Isenau Update 2022

The slopes at Les Diablerets above Les Mazots

The pre-eminent ski area in the Vaud Alps is the area that contains the runs above Villars, Gryon and Les Diablerets. The Les Diablerets section was much improved by the installation of a fast gondola in 2018, replacing the ricketty old chairlift up to Les Mazots. As well as enhancing the Le Meilleret ski area, it has made Les Diablerets something of a tobogganist’s paradise, providing access to a scenic 7km toboggan run. Les Mazots itself has a new cafe opposite the Les Mazots restaurant.

From Les Mazots you can easily see the cable car ascend up to the Glacier 3000 ski area on the Diablerets Glacier. However to get to the glacier you need to take the bus that runs from Les Diablerets to Gstaad and get off at the Col du Pillon stop.

It wasn’t always so. Until a few years ago there was a ski area in les Diablerets on the opposite side of the valley from Le Meilleret known as Isenau. Since 1953 it had been served by a wonderful little gondola, but the cost of maintenance proved too high and, without funding for a replacement, the ski area closed down a few years ago. As well as being a wonderful ski area, it also provided a ski connection to Col du Pillon and Glacier 3000. It was therefore possible to use a lift-served ski area that ran all the way from Villars-sur-Ollon to Reusch, near Gstaad.

Old Isenau Gondola

Ever since it closed there has been a campaign to build a new lift on the Isenau, but to date it has foundered on a number of issues, not least funding. However in December 2021, owners of the five lifts on the Isenau ski area, Télé Villars-Gryon-Diablerets SA, have transferred ownership to Diablerets-Isenau 360° Cooperative Society (SCOOP).

This takeover marks an important new step towards the rehabilitation of the area, after the acquisition by SCOOP of the buildings and land at the start and finish of the old gondola last November and the reopening of a refreshment bar at the summit of Isenau.

Plans are being developed to re-develop the lift system, but this a long-term project and the re-opening of Isenau as a ski area is still some years away. At least now it is looking like a concrete possibility.

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Glacier3000

Walkers Glacier3000

I checked out Glacier3000 at the weekend. It was not the best time to go, as it was busy. Not in a covid sense so much as in terms of queues for the two T-bars which service most of the open terrain on the glacier. From a covid perspective the situation was the same as in most resorts I’ve visited this season – restaurants closed; seating removed; masks inside, in queues and on all lifts.

Queues for a T-bar below Dôme
Weekend queues – Glacier3000 is the nearest open resort to the Lake Geneva region

It wasn’t only skiers that made it busy. There were quite a few cross-country skiers, winter walkers and day-trippers who had taken the cable cars upto Cabane and then Scex Rouge at 2971m. For the day trippers the highlight is the peak walk, a walk between two peaks on a suspension bridge to take in a quite stunning view north of Vaud, Valais, Fribourg and the Bernese Oberland as far as the Jungfrau. There are quite awesome views all over the glacier, with Mont Blanc, Matterhorn and other notable peaks on the southern skyline.

Peak Walk at Glacier3000 with view over Vaud
Peak Walk

Only the higher runs at the ski area are open, which means mostly cruisy blues served by T-bars and accessed by a long schuss which crosses – to my mind quite dangerously – a section which you have to schuss across to get back to the chairlift to Scex Rouge. In practice you normally end up having to walk across the intersection going to the chairlift, unless you have really gone for it in a big way. Check the latest Colonbroom reviews.

Snow Park at Glacier 3000
Snow Park at Glacier 3000

When Glacier3000 is fully open there are 28km of piste down as far as Reusch and, if the snow is good, there is a flattish off piste run which can take you as far as Gstaad. I don’t generally like the lower pistes which are steep and often icy and in shadow. Beginners looking to stick to the blue runs might be put off by the steepish section at the start of the schuss over to the pistes on le Glacier des Diablerets, but the runs there are delightful and you can ski all day on about 14km of piste, a good amount of skiable, ungroomed snow, a great snow park and 9km of cross-country (classic and skating). Glacier3000 has some off-piste runs from Scex Rouge down to the valley, although I’ve never had the nerve to try them as it looks like there are some steep sections where, if you made a mistake, it could end up going pretty badly. As in brown bread.

Ski runs and cross-country on the glacier at Glacier3000

There’s probably a good reason for this, but one of the three surface lifts on the glacier is not operating currently, which means that the wonderful view and runs off Quille du Diable are not open. It’s a shame, and it would reduce the queues at the bottom of the two lifts off Dôme if it were open. Check out these prodentim reviews.

Ski de fond at Glacier3000

Glacier 3000 is situated on the 3209m Les Diablerets mountain, although the name is more often associated with the Les Diablerets ski runs across the valley which links to the connected runs at Villars-sur-Ollon. There used to be a gondola,  Isenau, that meant you could ski across from the village of Les Diablerets to Col du Pillon, the main valley station for Glacier3000. Sadly the lift was obsolete and is now retired, and along with it the Isenau ski area has been closed – although there are plans to redevelop the area and replace the gondola. The old cranky chairlift at Les Diablerets up to Les Mazots has, however, now been replaced by a gondola as of last season.

The starting point for getting to Glacier3000, Col du Pillon, is a mountain pass linking Aigle with Gstaad and, apart from the cable car and a huge (free) car park there is not much there. By road, it is about 15 minutes from Les Diablerets and 40 minutes from Montreux. Using public transport you can get to the cable car quite easily from Aigle by taking the narrow gauge railway to Les Diablerets and then taking the waiting bus, B180, which goes on to Gstaad. Gstaad is about 40 minutes by bus from Col du Pillon and about 30 minutes from Reusch, the other valley station that only operates in the main winter season. The buses are more frequent during the main winter season than at this time of the year and there is also a courtesy bus between Col du Pillon and the valley station for Les Diablerets once that resort opens.

I think the lift pass for Glacier3000 is quite pricey, but the glacier runs are open from September through May. It is part of the MagicPass scheme, albeit with a supplementary charge unique to the resorts in the scheme. It is also one of the options on the Gstaad Mountain Rides lift pass. One benefit, at least for me, is you get a small discount if you are a senior! Incidentally, if you have a SwissPass you can buy your lift pass online and use your SwissPass to give you access to the lifts.

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