Painting autumn and winter at the Palette d Isenau

At the end of October, clocks turn back, bringing shorter days and early nights. I hiked to Palette d'Isenau the first Sunday when the clocks changed, so I was not used to early sunsets yet - and all the more pleasantly surprised by the soft light that struck mid-afternoon, as we returned to Lac Retaud for the last leg of our hike down the valley. Most of the hikers were gone by then - painting a very different atmosphere to the one five hours before, when we reached Lac Retaud at the outset of our hike. 

But let's start at the beginning. Although Lac Retaud can be reached by car, we were relying on public transport and hiked up from the base station of the Glacier 3000 cable car. A short 20-minute walk through the woods brings you to this small emerald lake, which was buzzing with hikers and families in the morning. The hike towards Palette d'Isenau continued on a gravel road, soon opening up to breathtaking views.

The highest point of the hike is the summit Palette d'Isenau, parts of which were completely covered in frozen snow, and rises up directly opposite the Glacier 3000, providing a view of the whole massif and the sparkling Arnensee below. Having hiked there in October, just as autumn slowly turns into winter, the mountains looked like a palette of bright yellow larches, hazy green and brown pastures, and bright white snowy slopes. 

The return walk is circular and passes by a mountain hut (where I'm sure you could get some delicious cheese in the summer - but it was closed in October), a small lake (more of a pond), and ends up back at Lac Retaud, which serves food and drinks with a lovely view of the lake. Having been to Les Diablerets region before to visit the Glacier 3000 (only to discover it's more or less of a tourist trap), I was pleasantly surprised by this hike, and would definitely go again to explore other paths (to lake Arnensee for example).