This is the version of our website addressed to speakers of English in the United States. 2021 HAUTE ROUTE SKI TOUR DATES . An introduction to the Walker's Haute Route which is a trek from Chamonix in the French Alps to Zermatt in the Swiss Alps. For the Haute Route we offer both weekend and mid week departure dates. Either way, at the end of the lake the long climb up to the Dix Hut begins – usually in the afternoon sun. If you need any help with this, then drop us a line and we’ll give you some recommendations. Hut choice depends on the group, current conditions the best combination of hut bookings for the week. The Haute Route is the classic ski touring adventure that links the two Alpine centers of Chamonix in France and Zermatt in Switzerland. This is an all-inclusive ski touring trip. © 2021 Alpine Guides. The Haute Route ski tour is an inclusive trip that includes all lodging, ground transport, lift tickets, almost all food and all the guide's expenses. Experience the Haute Route or "High Road" of the Alps on this challenging itinerary designed for serious trekkers. Please ensure you are happy with this before making a booking. The route covers approximately 100km and travels west to east, across seven Alpine passes linking the valleys of Haute-Savoie in France to the Swiss Valais. They did give us a credit towards the purchase of the card. The final day of the Haute Route is always one of the most memorable days out in any ski mountaineers career – crossing three cols and six glaciers, with a final huge descent down to Zermatt under the North Face of the Matterhorn. Please Contact us to discuss a trip: Please use our national numbers: 02 8319 2266 from Australia 416-548-4819 from Canada 04 889 4515 from New Zealand 25 803 0282 from Hong Kong 646-757-1102 from the USA +44 (0)131 214 1144 (Edinburgh, … This book is absolutely critical. 950m ascent, 700m descent ~4hrs (1250m ascent, 1350m descent ~6.5hrs to Nacamuli). Who we recommend it for: This trail … The Haute Route is located in the French speaking region of Switzerland. Guided at a maximum ratio of 1:5, you will take in some easy summits along the way. We did this trek independently, and thoroughly enjoyed every single moment of it. Cresting the final col, the Matterhorn rears up ahead, opening the way to the final 1900m descent down the Stockji and Zmutt Glaciers to Zermatt. From the Col Brule, the Col Valpelline doesn’t look that far away, but it always takes a good two hours to reach. Recommendations and Advice Visit the Knowledge Base section of our website, where we publish an annual review of the years best new skis, boots and touring equipment, plus a range of other interesting tips and recommendations. PM Overnight in Chamonix valley. For Mid Week Departures, days are shown in brackets. Haute Route, the world’s leading cycling event series, and Colnago, the most storied cycling brand in the world, have … More than expected! We’ve been guiding the Haute Route for many years now and are well aware that having an extra day in the itinerary greatly increases your chances of completing the route. I hope that this trip report helps you in planning your route! Overall we were incredibly lucky with the weather and Mark was a superb guide, incredibly knowledgeable, relaxed and fun to tour with. 750m ascent, 2400m descent ~8-10hrs from the Vignettes (or 650m ascent, 7-8hrs from the Nacamuli). It’s also a popular ski trail in the winter called the Classic Haute Route, hence the summer trip having the distinction of being the Walker’s Haute Route. Your luggage is transported to the next hotel for you. For this trip you must have specialist travel insurance providing medical, emergency search/rescue and repatriation cover for off piste skiing and ski touring, as outlined in the trip itinerary. This high alpine traverse was first done as a walking trip in 1861. If you need to top up your fitness for this trip, please see our ski touring training advice page. He got us to Zermat while other teams failed while maintaining a good margin. Technical Ski Ability > your off-piste ski ability should be at Ski Tech Level 3. The Haute route started as a mountaineering trail connecting two great mountaineering centres. It starts in Chamonix, France and ends in Zermatt, Switzerland. Further details can be found on our insurance info page. Cost should be around CHF 80 / person for the 4 hour train ride. Hikers should be prepared for 6-8 hours of travel a day with up to 3,000ft of vertical gain during a given day. That did not work out well for her as these guides are not tour guides. I’m sure you’ll get very similar comments from the rest of the group, but my father and I absolutely loved the trip. Dave Hollinger, as you know, is a great guy and a consummate professional. The Haute Route was established almost a hundred years ago as a high mountaineering route that linked together two of Europe’s premier mountaineering centers, Chamonix and Zermatt. He was also more enthusiastic which created more excitement for us. Haute Route literally means "high road" and is pronounced "oat root." It starts in Chamonix, France and ends in Zermatt, Switzerland. This Haute Route is for those who want a more leisurely pace, ... We include premium excursions such as the Gornergrat cogwheel railway as part of the trip. Using a splitboard, different techniques and lines are required on a number of sections of the route, which means we are unfortunately unable to accept bookings for splitboards on our Haute Route trips. However, the distance is hard to predict as trail markers are posted with time estimates (hours & minutes in Switzerland) to complete instead of miles (like in USA). One day we had elevation gain of 2500 feet and descent of 3000 feet. Connecting the two alpine centres of Chamonix and Zermatt, the route