Au-pair diary: 25. Freedom in 3000 m 

Winter break at school. That was exactly what was waiting for us the last week of February. And as my host family was about to leave for skiing in the mountains, I had to take holidays too. A whole week of free time. Damn. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love holidays. But the end of February wasn’t exactly the time I would normally take my vacations. Especially when I can’t go skiing (that’s near to impossible with an Au-pair budget). And when the Swiss government announced that they will be opening museums and galleries on 1st March, exactly one day after the end of my holidays, I felt quite unfortunate. I dreaded that we will have ugly weather and I will be forced to stay sitting on my ass home, for a whole damn week. Luckily, the week before, the weather started getting better and we got so much sun that even the spring flowers started waking up. 

On Saturday 20th of February 2021, I took an early morning walk and made a little plan for my holidays. I was about to travel, relax and work on my projects. But also, spend time with my bestie Jo, who got holidays at the same time as me. So on Saturday evening she got to my place and we were preparing ourselves for the first trip of the week. We planned to go to one of the places I wanted to see the most: Glacier3000. 

Glacier3000 is a bit like an adventure park 3000 metres above sea level. It is an area where a few glaciers meet and where you can take a glacier walk, go skiing, have a ride on an alpine rollercoaster or try a dog sled ride. But probably the most famous of it all, is the peak walk. A walk on a suspension bridge that connects two mountain peaks in almost 3000 metres altitude. And that’s where we were heading! 

From our home town, Vevey, it’s not exactly easy to get there. It’s only 80 kilometres but it takes two train changes and a bus to get to the base camp. Luckily, this time we had a new member of our crew joining us for a trip. My new Czech-working-in-Switzerland friend Ivča decided to go with us and as she has her own car. Therefore our transport to the place was well secured!

On Sunday morning, me, Jo, Ivča and her dog Jessie headed towards Glacier3000! By car it is approximately an hour’s journey. On the highway and then through the mountain serpentines before you find yourself in the base camp – ‘Col du Pillon’ in 1546 metres above sea level. From there you have to take two cabins, to get to the top. 

We got to ‘Col du Pillon’ sometime after 9 PM (opening time) and the parking lot was already full of cars. Mostly people who were there for skiing. We went to buy tickets, which cost 80 francs (up and down) and waited for the next cabin, while watching as the cableway cabins were moving between peaks. I must admit that from the bottom, it seems really scary. 

In just a few minutes we got into the cabin, together with many other people. We were all in masks, but we couldn’t help but wondering, how it is possible that the Swiss government allowed something like this at all. Because even though we understood that the cabin was not filled to it’s fulled capacity it was still impossible to keep distances. But there was no more time thinking about that, as the cabin started moving upwards and Jo and Ivča seemed like scared animals. Not to mention the dog. I personally don’t mind cableways, but some moments are always unpleasant for the stomach. Especially after the gondola runs through the pillar. 

The base camp was getting smaller and smaller as we were approaching the first peak. At ‘Cabane’ (2525 m) we had to change the cableway for the second one that took us under the top of ‘Scex Rouge’ (2971 m). When we had to change the cabin more than 2500 metres above sea level, I started realising how high we were actually heading. So far, my highest peak was ‘Säntis’, which is 2502 m. Just by changing at ‘Cabane’ I was already higher than I’ve ever been before. 

When we got to the top, we looked around and searched for directions for a moment, because the crowd took us directly to the slope. After we found out that the way to the suspension bridge leads through the main building, we immediately headed there. But before we got to it, we ate a few snacks and enjoyed the view over the alps, which is amazing even when you are not on the very top. 

After we climbed the stairs to the first peak, ‘View point’, we were totally stunned by what was in front of our eyes. Just snow and mountain peaks which suddenly seemed small from the overview of 3000 thousand metres. I must say that views from these peaks are a bit more enjoyable than the view from the bridge itself. Because as soon as we stepped on the suspension bridge we were like: “Fuuuuck! It’s moving!” 

And that, my friends, was a sentence that we were repeating a lot in the next few minutes. The bridge itself has 107 metres and is only 80 centimetres wide. So if you met someone coming from the other direction, you had to lean to the edge, whether you wanted to or not. And as the wind is blowing, the walk is a bit of adrenaline. Not extremely, but still not something most of us are doing every day. 

