As of: 2 October 2026

Wild camping around L'Etivaz

L'Etivaz, 1'166 m, is the village of the L'Etivaz AOP cheese. A federal game reserve where tents are banned begins 328 m to its north-east. The lawful night is 4.8 km up the Torneresse, on alp pasture at 1'956 m, with the yes of the alp or the landowner.

Leon Helg
Leon Helg · Legal situation checked in October 2026
What do these mean?

Illegal A specific rule bans it, usually with a fine, and it can be enforced. Sleep somewhere else.

Not allowed No real place to camp here. A gated site, a developed area, or nowhere sensible to lie down, even if no fine is attached.

It depends You can sleep here, but there's a condition first: ask the landowner, book a spot, stay inside a set zone, or use a bivvy instead of a tent. The report says which.

Tolerated No rule clearly allows or bans it, but a single night is accepted in practice and nobody enforces against it. Normal for high bivouacs above the treeline.

Legal Camping one night is fine here. Either a rule allows it, or we checked every law and found nothing against it. Still: pitch late, leave early, no trace.

What "wild camping" means here: one night. A small tent or a bivvy bag, up towards evening, gone in the morning. Not a base camp, not a camper van. Most Swiss bans are written against camping; whether a single night also falls under them depends on the exact wording, so this article checks that wording. The full difference: wild camping vs bivouacking.

Wild camping around L'Etivaz: a village, a valley and a reserve next door

Wild camping around L'Etivaz is a question about a village and the valley behind it. L'Etivaz lies at 1'166 m on the Torneresse in the Pays-d'Enhaut and belongs to the commune of Château-d'Oex: chalets along the road, a bus stop at the Maison de L'Etivaz and the cellars of the L'Etivaz AOP cheese. South of the village the road follows the Torneresse past more chalets to Pâquier Mottier at 1'374 m, and the slopes on both sides are forest and wooded pasture up to about 1'750 to 1'850 m. Above that, the head of the valley opens into summer pasture below the Cape au Moine: the alps of Seron, Les Plans and Le Gour.67

North-east of the village rise La Pierreuse, La Douve, the Rocher du Midi and the Gummfluh. That massif is a federal game reserve, and tents are banned there all year.3

So the night is at the head of the valley. The village is front doors and a road, and the valley floor is chalets, road and forest: ground nobody should pitch on, where Château-d'Oex bans camping beside every road and path anyway. The reserve is closed to tents. What remains is the open alp pasture at the head of the Torneresse, 4.8 km south-south-east of the village and 790 m higher, outside the reserve and above the forest, and one night there is lawful with the yes of the alp or the landowner.16

The game reserve begins 328 m from the village, and inside it no yes helps

The reserve is the massif, not the village. Federal game reserve no. 31 Pierreuse-Gummfluh covers about 1'010 ha, from above Devant-de-l'Etivaz over La Pierreuse, La Douve, the Rocher du Midi and the Gummfluh to the Col de Jable, the Jable alp included. Its boundary passes 328 m north-east of the village. The shape that covers the village itself on the federal map is something else: the reserve's game-damage compensation perimeter, 406.8 ha, which the federal object sheet places "en dehors du district franc", outside the reserve. It marks where damage by game is compensated, and it holds no rule for visitors.3

Inside the reserve, tents are banned all year. The ordinance on federal game reserves bans free tenting and camping, official campsites excepted, and only the canton can grant an exception: no landowner and no alp can. The object sheet puts the whole reserve under partial protection, and that does not lift the camping ban. The fixed fine is CHF 150.453

Dogs stay out too. La Pierreuse is a nature reserve in the care of Pro Natura Vaud since 1958, which bans dogs there. The canton's entry for its Pierreuse-Gummfluh tranquillity zone repeats that dogs are banned all year in the Pierreuse nature reserve, and bans drone flights. When there is snow, winter sports off the indicated routes are banned there, and the object sheet bans skiing off the marked pistes in the whole reserve.3