offers everything you’d expect on a high mountain ski tour – with glacial terrain every day, amazing scenery, tough climbs and big ski descents. La Haute Route (trans: The High Road) is a rough trail between Chamonix, France and Zermatt, Switzerland. He kept things fun but never lost sight of everyone’s welfare. I really enjoyed the trip (especially now I’ve had a day or two to recover), the whole experience was great with a variety of different conditions and uncertainty all adding to the overall sense of achievement at the end, including some great skiing thrown in! If staying at the Mont Fort Hut at the end of the day, we can get up a little later and enjoy a quiet descent of the Val D’Arpette before having an afternoon’s off piste skiing around Verbier, as the Mont Fort Hut lies within the Verbier lift system. Airport transfer from Geneva to Chamonix: Alternatively hire a car at Geneva airport (1.2 hrs drive to Cham). August 9, 2019 3:00 am August 9, 2019. our Ski Touring Skills Long Weekend. I can without any hesitation recommend Alpine Guides as a great guide service… I look forward for another opportunity to ski or climb with you, you guys rock! The Walker's Haute Route is a 14 day trek from Chamonix to Zermatt, or in different words from the base of the Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn, one of the most iconic mountains in the world.. Please Note: there are numerous different combinations of huts and accommodation along the route and we frequently vary our itineraries to make best use of bookings and current weather and snow conditions. Like most high altitude ski tours, reasonable weather and snow conditions are required on critical sections of the route, but our 7 day itinerary has a contingency day built in, so your chances of reaching Zermatt are greatly increased. A mountain bike trip following the mighty Haute Route between Chamonix and Zermatt. Zermatt . Day 2 – Col de la Forclaz, Champex . Trails, at times, may be wet, slippery, steep, and/or rocky. Chamonix Experience’s Haute Route consists of 7 days of ski touring. It is located in a place where France, Switzerland and Italy meet: the Alps. Trekkers typically take 14 days to complete the trek, give or take a day or two. Inspiring Atmosphere. Hey this was no snack. The Haute route … This needs to be in the Alps, or on equivalent terrain eg. Alpine Ski Touring Experience > you should have at least one week’s previous ski touring experience on Alpine touring kit. Your guide will run through kit checks and safety routines, as well as hand out any rental equipment, before going on to discuss the current weather and mountain conditions and how these affect our plans. Also, our Multiday Ski Touring FAQs page answers some of the most common questions we are asked about multi day ski touring and Haute Route logistics etc. Both are the same distance, but in recent years the Col du Passon has become more and more popular, since the Col du Chardonnet dried out in 2003 and is now more often a roped down climb rather than a ski descent. The hikes on France & Switzerland: Haute Route Hiking range from 4-8 hours. While travelers as far back as the Romans as well as shepherds, traders, and others crossed through this part of the alps, it is unlikely that anyone bothered to connect the passes leading to the present high level route prior to the English. Subject to weather and snow conditions, we aim to take the Skiers Verbier Route which gives the most reliable passage to Zermatt: You should arrange outward travel on Saturday, arriving by 6-7pm latest in time for the briefing at your accommodation. This is minor overall but still an inconvenience. There are administrative staff that you primarily have contact with initially (located in Provo, UT) and they have not been to Switzerland or the Haute Route. Our hiking … We really had a fantastic trip. If you want to get into ski touring, try a touring course or intro level ski tour. If starting from the Mont Fort Hut, it takes a couple of hours longer to reach the traverse above the Lac de Dix, coming around the North side of the Rosablanche before making a good descent off the Col de Sovereu. It was great to meet Johnny, he was a fantastic guide, great guy & I’d happily trust and recommend him to anyone. Tech Level 3 Confirmed Off Piste Skier. The Walker's Haute Route is a 14 day trek from Chamonix to Zermatt, or in different words from the base of the Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn, one of the most iconic mountains in the world.. Haute Route Trip Report TMBtent. Top tip #1: if it snows overnight, prevaricate in the morning until someone else sets off first, breaking trail in new snow is tough. It's an Alps hiking tour like no other. This July we completed our dream of walking the Alps from Chamonix to Zermatt. He tied in with our group for 1 day (at St. Luc) which was great. Before setting off on the Haute Route, we do a warm up and training day – ski touring in the Mont Blanc Massif. Return travel should be arranged on Sunday morning, after your final nights accommodation. So I would not recommend to you to have a non-hiking member attend this group as some of these villages are tiny with not much to do. The Haute Route trip was a chance to get out into the fresh air and see what we could do. Our ski guides are ski touring specialists and know the Haute Route intimately. I know that some of the success belongs to the team, but it was Dave’s ability to gauge our strength and weakness and his talent in inspiring us that helped lead to this success. Had a fantastic time skiing last week and it feels great to have completed the route albeit with a slight variation mid-week to mitigate the risk of bad weather and avalanche potential. So we loved it, had an epic time! 29 min read No Comments on Haute