When we got to the other side of the suspension bridge, we found ourselves on the peak of ‘Scex Rouge’, at almost 3000 m. The view from there was unbelievable, breathtaking and might be even better if there were not so many people. But that’s not something you can avoid. Everyone else is there to see exactly this view as well and I must say that it’s worth every single second. 

We spent around 20 minutes watching the view and searching for mountain peaks we know. A telescope that was placed there helped us a lot, because it has mountain peak tops marked in the view. So with the help of a telescope, we were able to find famous mountains like ‘Matterhorn’ or French ‘Mont Blanc’. We were very lucky with the weather, because the visibility that day was simply amazing. I was also happy to find out that from this point, even our beloved ‘Lac Léman’ (Lake Geneva) is visible, as well as a few mountains I am used to looking at from down below.

After taking a lot of photos on the peak and on the bridge itself, we headed back and were ready to take a Glacier walk. A walk that has something under 5 km and leads from ‘Scex Rouge’ cable way to a peak called ‘Quille du Diable’. 

‘Quille du Diable’ (Devil’s skittle) has a few legends attached to it, as well as the whole area of ‘Les Diablerets’ (The abode of devils) glacier. People saw ‘Les Diablerets’ as a meeting point of devils and bad spirits. They believed that demons played skittles on the top of the mountains when rocks were falling down the mountains. That’s how ‘Quille du Diable’ got its name – the rock on the top itself has a skittle shape. 

At the beginning of our Glacier walk, we were a little confused, because it should have started right under the ‘Scex Rouge’ cableway, but there were only slopes and no hiking trails. The signs on the top were also not very helpful so in the end, we figured out that the first part of the way is closed in winter and we need to take a chair lift to get under the slope. We got on the Ice Express chairlift and went down the hill. The dog, Jessie, didn’t like it a bit. 

Under the lift we finally got on our way and followed the signs. The dog was extremely happy to be finally on its own four feet and run in the snow there and back. Soon we walked through a snow tunnel, which was probably made only to get to the other side of the gigantic snow pile. But being inside was strange. The tunnel had absolutely no echo and my ears got blocked. Girls of course used the situation to draw some pictures in the corridor of the snow tunnel. And while Ivča was totally alright with writing her name there, Jo had to paint a vulgar image. Why am I even surprised?

Our journey led next to high and sharp rocks on one side, ski slopes on the other side and an amazing view over the alps surrounding us. I must say we enjoyed it to the maximum. Making stupidities in the snow and taking pictures in strange poses, while the sun was shining and filling us up with energy. 

After something over an hour we got to ‘Quille du Diable’ and ate lunch in the shadow of the skittle rock. The view from there is unbelievable. The land below us looked like it was covered in a fluffy duvet of snow. On the other side, sharp mountain peaks and deep valleys. This place must be amazing for hiking in summer because most of the trails take you across the glacier. So you can walk on snow even in hot summer months. 

We headed back the same way and with the intention to find another attraction, which should have been somewhere around – Ice Cathedral. Circa 20 metres long natural ice cave which is only accessible in winter, because in summer it is filled with water. But unfortunately, we were not able to find it. Because there were no signs showing the direction and I didn’t think of looking at maps online. I felt sorry for it later, because I found out that we only missed it for circa 50 metres. Well, nothing to be done. I will have to come back there again, some other winter. Maybe when we are on holiday in Switzerland.

When we got back to Chairlift Express it was 3 PM and the weather started changing. It was very windy and the way up to the ‘Scex Rouge’ station was quite uncomfortable. I was thinking about going to the Peak Walk again, but we were frozen to the bones and already tired from all the journey, so we decided to take a cableway down instead and end our little glacier adventure. 

One day I want to go back there. Because in high mountains like these, all the worries melt away. They are blown away by the wind and all that is left is a feeling of ultimate freedom and overview. Not only above the mountains, but also on life itself. Up there, nothing matters. And I love that feeling. My holiday time couldn’t possibly start in a better way.