Varied, eventful, longer mountain hike

On the glacier plateau of Les Diablerets all hell broke loose, they say in the mountains between Valais, Vaud and Bern. Because on thundery days the "Diaboli" slip out of their holes and bowl with stones on the glacier plateau after the forty metre high rock tower - which they usually miss. It's no wonder that people on the Valaisan Alp Derborence, 1,500 metres below, are afraid of rockfalls.

But normally Glacier 3,000 shows its sunny side. The ride in the large-cabin gondola from the Pillonpass to the futuristic mountain station of star architect Mario Botta at 2940 metres is breathtaking in itself. Here, the spectacular suspension bridge from one peak to the other is waiting for you, from where you can also see the Mont Blanc. Experienced hikers then cross the glacier and firn snow plateau (marked, secured path) to the marked Quille du Diable, the very rock cone of the Devils. The view from the edge of the rock at "Refuge l'Espace", the small mountain restaurant, vertically down to the landslide area of Derborence is really impressive, breathtaking for many.

Then follows the likewise marked descent around boulders to Cabane de Prarochet. In early summer you can take advantage of snow fields that are easy to walk on. In the mountain hut you can get something to eat, Valais wines and homemade cakes.

After the rest we enter a rocky landscape of extraordinary fascination. Huge cart fields, the "Lapis". The rocky ground, on which we walk without any problems, is round, polished to so-called round humps. On the vast rocky field we discover numerous characteristic karst phenomena: Stones, frozen to the underside of the ice, scratched the rocky ground with the glacier movement, which led to the typical strieming in the direction of the glacier flow. And meltwater flowing under the ice sheet, with its naturally contained carbon dioxide content, ate grooves and meandering mini-canyons into the rock. An El Dorado for detail photographers.

Then we go to the source of the Saane and over the pass plain (on the east side past the Sanetsch reservoir) to the public works cable car down to Gsteig near Gstaad.

Pure hiking time: 4 hours 30 minutes