Afterwards, we caught a train down to Cinque Terra in Italy for some quality beach relaxation. The car itself sat 4 (it was basically a small chair-lift sized gondola car) and had exterior shelves for packs, since you really can't fit in the cabin with your pack). This map illustrates the Walker's Haute Route. 9 hours, 6.5 miles, +5686 ft, -1989 ft; 22.3% avg grade up, -20% avg grade down. Extremely detailed maps of the Haute Route (1:25,000) Price $170.00 Details. Chelsea and I … To hike in The Alps is an unforgettable experience & this is the best Summer hike of them all. There is also a non-technical Walker's Haute Route that has gained in popularity and become a classic in and of itself. The bottom of the gully was 120 feet below the cabane...so we had to reclimb that lost elevation. If, however, you wish to only take one, I would say that Reynolds is more critical to have. Before dinner, everyone gathered out on the deck to watch the sunset over the ridge to the west. Personally, I think doing it without a guide was WAY better - we got to hike at our own pace (rather than stopping whenever the group decided to stop), we picked our own lodging (rather than camping or staying in large hostels), and eat where we chose to. Breakfast at Hotel du Col de la Forclaz was bread and croissants with jam and butter. The top of the third ladder had a section of iron that extended along the right-hand side as a hand rail, plus a metal grate had been placed at the edge of the cliff face to facilitate easier stepping off from the ladder. (In consulting the maps, it appears that the real trail was a few hundred feet to the west of the river and we missed it because we left the farm...but walking on the road actually felt quite nice on tired, aching feet.). The trail along the lateral moraine was more defined and easier to follow (it only stayed on the very top for a few hundred feet) but it was decidedly more airy. This is one item I’d recommend bringing along on the hike). departed with no warning. After this steep gain, the trail leveled out as it contoured the steep hillside and headed north. With the exception of the cabanes, tap water was readily available (and some towns even had a drinking water spigot available). The Walker’s Haute Route – Alexander Stewart. Though the term Haute Route has been widely used for many multi-day, hut-to-hut alpine tours, the "Chamonix–Zermatt Haute Route" remains the original. As the trail approached the summit of the pass it got a bit rockier requiring occasional scrambling. From there, it was only a short distance before we reached a small (but very sturdy) metal suspension bridge that crossed the stream leading down from Glacier de Cheilon above us. Based on other trip reports I read, I was expecting a relativity primitive cabane with an outdoor outhouse and no running water. Before departing Chamonix, we’d asked the hotel front desk to call Hotel du Col de la Forclaz to make us a reservation. - See 18 traveler reviews, 4 candid photos, and great deals for Chamonix, France, at Tripadvisor. Eventually, the trail leveled back out on the valley floor and crossed a small stream. Published by Orell Fussli (the same folks who print Swiss currency) these beautiful full-color maps include hiking trails printed in red and with standard times (uphill and down) between trail junctions. For dinner, they prepared Lisa a bowl of beef broth for soup (instead of the soup the rest of the hut guests enjoyed) but the rest of the meal was fine for her to eat. This tiny cable car descended silently down the steep hillside into St. Niklaus 3,000 feet below. We spent three hours wandering around Les Haudères looking for a place to buy food on Sunday (until discovering a grocery store on the edge of town). As we hiked, we spotted Sierre-Zinal ultra marathon signs indicating the distance remaining to Zinal – obviously this was the route taken into Zinal by the marathon! As we departed from the bus stop, we were greeted by one of the Belgians who had injured his knee and was taking a rest day in La Sage. 7.5 hours. As an added complication, we weren't doubling back on our route, so we couldn't store any luggage anywhere for our after-hike trip down to the beaches of Italy - everything we had for our trip we had to carry. If not, please don't hesitate to drop me an email at . The celebrated Haute Route, a high-level hike from Chamonix, France, to Zermatt, Switzerland, is immersed in alpine lore. We arrived at Clambin after 45 minutes of hiking (about a mile outside of Verbier). All restaurants or hotels were accommodating of her dietary needs (the trickiest part was communicating!) Once we had reached the cabane, this theory was confirmed by the number of people up there to enjoy a nice lunch or some hot chocolate. some breakfast before heading out to the bus stop. Swiss Hiking on the Haute Route. To make matters worse, about 1,000 feet above the town, the cable car stopped for about 5 minutes and just swung silently in the breeze (presumably to allow people to get on at the mid-load point in Jungen…don’t even get me started on what the mid-load point looks like…). We took a break to eat some more food before continuing down the valley floor. The biggest problem I had was keeping my eyes off the glacier below us – the dirt striations in the ice and snow far below gave me vertigo as I climbed! True, looking down into Val d’Arpette was nice (hence the name of the pass, meaning Window of the Arpette), but the Trient glacier was now out of view. This trek is rigorous to say the least and is reserved for the fittest of mountain walkers as the daily height gain on the Walkers Haute Route full self guided trek can be substantial with the overall accumulation of 12,000m. The trail was usually very easy to follow; in a few spots it was faint (more towards Zermatt) but these were well indicated in the book(s) and a good map/GPS would make light work of the route finding. Breakfast in the cabane was very spartan: bread, yogurt and cheese with instant coffee (ugh...). We left the farm and tried to follow a trail on