Where the line runs. Everything south and west of the Torneresse lies outside the reserve, the whole head of the valley included: the Seron alp is 4.3 km from it, Les Plans 4.8 km. The Col de Jable, 1'883 m, on the Bern border, is a path junction 23 m outside the line, and the Jable alp on the Vaud slope below it lies about 180 m inside: no place for a tent either way.3

Château-d'Oex's rule: never beside a path, and on private land only with a yes

Outside the reserve, the rule that decides a night is communal. L'Etivaz belongs to Château-d'Oex, whose general police regulation was approved on 1 May 2023 and replaced the regulation of 1993. Its camping article reads:1

"Il est interdit de camper sur la voie publique ou ses abords. Sur le domaine privé, le camping n'est permis qu'avec l'accord du propriétaire, du locataire, du fermier ou du possesseur à un autre titre de l'immeuble. Au surplus, l'autorisation de la Municipalité est obligatoire pour toute durée excédant quatre jours."Château-d'Oex, Règlement général de police, art. 59 para. 1 and 2, approved on 1 May 2023.

In English: camping on the public way or beside it is forbidden; on private land, camping is allowed only with the agreement of the owner, the tenant, the farmer or another holder of the land, and more than four days also needs a permit from the municipality. The alp pasture at the head of the Torneresse is private land, so the yes is the condition written into the rule, not a courtesy. The Civil Code does not replace it: it opens pasture to walkers, not to overnight stays.17

The paths count as public ways. The regulation defines a "voie publique" as any way open to public traffic, "indépendamment du fait qu'elle se trouve sur le domaine public ou le domaine privé" (art. 3 lit. h). A marked path across an alp is one, and a tent on it or beside it is banned, with or without a yes. The regulation does not say how many metres "abords" covers; Les Plans lies 210 m from the nearest marked path.16

A bivvy bag is not carved out. The regulation speaks of "camper" and "camping" and defines neither word. Treat a bivvy bag like a tent, ask first and keep away from the paths, and inside the reserve do not count on it at all.1

What a breach costs. The regulation sends fines to the Vaud contraventions act (art. 10), whose art. 25 sets at most CHF 500, raised to CHF 1'000 for a repeat or a continuing breach. There is no list of on-the-spot fines, so a breach runs as an ordinary municipal sentence, and the municipality can also order an end to it. Inside the reserve, the federal fixed fine of CHF 150 applies.125

The canton adds no rule for a night here. Vaud's nature regulation fines camping, bivouacking or fire with CHF 150 only inside a cantonal protection sector whose rules ban them, and none covers the Torneresse or La Pierreuse, which is a private nature reserve, not a cantonal one. Vaud's forest act bans sport and leisure that harm the forest inside the stands (art. 30), one more reason to keep off the wooded slopes. The federal landscape inventory, the cantonal inventory of natural monuments and sites and the Gruyère Pays-d'Enhaut regional nature park, which all cover the head of the valley, bind the authorities, not campers.86

Older advice in circulation. The regional park's leaflet on wild camping still gives Château-d'Oex's rule as a ban on camping on the public domain and in the Sarine floodplain, outside places the municipality fixes. That sentence is not in the regulation in force since 1 May 2023, which repealed the police regulation of 23 September 1993. The leaflet's map also shades almost the whole commune as public domain; the alp pastures are private parcels.101

How it is possible: Les Plans above Seron, with the alp's yes

Who can say yes. Art. 59 names the owner, the tenant and the farmer. In summer the alps at the head of the Torneresse are run by the operators who make the L'Etivaz AOP cheese, and the pitch lies on the summer pasture of the Seron alp.167

Who to ask. In the grazing season, roughly July to the end of August, ask at the Seron chalet, 1'813 m, 558 m north-north-east of the pitch; the L'Etivaz AOP cooperative lists Mathias Widmer as its operator since 2013. Ask before you pitch, not after. The cooperative publishes no phone numbers for its alp operators; its public line is at the cellars, the Maison de L'Etivaz in the village, 026 924 70 60. Outside the season the chalets are empty and the yes has to come from the landowner, whose name is not published: ask the cooperative who holds the Seron alp. No fee for a night is published, and none is known by word of mouth.7

