High Altitude Cappuccino

🗺️ Overview Starting point: Leysin – La Berneuse, 2045m (reachable by gondola) Highest point: Les Truex ridge (2194 m) Total elevation gain:  +430 m (from La Berneuse) / 1150m Total distance: ~10.8 km Total time: ~4h Technical difficulty: T3 (moderate mountain trail with a short chain section) Download GPS file After Tour de Mayen in 2020 and Tour d’Aï in 2023, I completed the trio of the Leysin towers with the Tour de Famelon (2137 m)! As I hadn’t hiked for a few weeks — my daughter Marina was just born and I was a bit out of shape — I decided to take it easy and start by taking the gondola up to La Berneuse , saving myself some uphill effort. It was a beautiful, sunny morning, and a sea of clouds was covering the valley below. The hike begins downhill toward Lac d’Aï and its charming little alpine hamlet. At a bifurcation, you can take the smaller path straight ahead — it’s more direct. After circling the lake and climbing to the chairlift area, th...

🗺️ Overview Starting point: Vaulion (parking at the west edge of the village) Highest point: Dent du Vaulion, 1,483 m Total elevation gain: ~550 m Total distance: ~11 km Total time: ~3 h Technical difficulty: Easy – well-marked paths, one short steep section near the summit Download GPS file And the winner is… Dent du Vaulion! It is the first peak to get two dedicated posts. I have already described it briefly in other hikes, but this time it deserves a full article about the route from Vaulion , the quiet village that gave the mountain its name. You can reach Dent du Vaulion from all sides. From Petra Félix is the shortest and my usual route, described in this post . From Le Pont or Vallorbe there are also options. But here I describe the climb starting directly from Vaulion. The climb from Vaulion You can start at the large parking at the west edge of the village, where a panel indicates “the 7 hikes of Vaulion.” The one to the summit begins along ...

🗺️ Overview Starting point: Villars, bottom of Roc d’Orsey gondola (1,250 m) Highest point: La Chamossaire (2,112 m) Total elevation gain: 836 m Total distance: ~9 km (depending on variant) Total time: 3h30–4h30 (ascent + descent) Technical difficulty: Easy to moderate (well-marked paths, some steep parts, possible confusion if leaving official trails) Download GPS file In Villars there are many beautiful hikes. You can start directly from the village, or save some uphill by taking the little train to Col de Bretaye (1800m). Here I’ll describe in more detail the one with the most elevation gain: 836 m from the very bottom of the Roc d’Orsey gondola (1,250 m) up to the summit of La Chamossaire (2,112 m). You start on the road to the left of the gondola station. Take the first right and follow the road until you cross under the gondola line. From here you have two options: the better-marked path straight ahead towards Bretaye, or a smaller trail alon...