rooms, but the villa is now open to all visitors, as an information center, tea salon or simple accommodation. And since 2020 it has also been a showcase project in terms of climate protection.
Making a Wilhelminian style villa at 2000 meters climate-neutral is no easy undertaking
“We are a little proud of the fact that we are now operating in an energetically CO₂-neutral manner,” says Laudo Albrecht, who has headed the center since 1989. As part of the “Villa Cassel 2020” project, Pro Natura has implemented three projects for a total of three million francs: The exhibition rooms have been relocated to the basement and are now also addressing glacier retreat and climate change. The dining room, which was previously in the basement, has now been located in the former representative rooms on the mezzanine floor since the work was completed last year. No further renovation was carried out; the guests stay in two, three or six-bed rooms with shared showers. The two and three-bed rooms have the atmosphere of noble summer freshness – with polished parquet, large beds and some antique furniture. But showering takes place on the floor like 100 years ago. Bunk beds like in a youth hostel are in the attic, a bizarre contrast to the elegance of the lower floors. It is deliberately kept that way. “We are not a hotel,” says Laudo Albrecht. “But the ambience is something special.”
And the energy supply is also something special now. “It has bothered us for a long time that we worked with oil,” says Albrecht. That is now a thing of the past: An air-water heat pump supplies the energy for hot water, the necessary electricity is generated by a photovoltaic system that is located further down on the mountain slope on the schoolhouse and an outbuilding in Ried-Mörel. Because the system was not allowed to be placed on or next to the listed building, says Albrecht. According to him, the result is a lighthouse project: “We are showing that you can run a house with 60 beds at 2000 meters above sea level in a CO₂-neutral manner.”
The ridge between Riederfurka and Eggishorn separates the ice stream of the Aletsch Glacier from the gentle landscape of Bettmeralp and Riederalp.
(Photo: Johanna Pfund)
And what a house. Where today school classes and families spend the night to go on excursions to the largest glacier in the Alps or to learn more about the protected stone pine forest on the northwest side of the Riederfurka, important representatives of the English upper class spent their summers there up until the First World War. Villa builder Ernest Cassel (1852 to 1921) was one of the most influential donors in London at the time. Cassel was born in Cologne and was the son of a Jewish banker. He went to England at the age of 17, where he rose in banking within a few years. However, life in London turned out to be anything but healthy, and the later King Edward VII’s doctor recommended that the banker spend the summers in the Swiss Alps. So did Cassel. But the inn on the Riederfurka, which still exists, did not meet its requirements. Soon he was looking for a suitable building site on the Riederalp plateau.
To keep Churchill calm, the cowbells had to be stuffed with straw
It was only after a long search that the community and the building client from London were able to come to an agreement. It is said that a generous donation from Cassel helped make the decision. And so the villa was built between 1900 and 1902. 1200 meters in altitude have to be overcome from the Rhone valley to the Riederfurka. Today visitors usually do this by cable car. The villages of Riederalp, Bettmeralp and Fiescheralp on the plateau between the Aletsch Glacier and the Rhone Valley, which are marketed as the Aletsch Arena, decided decades ago to remain car-free. If you want to go from the Riederalp mountain station to Villa Cassel, you still have to walk the last half hour. Visitors are of course free to climb the steep south-facing slope from Mörel down on the banks of the Rhone. Then you will know exactly what the porters did more than 120 years ago when they dragged the building materials for the villa up to the Riederfurka. It is said that 50 cents were given for the transport of a child carrier full of material. Four men even carried a piano up turn after turn. When the villa was already built, Cassel was happy to have fresh bread rolls delivered for breakfast for his guests. The suppliers were probably in excellent condition.
It is uncertain whether they knew who they were delivering to. In the years up to 1914, great world leaders were guests. Winston Churchill, the future British Prime Minister, spent several vacations on the Riederfurka. The tinkling of the cowbells is said to have disturbed him while he was writing, so that straw was stuffed into the bells. For his handicapped sister, Cassel had a level hiking trail built around the Riederhorn, which still exists today and offers magnificent views. Cassel had a close relationship with his granddaughter Edwina. She married Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was to become the last Viceroy of India.
Edwina and her family no longer moved to Switzerland after the First World War. She sold the house to the Swiss hotelier family Cathrein in 1924. The villa was a hotel for more than 40 years, then it was closed and fell into disrepair. Pro Natura eventually bought it and reopened it in 1976. The focus of the center has remained the same to this day: it wants to inform visitors about the sensitive ecosystem of the mountain world, about plants, the nearby stone pine forest and the animals in the high mountains. And since the renovation, one focus has been on climate change.
The mountain station can follow the movement of the slope
An example of possible consequences of global warming is in the immediate vicinity: the Moosfluh. This mountain, located just a few hundred meters northeast of Villa Cassel, is sliding because the Aletsch Glacier is shrinking at the base of the mountain. The ice acted like a foundation for the Moosfluh, which is now giving way. Cracks on the north side show how strong the mountain is in motion. The mountain station of the cable car was relocated a few years ago in a concrete tub that – in layman’s terms – slides along. Controlled, of course. “On excursions to the Moosfluh, we are now showing how plants and animals react to landslides,” reports Albrecht. “We want to draw attention to the topic of climate change and show that everyone can do something to alleviate the problem.”
Not for the faint of heart: the suspension bridge between Riederalp and Belalp. It leads over the Massa, the outlet of the Aletsch Glacier.
(Photo: Johanna Pfund)
Visitors can also get a good overview directly above the glacier, which is shrinking year after year: To do this, they have to descend 400 meters through the Aletsch Forest on the north side of the Riederfurka. Since 2008, a 124-meter-long suspension bridge has been leading over the Massa Gorge, the foothills of the glacier, over to Belalp. Despite trust in Swiss engineering, it takes some effort to cross the swaying bridge to go on a mountain tour on the south side of the gorge. The way back over the bridge is then easier. Above all, the Villa Cassel is waiting upstairs with its cakes in the tea room, which, according to Laudo Albrecht, have achieved “world fame”. Thank Sir Ernest for his summer residence.
Pro Natura Center Aletsch, Villa Cassel, Riederalp, open from mid-June to mid-October, Tel .: 0041 (0) 27 928 62 20, bed and breakfast from 50 francs, pronatura-aletsch.ch