Where to pitch. At Les Plans, above the Seron chalet: 46.38516 / 7.17215 (LV95 2'579'499 / 1'137'123), 1'956 m. It is open grazed pasture with scattered rocks, 3 degrees at the point and under 8 degrees across a patch of 10 by 10 m. It lies 210 m from the nearest marked path, 214 m from the nearest wood, 268 m from the nearest groundwater protection zone and 4.8 km from the game reserve, and no building stands within about 550 m. From the village it is 4.8 km south-south-east and 790 m higher.6

The catch is water. The flattest ground lies in a shallow north-south hollow of darker grass that may be damp after rain. The ground rises south towards the Cape au Moine and falls gently to the north. If the hollow is wet, use the rim 18 m north-west, 1 m higher, at about 6 degrees.6

Where not, up there. Not on or beside a path, which art. 59 bans outright. Not beside the chalets of Seron or Sazième. Not on the flat ground east of the Le Gour tarn, which lies inside a groundwater protection zone and holds standing water. And not at Le Toche, about 720 m west-north-west, where a small pond sits on the level patch.16

One night, no fire. Arrive late and leave at first light; more than four days would need the municipality's permit. Château-d'Oex bans open fire in places open to the public and within 10 m of buildings and hay, and any fire in dry surroundings, in a drought or in strong wind. Cook on a stove.1

Place by place: where a night works around L'Etivaz, and where it does not

  • Les Plans and the head of the Torneresse: one night with a yes. Seron, Les Plans and Le Gour lie outside the reserve, on private alp pasture above the forest, and art. 59 makes the yes of the alp or the owner the condition. Pitch at 46.38516 / 7.17215, away from the paths.16
  • The village, Devant-de-l'Etivaz and the valley road: no. Front doors, the road along the Torneresse to Pâquier Mottier, chalets and forest up to about 1'750 to 1'850 m. Art. 59 bans camping beside every road and path, and the forest act keeps leisure that harms the forest out of the stands.18
  • La Pierreuse, the Gummfluh, La Douve, the Rocher du Midi and the Jable alp: never. Federal game reserve: tents banned all year, a fixed fine of CHF 150, no landowner can allow it, and dogs are banned all year in the Pierreuse nature reserve.453
  • Lac Lioson, 1'848 m: consent on paper, but no place for a tent. The lake lies 3.3 km west of Les Plans, in the commune of Ormont-Dessous, whose police regulation of 2 July 2020 bans camping on public land and allows occasional camping on private land only with the agreement of the owner, tenant or farmer (art. 78). The lake itself is cantonal public land, a restaurant stands on its shore, and the lake lies in the drinking-water protection zone S2 of the commune's Lioson springs. The regional park marks it as a zone where camping is banned.9
  • Col de Jable, 1'883 m: a path junction, not a pitch. The saddle lies 23 m outside the reserve line, and the Jable alp on the Vaud slope below it lies inside.3
  • Campsites. Le Berceau in Château-d'Oex, Route des Mosses 16, open all year, bookings by phone, +41 26 924 62 34. Le Cuizon, between Les Mosses and La Lécherette, April to October, tents welcome, +41 79 668 14 20. La Toundra at Les Mosses, open all year, tents welcome, +41 24 550 01 10.10

The general picture for the rest of the country is in wild camping in Switzerland; the same Vaud clause, the owner's consent and no tent beside a path, decides the reports on La Dôle and the Dent de Jaman.

General rules for wild camping

This applies wherever you sleep outside, and at the head of the Torneresse the ground is a working cheese alp with protected springs. It is not legal text, it is decency and common sense, and it is what keeps a yes possible for the next person who asks.

