A high-ranking job
At 3,450 meters above sea level, the Aigle refuge is not the highest perched in France – the prize goes to the Goûter refuge, on the needle of the same name, which rises to 3,835 meters. But it offers a breathtaking view of the Meije, a mountain in the northwest of the Ecrins massif, between Grenoble and Briançon. Balanced on the rock of the Eagle, the building was created in 1910, before being dismantled and rebuilt in 2014. From the Romanche valley, it takes about six hours of a difficult hike – 1 800 vertical meters – to reach it.
A spartan atmosphere
Guarded since the beginning of the 1970s, from April to September, the refuge is not superfluous. Until the renovation of the premises in 2014, the caretaker did not even have a separate bedroom. Thirty beds are available to visitors in a single room which serves as a dormitory, dining room and living space. Apart from a mattress and duvets, the comfort is basic. No running water, even less Wi-Fi. “Heating if the weather is nice”, thanks to photovoltaic energy, says the caretaker on the FFCAM website.
A demanding job
The warden must take care of welcoming visitors, catering, upkeep of the premises, but also supplies, by helicopter. And, above all, not to be a heavy sleeper, as a former babysitter, Marie Gardent, reminded us in Magazine mountains, early 2020. “There are roped parties arriving at all hours of the day and night. (…) We get up at 4 o’clock in the morning to wake up the people who are leaving for the Eastern Meije, we go back to bed a little bit and at 7 o’clock we have to attack again. ” “Jef”, the current keeper, leaves after a handful of years at the Eagle – he had previously worked at other sites. A little further south of the Ecrins, the keeper of the Sélé refuge, also on the start, will have remained ” thirty-four years “ on the same site, specifies the FFCAM.
A job that makes you dream
“Guardian of a refuge, it’s a real job”, underlines Niels Martin, deputy director of FFCAM, which has 120 shelters – a third of establishments of this type in France. In addition to a knowledge of the mountain environment ” essential “, candidates must have a first aid diploma and a university diploma in mountain hut warden. While the hotel and restaurant sectors have great difficulty in recruiting, the shelters would be preserved. “A lot of people are interested, it’s a job that makes you dream”, says Niels Martin. If the federation is paid on overnight stays (around 1,000 per year, at 30 euros per night), the caretaker is paid only on catering.