Glacier 3000: Cross the Peak Walk, Then Taste Yvorne

What to do there

5 things to do

1. 1

   Read the Mountain Before You Leave Gstaad

   adventure Price: low

   Check the live forecast, then catch PostBus 180 to the door.

   The wind decides this trip, so start with your phone.

   WHERE: Gstaad, Bahnhof. PostBus 180 leaves at 8:37 and reaches the stop Col-du-Pillon, Glacier 3000 at 9:06, 29 minutes later; then hourly at 9:37 and 10:37.

   WHAT: open Glacier 3000's live openings page. It gives the opening forecast and is updated at 8:30 after the mountain is inspected. Gusts over 80 km/h can close the installations, so pick the clearest, least windy day you have.

   HOW: the bus is free with the Gstaad Card, which overnight guests get from their first night. In autumn and spring it can snow at any time, so dress for winter.

   BACKUP: if the forecast says closed, take the same bus and walk to Lac Retaud instead (the backup in step 2).

   Log Memory
2. 2

   Rise 1,430 Metres in 15 Minutes

   adventure Price: high

   Buy the pedestrian return at the Col du Pillon and ride two cable cars to Scex Rouge.

   WHERE: the Glacier 3000 valley station, Col du Pillon, Route du Pillon 253, Les Diablerets, in the canton of Vaud; the bus stop is at its door.

   WHAT: buy the pedestrian return to Scex Rouge: CHF 89 for an adult, CHF 45 for a child aged 6 to 15, and CHF 45 with a Half Fare card, GA or Swiss Travel Pass. Departures cannot be booked: cabins leave every 20 minutes from 9:00, and the two cable cars climb about 1,430 metres in 15 minutes. The last ascent is at 16:20 (16:00 in winter); the operator advises arriving before 15:00.

   HOW: tickets are sold from 8:45 at the desk, or online. Children under 15 months are not accepted, and the operator advises against the trip in pregnancy because of the very rapid rise.

   BACKUP: if wind has shut the lifts, walk to Lac Retaud, a small lake 2 km away, about 45 minutes on foot, free; the Restaurant Col du Pillon at the station opens 8:00 to 18:00.

   Log Memory
3. 3

   Cross Between Two Summits

   adventure Free

   Walk the Peak Walk by Tissot, which the operator says is the only bridge of its kind, from View Point to Scex Rouge.

   The operator says no other suspension bridge in the world links two mountain summits.

   WHERE: start at View Point, the lower summit.

   WHAT: walk the Peak Walk by Tissot, 107 metres long and 80 centimetres wide, up to the Scex Rouge summit, 5 metres higher. It swings slightly in the wind; allow 15–30 minutes. On a clear day the best-known peaks in view are the Matterhorn, Mont Blanc, Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau: name them.

   HOW: free with the cable-car ticket, daily from 9:15, weather permitting. Reaching the bridge takes about a hundred steps, and only 150 people may be on it at once.

   BACKUP: if the bridge is shut but the lifts run, take the lift to the fifth-floor rooftop terrace, which looks straight onto it.

   Log Memory
4. 4

   Find the Building That Burned

   history Free

   On the rooftop terrace, read the summit building's fire and rebuild.

   WHERE: the Scex Rouge building beside the bridge, then its fifth-floor rooftop terrace; a lift goes up.

   WHAT: Mario Botta's first restaurant here opened in 2001. On the night of 18 to 19 September 2022 it caught fire; investigators traced the fire to a still-lit fondue stove that had been stacked, and nobody was reported hurt. The cable car survived, and the lifts reopened seven weeks later. The rebuilt building opened on 14 November 2024: CHF 30 million, more than 600 solar panels, 480 seats on three floors. From the 250 m² rooftop terrace, find the Matterhorn among the 24 other four-thousand-metre peaks it faces.

   HOW: free once you are up.

   BACKUP: in cloud, find the solar panels on the south façade instead.

   Log Memory
5. 5

   Taste the Valley Below, With or Without Alcohol

   wine Price: low

   A 10 cl glass of Yvorne or a zero-proof drink at Le 3, then your photo memory.

   WHERE: Restaurant Le 3, on the third floor of the Scex Rouge building, open daily 9:15 to 16:00; order by QR code at your table or at the counter.

   WHAT: the only wines poured by the 10 cl glass are Yvorne blanc and Yvorne rouge from the Cave des vignerons d'Yvorne, CHF 6 each. Yvorne lies in the Chablais, the wine region of the district of Aigle, the same district as the cable car you rode up. In 1584 a landslide destroyed much of Yvorne; the vineyard planted on the debris took its patois name from the disaster, L'Ovaille. Not drinking? Calanda 0.0% beer is CHF 5.50 and teas CHF 4.90. At this height mountain sickness can be mistaken for being drunk, so one small glass, or none, is enough. Then take your photo memory: your glass, then the Peak Walk from the rooftop terrace.

   BACKUP: if Le 3 is full, the Carnotzet on the terrace takes no bookings and opens 9:15 to 16:30.

   Log Memory

Insider Tips

• The door is the Col du Pillon valley station at Les Diablerets, in Vaud, 29 minutes from Gstaad on PostBus 180, not in Gstaad itself.

• With a Half Fare card, GA or Swiss Travel Pass the CHF 89 return costs CHF 45.

• Gusts over 80 km/h can close everything; the live openings forecast is updated at 8:30 each morning.

• The bridge takes about a hundred steps to reach; a lift goes to the rooftop terrace, which looks onto it.