  • No fire. An open fire has no place in the mountains. A gas stove is enough.
  • Pitch late, strike early. Set up towards evening, gone again early. A bivouac is one night, not a base camp.
  • Leave no rubbish. Everything you carry up you carry down, organic scraps and toilet paper included.
  • At least 50 metres from any water for the big business, so you do not foul what people and livestock drink.
  • Stay small and quiet. A small group, no speaker, no drone, dogs on the lead, and the alp staff's word goes.

Disclaimer

This article reflects my research and assessment to the best of my knowledge, as of October 2026. It is based on the publicly accessible and official sources linked below. It does not replace legal advice and is not a binding statement of the current legal situation.

The verdict covers L'Etivaz, its valley floor and the head of the Torneresse in the commune of Château-d'Oex, for a single night. It rests on the Château-d'Oex police regulation of 2023, the Vaud contraventions act, the ordinance on federal game reserves and the federal and cantonal protection layers named above. The owners of the alp parcels are not published, the alp season is approximate, and whether the Seron alp says yes, and on what terms, is up to the people who run it. The pitch was judged from official elevation data and aerial imagery, not surveyed on site. Before every tour, check the current sources yourself and follow instructions on site. A genuine emergency bivouac in distress is a separate question from a planned camp. Anyone who spends the night outside bears responsibility for their own conduct and any consequences themselves. Hikebeast, Leon Helg and Saftladen GmbH accept no liability for decisions made on the basis of this text, and call on no one to break applicable law.

Frequently asked questions

Is wild camping allowed around L'Etivaz?
It depends on where. Not in the village or on the wooded valley floor of the Torneresse, which are front doors, a road and forest, and where the Château-d'Oex police regulation bans camping on and beside every road and path (art. 59 para. 1). Never in the federal game reserve Pierreuse-Gummfluh north-east of the village, where free camping is banned (VEJ art. 5 para. 1 lit. e) and the fixed fine is CHF 150. At the head of the Torneresse, outside the reserve, one night on private alp pasture is lawful with the agreement of the owner, tenant or farmer (art. 59 para. 2).
Is L'Etivaz inside the game reserve?
No, the reserve begins 328 m north-east of the village. The shape that covers the village on the federal map is the reserve's game-damage compensation perimeter, 406.8 hectares, which the federal object sheet places outside the reserve and which carries no rule of conduct. The reserve itself, no. 31 Pierreuse-Gummfluh, about 1'010 hectares, covers La Pierreuse, La Douve, the Rocher du Midi, the Gummfluh and the Jable alp. Everything south and west of the Torneresse lies outside it.
Who do I ask, and where exactly do I pitch?
The Seron alp in summer, then Les Plans. In the grazing season, roughly July to the end of August, ask at the Seron chalet at 1'813 metres; the public line of the L'Etivaz AOP cooperative at the Maison de L'Etivaz is 026 924 70 60. Outside the season the yes has to come from the landowner, whose name is not published. Then pitch at Les Plans, WGS84 46.38516 / 7.17215 (LV95 2'579'499 / 1'137'123), 1'956 metres, 210 metres from the nearest marked path. No fee is published.
What is the fine?
Up to CHF 500 outside the reserve, CHF 150 inside it. A breach of art. 59 of the Château-d'Oex police regulation is fined under art. 25 of the Vaud contraventions act (LContr, RSV 312.11): at most CHF 500, or up to CHF 1'000 for a repeat or a continuing breach, as an ordinary municipal sentence. Inside the federal game reserve, free camping carries a fixed fine of CHF 150 (OBV annex 2 no. 12005), whatever the landowner says, and only the canton can grant an exception.
Where do I sleep if nobody says yes?
At a campsite. Le Berceau in Château-d'Oex is open all year (+41 26 924 62 34), Le Cuizon between Les Mosses and La Lécherette from April to October (+41 79 668 14 20), and La Toundra at Les Mosses all year (+41 24 550 01 10); Le Cuizon and La Toundra take tents. Not at Lac Lioson: the lake is cantonal public land with a restaurant on its shore, in the drinking-water protection zone of the Lioson springs.
Leon Helg

Leon Helg

Swiss filmmaker and software developer. Spends his free time in the Swiss Alps and maps his favourite spots for Hikebeast. Posts as @leon.helg on Instagram and TikTok.

