Hiking down Mount Diavolezza after Reveling in the Glacier Landscape

What's wonderful about Switzerland is that you don't always have to hike up hills to participate in the glorious world of snow and ice at 3000 to 4000m altitude, because the Swiss love building cable cars as much as they love building tunnels.

While vacationing in the South-Eastern part of Switzerland we decided to take one of these fantastic cable cars up to Mount Diavolezza, to a hotel/restaurant located at almost 3000m overlooking two glaciers (Pers and Morteratsch) which flow into each other below the stunning peaks Palü and Bernina, both over 4000m tall. From here we walked along the ridge for about a kilometer to get views both East and West, and then returned to the restaurant for lunch, before our planned hike down the mountain - a descent of about 900m in altitude and 10 km distance.

When we first arrived at the top, we had about an hour of blue skies before the clouds quickly moved in (as so often is the case in the mountains) and our hike down was partly quite chilly and it even started to rain a bit.

At the bottom and for the final 45 minutes of our walk back to the base station of the Diavolezza Cable Car we had pleasant evening weather, so all in all the day wasn't too bad. 

Morteratsch Glacier

On the way to the Diavolezza cable car, we pass a place where we get a head-on view of the Morteratsch Glacier. Three years ago almost to the day, we hiked up along the moraine on the right hand side of the glacier. This day we are going to the left of the second glacier, the Pers Glacier, which flows onto the Morteratsch glacier.

This outing with the Diavolezza cable car is a popular one.

On the way up with the cable car. 

In the back is Lago Bianco (Lake Bianco), below is Lej da Diavolezza (Lake Diavolezza), where we later stopped for a break on our hike down the mountain.

Reflections of Piz Palü (Mount Palü) and the Pers Glacier

Reflections of Piz Bernina (Mount Bernina), the highest in this group at 4049 m (13,283 ft)

We picked a nice sunny spot along the wall for our lunch.

And this was the view we had while eating our lunch!

Details of the Pers Glacier

Pers Glacier with the Piz Palü Group

Behind me is Mount Pers. 

You can climb to the peak of Mount Pers for a 360 deg. view, which I am sure is fabulous, but we only walked about 20 minutes along the ridge for a different view of the glacier landscape. Plus the fog on the peak was a bit off-putting.

Panorama view of the Pers Glacier, and behind it the Morteratsch Glacier.

View Eastward from the Ridge

View Eastward from the Ridge

Along the ridge trail from the Diavolezza Hotel / Restaurant / CableCar Station

Walking along the Ridge toward Mt. Pers

Pers Glacier and Piz Palü

Pers Glacier and Piz Palü

Time to head back to start our descent. The clouds are moving in.

We took the cable car up, and walked back down (900m, 10 km). Took us 3 hours, 15 minutes.

The first part of the descent is a bit tricky! They really could clear this.

The first part of the descent is a bit tricky! 

Lej da Diavolezza (Lake Diavolezza)

Our original Plan was to walk down to Lago Bianco, to the Bernina Pass, which is about half way along the lake on the far side. (Interesting fact: Because Lake Bianco is at the top of the pass, it drains from both sides, once into the Black Sea, and once into the Adriatic Sea). As we got to the valley though, to the lower of the lakes, we realized we wouldn't make it to the train station in time, so we headed to the left instead.

Approaching Lej da Diavolezza (2575m) 

A small break at Lake Diavolezza. Just 5 more minutes of sunshine, then it got cold.

A small break at Lake Diavolezza. Just 5 more minutes of sunshine, then it got cold.

Arriving down in the valley at Lake Bianco

We weren't sure we'd make it in time for the train at Ospizio Bernina, so we went the other way, back to the base station of the Diavolezza Cable Car, where we started our excursion.

Heading back to the Diavolezza Base Station.

Diavolezza Base Station.