Today’s adventure took us to Glacier 3000 in Les Diablerets, Vaud. Somehow we hadn’t heard of this place until recently but it’s a permanent glacier at a height of 3000meters.
We checked the weather forecast and the webcam on their website before leaving to make sure I wasn’t too cloudy up there and set off.
There was plenty of parking directly outside the entrance where we paid chf79 for an adult and ch40 for Jean who had a Swiss pass. The children were free but over the age of 6 it’s ch40.
We were lucky with the timing that we walked into an empty cable car as soon as we got through the barrier and were only joined by a few others before we departed. The journey up to the first station took about 5minutes and as you can see, the scenery was spectacular! The ride was pretty smooth and the children enjoyed it.
We then took the second cable car up to the top of the glacier where there was a souvenir shop, restaurant, toilets and access to the activities which include a sort of outdoor roller coaster (small cars set on a rail around the glacier), dog sledding, a ski lift down to the glacier and access to the peak viewing area. We couldn’t do much with the smaller children on our backs but we did climb up to the viewing area.
There were quite a few stairs to climb but then we reached the suspended bridge which took us to the viewing point. Both Jean and I always say we don’t have a problem with heights but even we felt our stomachs flip when the bridge wobbled in the wind. Jude amazed us by being fearless and enjoyed crossing the bridge and admiring the incredible 360degree view that greeted us.
We saw on the website before we left that it was about 1degree at the very top so we wrapped everyone up well but in fact it didn’t feel that cold (beginning of June).
The second part of the journey back down was exciting as we were standing near the glass at the front and at one point we had the impression of the cable car lurching into the void...it certainly distracted us from the fact that we were sharing the space with about 10 of the sledding dogs and the smell wasn’t pleasant but other than that it was a brilliant trip.
"Well organised, clean and efficient with good facilities and friendly staff."
Well organised, clean and efficient with good facilities and friendly staff. The price is high (especially since we couldn’t participate in many of the activities included in price at the top with a disabled child) but it’s a unique experience.
We asked Jude when we got in the car what had been his favourite part and he said “all of it”, when asked what his least favourite part had been he said “daddy taking pictures”. He’ll thank us one day!
Information
Parking : Yes
Toilets : Yes
Baby Change Facilities : No
Accessibility : Possible with a pushchair by using the lifts but you have to take the stairs to reach the Tissot Peak Walk.
Col du Pillon,
Route du Pillon 253,
1865 Les Diablerets