Swiss Guide Wildcamping Checker Color Grading

Sources

  1. Commune de Château-d'Oex, Règlement général de police, adopted by the Municipalité on 22 February 2023, amended and adopted by the Conseil communal on 30 March 2023, approved by the head of the cantonal Département des institutions, du territoire et du sport on 1 May 2023 and in force from that approval (art. 116); it repeals the police regulation of 23 September 1993 (art. 115) and applies to the whole communal territory, L'Etivaz included (art. 4). Art. 59 "Camping et caravaning", para. 1: "Il est interdit de camper sur la voie publique ou ses abords." Para. 2: "Sur le domaine privé, le camping n'est permis qu'avec l'accord du propriétaire, du locataire, du fermier ou du possesseur à un autre titre de l'immeuble. Au surplus, l'autorisation de la Municipalité est obligatoire pour toute durée excédant quatre jours. L'autorisation peut être refusée notamment lorsque le campeur ne peut bénéficier d'installations sanitaires à proximité." Para. 3 lets the Municipalité adopt a camping regulation; the commune publishes none. Art. 3 lit. h: "Voie publique : toute voie ouverte à la circulation publique, soit dès qu'elle est mise à la disposition d'un cercle indéterminé de personnes même si son usage est limité par sa nature, par son mode ou par le but de son utilisation ou à une catégorie d'usagers, par exemple des cyclistes, et indépendamment du fait qu'elle se trouve sur le domaine public ou le domaine privé." Art. 10 para. 1: "Toute infraction aux dispositions du présent règlement et à ses dispositions d'application ou d'exécution est passible d'une amende dans les limites fixées par la loi sur les contraventions."; para. 2 lit. a lets the Municipalité "mettre fin à l'état de fait constitutif de la contravention". The regulation contains no list of order fines. Art. 71 para. 1: open fire is banned, allowed only with every precaution against fire and never "sur la voie publique, dans les lieux accessibles au public ou aux abords de ceux-ci, à moins de dix mètres des bâtiments, des dépôts de foin, de paille, de combustibles ou de toute autre substance inflammable"; para. 3 allows grills. Art. 73 para. 1: "Tout feu est interdit : a. dans les environnements secs ; b. pendant les périodes de sécheresse ; ou c. en cas de vent violent." The commune's building regulation of 1979, art. 58, bans caravans and other mobile homes used as holiday homes outside equipped campsites, a rule about holiday homes, not about a night in a tent. Règlement général de police (PDF), chateaudoex-admin.ch, règlements. ↩
  2. Loi vaudoise sur les contraventions (LContr, RSV 312.11) of 19 May 2009. Art. 25 "Montant de l'amende", para. 1: "Les contraventions réprimées par l'autorité municipale sont passibles d'une amende de 500 francs au plus, contre chaque contrevenant, sous réserve des cas où la loi prévoit un montant inférieur." Para. 2: "L'amende peut être portée à 1000 francs en cas de récidive ou de contravention continue." Art. 10 of the Château-d'Oex regulation (source 1) refers breaches of art. 59 to this act; with no list of order fines in the regulation, a breach runs as an ordinary municipal sentence. lexfind.ch. ↩