Route Trip Report *This post may contain affiliate links. I liked the challenge of trying to complete a route, which gives the whole trip a tangible purpose, though obviously means the skiing is not necessarily always ideal. Day 1: From Zermatt under the Matterhorn up to the Schonbiel Hut. There is lots of elevation gain and descent which varies daily. With a personalised itinerary builder, GPS mobile maps, up-to-date trail information … of the door with the sheer volume of people. We had two hiking guides (Nikki and Jeff). This is a family owned business and I found out from Greg that one of the admin staff was his daughter-in-law. Enjoy one of the world's greatest hikes, the classic Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt, on trails beneath Western Europe's highest peaks. Book with confidence for 2021. This route is correctly called the Walkers's Haute Route or the Summer Haute Route - it does not involve skis (obviously) and it avoids serious glaciers. Buy it and take it with you – it has nearly everything you’ll need to know about the route plus some details about each town (including lodging and restaurants). His skill in route finding, putting in the track and navigation was certainly very obvious and appreciated. Please Note – As a UK based travel company, we follow UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) travel advice when making decisions about whether to run or cancel a trip – ie if UK FCO are advising against all but essential travel to a country, then it is regarded as ‘closed’ for UK travellers and we will have to cancel. Trekking Chamonix to Zermatt: The Classic Walker's Haute Route - Kev Reynolds . Alpenwild planned well ensuring that we spent maximum amount of time on the trails for scenic views and not roads. They had new Mercedes vans (12 passenger) and were excellent drivers. This first day is a long one, with 1250m of climb and a couple of sections of roped climbing on foot – however the views and high mountain ambiance are amazing. Even had a bluebird powder day in Zermat the day after the tour. Our guides were able to contact (while on the trail) their transportation company to arrange to meet us at the end of the day where a trail intersected a road to pick us up and transport us to our hotel. We took the trip in march and had great conditions and didnt see many other skiers while in the mountains other than on the huts and, I got into Alpine Touring only a few years ago . The celebrated Haute Route is a spectacular high-level hiking traverse across the French and Swiss Alps from Chamonix, France, to Zermatt, Switzerland. My pack weighed approximately 8 pounds. After a leisurely lunch we … If you’d like to do the Haute Route … If France is closed but Switzerland is open, we will meet in Martigny and ski the Haute Route to Zermatt from there. The Haute Route is possible on a splitboard, but being a long A to B tour, the route traverses a lot of terrain that it’s far quicker and easier to cover on skis. On skis: you can skin uphill at 300m/hr for 3-4 hrs a day (ie 8-1200m of ascent each day). She was able to take short walks and enjoy the outstanding scenery but not like we did. However, if you are both a very strong skier (ski level 4+) and very fit (fitness level 4+),  you can get away with a shorter period of focussed ski touring skills training beforehand e.g. The Haute Route ski tour is an inclusive trip that includes all lodging, ground transport, lift tickets, almost all food and all the guide's expenses. Our hotels were located in Charmonix, Champex, Arolla, Grimentz, St. Luc (2 days) , Gruben, and Zermatt (2 days). It seemed like a bit of a side-trip really, in that you had to walk up to the cabane, and then reverse the same path the next day to get back on route. For flights and other travel options, including train, coach and driving, visit our Travel Planning page. The terrain is mixed, with both gradual and steep sections encountered on most days. Overview Itinerary. 2021 HAUTE ROUTE SKI TOUR … The Couronne is a friendly place in the centre of the village, close to ski hire shops, bars, restaurants and bakeries, and within walking distance of the famous Grand Montets ski area. If you are not staying longer I would not get this card. Please read our disclosure for more info. The Haute Route starts in France and finishes in Switzerland, which leads to the obvious question: ‘What happens if one of the countries visited on the Haute Route is ‘closed’ – will the trip still go ahead?’  A – If Switzerland is ‘closed’, the trip will be cancelled and you will receive a full refund. An early start is required to make the first climb up the Col de L’Eveque, before a nice descent and second climb up to the Col du Mont Brule. Greg the owner of the company was more versed in plant identification and wildlife than the other guides. The Walker’s Haute Route is an absolutely stunning trail that offers what I would consider to be the classic Alps experience: beautiful mountain hamlets, green flower-rich valleys, gorgeous snow-capped peaks and almost constant access to great food and drink. The Haute Tour was excellent! There are 3 pre-requirements for a safe and enjoyable Haute Route journey on skis: 1. Day 1 – Arrive Geneva Switzerland, Chamonix . Looking forward to doing something next year, any suggestions would be appreciated! I’ve had many guides in my mountain adventures and I would say that Dave’s performance was the best I have ever seen and enjoyed. For example – if there is a significant fresh snowfall, the guide will often re arrange hut bookings in order to keep the team safe and increase the chances of success. Hike the Walker’s Haute Route, one of the world's great treks, through the French and Swiss Alps from Chamonix to Zermatt. 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