  3. Federal game reserve no. 31 "Pierreuse-Gummfluh" (canton Vaud), federal inventory of game reserves, object sheet of the 2023 revision: the reserve covers the Gummfluh massif at the eastern end of the Pays-d'Enhaut, on the border with the Saanenland; special measures: "L'ensemble du district franc est soumis à une protection partielle (II)"; "Des périmètres, dans lesquels les dégâts dus au gibier seront indemnisés, sont délimités en dehors du district franc (III)"; "Dans le district franc, il est interdit de skier en dehors des pistes balisées." Geometry from the federal geoportal, read on 1 October 2026: the reserve proper, under partial protection, covers 1'009.8 ha, 990.5 ha of it in Château-d'Oex, from above Devant-de-l'Etivaz over La Pierreuse, La Douve, the Rocher du Midi and the Gummfluh to the Col de Jable; two compensation perimeters lie outside it, 406.8 ha between the village and the reserve and 181.1 ha to the north. Distances to the reserve: the village of L'Etivaz (LV95 2'577'547 / 1'141'518) 328 m outside, inside the 406.8 ha perimeter; Pâquier Mottier 2'289 m outside; Seron 4'275 m outside; the pitch at Les Plans 4'778 m outside; Lac Lioson 4'805 m outside; the Col de Jable saddle (LV95 2'581'661 / 1'141'783, 1'883 m, commune of Saanen BE) 23 m outside; the Jable alp about 182 m inside; the La Pierreuse locality 1'046 m inside. The canton's district-franc layer agrees: category III, "Périmètre de dégâts causés par le gibier", at the village, category II, partial protection, at La Pierreuse. Vaud tranquillity zone "Pierreuse-Gummfluh", applying "en cas de neige", with the remark: "Obligation de tenir les chiens en laisse et vols de drones interdits. Les chiens sont interdits toute l'année dans la réserve naturelle de la Pierreuse. Les règles du district franc fédéral s'appliquent". Pro Natura Vaud, nature reserve La Pierreuse, in its care since 1958: "Accès interdit aux chiens". The Pierreuse natural forest reserve, set up by contract, binds forestry, not visitors. object sheet no. 31 (PDF), pronatura-vd.ch. ↩
  4. Verordnung über die eidgenössischen Jagdbanngebiete (VEJ, SR 922.31), art. 5 para. 1 lit. e: "Das freie Zelten und Campieren ist verboten. Vorbehalten bleibt die Benutzung offizieller Zeltplätze. Die Kantone können Ausnahmen bewilligen." The French text of the same provision reads "il est interdit de camper librement. L'utilisation de campings officiels est réservée. Les cantons peuvent accorder des exceptions." and the Italian "è vietato piantare tende o campeggiare. È fatto salvo l'uso di campeggi ufficiali. I Cantoni possono accordare eccezioni." The reservation for partially protected zones contained in art. 5 belongs to lit. d, on carrying, keeping and using weapons and traps, and does not qualify lit. e; reserve no. 31 is under partial protection throughout, and the camping ban applies there in full. fedlex.admin.ch. ↩
  5. Ordnungsbussenverordnung (OBV, SR 314.11), annex 2, entry no. 12005: "Freies Zelten oder Campieren in eidgenössischen Jagdbanngebieten (Art. 18 Abs. 1 Bst. e und Abs. 3 JSG, Art. 5 Abs. 1 Bst. e VEJ)", CHF 150. The same entry reads in French "Camper librement dans les districts francs fédéraux (art. 18, al. 1, let. e, et al. 3, LChP, art. 5, al. 1, let. e, ODF)" and in Italian "Piantare tende o campeggiare in bandite federali (art. 18 cpv. 1 lett. e e cpv. 3 LCP, art. 5 cpv. 1 lett. e OBAF)", each at CHF 150. fedlex.admin.ch. ↩
  6. Official federal and Vaud geodata, read on 1 October 2026. Village of L'Etivaz: LV95 2'577'547 / 1'141'518, WGS84 46.42463 / 7.14656, 1'166 m, commune of Château-d'Oex; federal layers: the compensation perimeter of game reserve no. 31 (source 3) and the regional nature park Gruyère Pays-d'Enhaut; no wildlife rest zone, landscape inventory, mire, floodplain, amphibian site, dry meadow, Ramsar or Emerald site, forest reserve or military area. Bus stop "L'Etivaz, Maison de L'Etivaz". Recommended pitch, Les Plans (swisstopo locality name): LV95 2'579'499 / 1'137'123, WGS84 46.38516 / 7.17215, swissALTI3D 1'956.1 m, Château-d'Oex parcel 2542 (187.7 ha, private, EGRID CH644583945286), agricultural zone under the building regulation of 1979, with groundwater protection zones S1 and S2 elsewhere on the parcel; federal layers: the regional nature park and BLN object 1510 (La Pierreuse, Gummfluh and the Vallée de L'Étivaz), both binding authorities only; no game reserve, wildlife rest zone, mire, floodplain, amphibian site, dry meadow, forest reserve or military area; Vaud layers: inventory of natural monuments and sites no. 198 (the upper Torneresse valley), which governs works by landowners; no tranquillity zone, classification decree or public nature reserve; summer-grazing unit E58411340, 83.2 ha, the same unit as the Seron chalet. Terrain (swissALTI3D, 2 m): 3.1 degrees at the point; the 10 by 10 m window centred there stays under 8 degrees (mean 3.7); a 5-degree core of 92 m² lies 7 m north-east; median 9.4 degrees within 30 m. Profiles at 10 m steps: 2'016 m at 150 m south, 1'939 m at 100 m north, 1'966 m at 50 m east; the rim 18 m north-west is 6.1 degrees and 1 m higher. Aerial image (swissimage, 10 cm): open grazed pasture with scattered rocks, clumps of alder and dwarf pine 30 to 120 m east and south, darker grass along the hollow, no trough or pond within 200 m. Distances: nearest marked hiking path 210 m; Seron chalet 558 m north-north-east; nearest building about 550 m; nearest mapped water 447 m; nearest wooded surface 214 m; zone S2 268 m east, zone S1 1'544 m; commune boundary 509 m south; from the village 4.81 km at a bearing of 156 degrees, 790 m higher. Ground left out: Le Toche (LV95 2'578'823 / 1'137'381, 1'974 m), a pond of about 10 by 12 m on the level patch; east of the Le Gour tarn (LV95 2'580'119 / 1'136'957, 1'973 m), inside zone S2, with a puddle 18 m north and the tarn, 1'996 m, 171 m west; Sazième (LV95 2'580'531 / 1'137'249), 68 m from the alp buildings. Valley: Pâquier Mottier 1'374 m; forest and wooded pasture up to about 1'750 to 1'850 m. map.geo.admin.ch, RDPPF extract, parcel 2542. ↩
  7. Who runs the alps. L'Etivaz AOP cooperative, producer page "Seron", read on 1 October 2026: "Altitude : 1813 m", "Exploitant: Widmer Mathias", "Reprise de l'exploitation : 2013", 45 cows and pigs, visits possible. The cooperative lists its alp operators by chalet and publishes no telephone numbers for them; its own number is on the page of the Caves de L'Etivaz, the cellars at 1'190 m in the village, run by the Coopérative des producteurs L'Etivaz AOP: 026 924 70 60. An older page of the same cooperative, no longer online, gave Seron's cheese-making season as 1 July to 30 August; treat the dates as approximate. Ownership: parcel 2542 is a private parcel, and neither the cadastre of public-law restrictions nor any published source names its owner. No fee, standing arrangement or sign for a night on these alps is published. Swiss Civil Code (ZGB, SR 210), art. 699 para. 1: access to forest and pasture within local custom, a right of access, not a right to spend the night. etivaz-aop.ch, Seron, etivaz-aop.ch, Caves de L'Etivaz, fedlex.admin.ch (ZGB). ↩
  8. Canton Vaud nature, forest and camping law, read on 1 October 2026. Loi sur la protection du patrimoine naturel et paysager (LPrPNP, RSV 450.11), in force since 1 January 2023: no provision on camping, tents or bivouacs. Règlement d'application (RLPrPNP, RSV 450.11.1), in force since 1 July 2024, annex 8 no. 4: "Violer l'interdiction de camper, bivouaquer ou faire du feu à l'extérieur des endroits aménagés ou désignés à cet effet dans un secteur cantonal de protection", CHF 150. It needs a classification decree or a cantonal land-use plan that carries such a ban; at La Pierreuse there is neither a classification decree nor a public nature reserve, and the Pierreuse reserve is private land in the care of Pro Natura. The cantonal plan for the Col des Mosses and La Lécherette mire site (PAC 292 A, approved on 25 March 2015) has a camping zone for the campsites of Les Mosses and Le Cuizon (art. 19) and no sentence banning camping elsewhere. Loi forestière (LVLFo, RSV 921.01), art. 28: public access to the forest is guaranteed; art. 30 para. 1: "Les activités de sport et loisirs qui portent atteinte à la conservation des forêts sont interdites à l'intérieur des peuplements." Loi sur les campings et caravanings résidentiels (LCCR, RSV 935.61): an act on equipped campsites. LPrPNP, RLPrPNP, LVLFo, PAC 292 A (PDF). ↩
  9. Lac Lioson, commune of Ormont-Dessous. Règlement communal de police of 2 July 2020, which repeals the police regulation of 16 December 2004 (art. 154). Art. 78 "Camping et caravaning", para. 1: "Le camping et le caravaning sous toutes leurs formes sont interdits sur le domaine public, excepté sur les emplacements désignés par la Municipalité." Para. 2: "Sur le domaine privé, le camping occasionnel n'est permis qu'avec l'accord du propriétaire, du locataire, du fermier ou du possesseur à un autre titre de l'immeuble. L'autorisation de la Municipalité ou de l'autorité délégataire est obligatoire pour toute durée excédant quatre jours." Geodata, read on 1 October 2026: lake centre LV95 2'576'155 / 1'137'252, the lake at 1'848 m, on parcel DP 9130, cantonal public domain; the shore on Ormont-Dessous parcel 1715 (403.2 ha, private); the Restaurant du Lac Lioson within 200 m; the regional nature park, and no federal protected area. Groundwater protection: the springs of the Captage de Lioson, owned by the commune of Ormont-Dessous, have a zone S2 of 165'595 m² that takes in the lake centre and a zone S1 146 m from it (plan and regulation of 2006). The regional park's leaflet (source 10) marks the lake as a zone where camping is banned, without naming a rule. Ormont-Dessous, règlement de police (PDF), S zones of the Captage de Lioson (PDF). ↩
  10. Campsites and the park leaflet, read on 1 October 2026. Camping Le Berceau, Route des Mosses 16, 1660 Château-d'Oex, +41 26 924 62 34, campingduberceau@hotmail.com: "Camping OUVERT A L'ANNEE", over 70 camping pitches by the Sarine, bookings by phone or e-mail. Camping Le Cuizon, between Les Mosses and La Lécherette, open from April to October, with spaces for tents, camper vans and caravans, +41 79 668 14 20. Camping La Toundra (Camping des Mosses), Chemin du Camping, 1862 Les Mosses, open all year, for a camper van, a tent or a caravan, +41 24 550 01 10. Parc naturel régional Gruyère Pays-d'Enhaut, leaflet "Camping sauvage et bivouac" (PDF of 6 December 2024, map of 2022), not a source for the law: brown zones, the federal game reserves, "Interdiction de camping"; hatched green zones, the nature reserves, "Interdiction de camping" and "Interdiction d'entrer avec des chiens (Pierreuse et Vanil Noir)"; for Château-d'Oex: "Hors des lieux fixés par la municipalité, il est interdit de camper sur le domaine public et dans la zone alluviale de la Sarine." That sentence is not in the police regulation in force since 1 May 2023 (source 1), which repealed the regulation of 23 September 1993. Le Berceau, Le Cuizon, La Toundra, park leaflet (PDF). ↩