the west side of the river but it proved impassible. As we got closer, the trail became increasingly rocky as we were basically just hiking along talus. The trail around the rock was about the width of two boots with a decent drop, so the chain offered a little more security as you rounded the slanted rock (of course, Lisa chose to ignore the chain…I held on for dear life; you’ll start to notice a trend here). La Sage to Cabane de Moiry via Col via Col du Tsaté - this hike was really nothing special until you get over the pass. I was wrong. For us, doing this hike without a guide was not a problem at all. Highway 410 Hiking & Climbing All trips accessed off Highway 410 from Enumclaw to Mt. The summit was packed with people (all of whom spoke English) and it was a little difficult finding a spot to sit and have lunch. Hike The Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt, Switzerland. The Haute Randonnée Pyrénéenne (HRP) is a high-level long-distance trail in the Pyrenees joining the Atlantic and Mediterranean. One of the observations many of us had at the hut that night was that these chains were frequently unnecessary where placed and would've been far more helpful had they been a few hundred feet farther down the trail! Much to our surprise, it was a semi-sweet berry tea – a little unusual in taste (a few others we talked to hated the flavor) but the warmth and sweetness was actually kind of nice! Your mileage may vary! If you're looking for waypoints and routes to download to your GPS, here was our route: Prior to the trip, I upgraded my old Garmin eTrex Vista that was getting a bit long in the tooth to a new Garmin Oregon 300. Haute Level Route, a high level walk: Walkers' Haute Route - a demanding hike! Yes and no. We reached tree line around an hour after setting out, and passed a small farm about half an hour after that (where Lisa finally decided it was time to pet one of the many cows we'd seen along the trip). Haute Route trek MapS The Haute Route trek is not marked on any trail signs along the 180km journey from Chamonix to Zermatt. We reached the summit of the pass (9,440 ft) around 1:15pm. The front desk spoke perfect English as well. We decided to skip the Chamonix to Argentière stage since it basically followed a road the entire way. The trail we were on was dedicated to foot traffic, whereas a parallel trail system was dedicated to downhill mountain biking; the trails criss-crossed in a few places which meant you had to pay a little attention to a mountain bike flying down the hill at you (but only in those trail crossing locations, thankfully). The trail became faint at times, eventually giving out completely; we found ourselves consulting the guidebooks a few times to ensure we were on the right path. Updated 2019-07-12 to reflect my final setup on the eve of my hike.. From mid-July 2019, I’ll be thru-hiking the Haute Route Pyrenees. Another group arrived at the Chalet as we started to head off: a guide-led group of 12 from the UK that was also doing the Haute Route. Like any guidebook, though, their descriptions made more sense after we finished hiking for the day. Breakfast in our hotel in Les Haudères consisted of an extensive buffet of cereal, meats, cheese, breads and fruits. Rainier National Park. In it’s current incarnation, the Haute Route is renowned as both a summer hiking trail, as well as a cross country skiing route in the winter. These two official maps of the Swiss hiking trails are all you need for your Haute Route hike. We took the obligatory photo of the two of us with the Dom in the background, then continued on down the trail. The drive down to Les Haudères was exciting! Of course, we survived the cable car with no issues. Once the group was down (about 15 minutes later…lots of time to sit, hold tightly onto a chain, and think about what I was about to do) I started climbing first. The hotel was relatively busy for dinner – presumably with many hikers on the TMB (Tour du Mont Blanc) and a few that had just stopped in for a nice dinner. There was a hint of cell phone service if you stood on a rock located behind the cabane. Unfortunately, the group of paragliders were in the large dorm room next to us and their snoring made it a bit difficult to sleep – not to mention the fact that they got up around 5am to depart (the cabane's walls didn't do a terrific job of blocking the noise...you may consider earplugs). Thankfully, just a few feet below the summit, a pile of rocks offered nice shelter from the wind where we could enjoy our lunch of cheese, sausage, bread, and chocolate. Overview. Along this stretch of trail, there was one section of fixed rope where the trail crossed an small eroded rocky gully. The trail was well worn due to the high traffic as it climbed slowly up the far side of the valley, eventually reaching the crest of the glacier’s lateral moraine. The cable car was self-operating (sort of) in Jungen. Even with the gloves on, my hands started to get cold as I reached the top - I couldn't imagine this climb barehanded. 8.5 hours, 4.6 miles, +3446 ft, -315 ft; 15% avg grade up, -6% avg grade down. Half of the book contains interesting facts about Switzerland, including flora and fauna which makes for interesting reading on the flight over, or each night along the trail. As I started to climb the third ladder (probably about 10 feet? As we approached the cliff wall, the trail followed a series of narrow ledges amongst the boulders with occasionally fixed chains in narrower sections (the exposure didn’t seem to bother me as much as it had the day before - the drops here were not nearly as steep, but I still held on to the chains for dear life). I had thought the exposure on the trail was going to be the scariest part of the day. It was good to start seeing familiar faces along the trail or at the cabanes – we did get to know our trailmates. The descent from the pass was very pleasant; the trail meandered through the tundra with lots of marmots chirping and scampering about. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. As we approached Arpette, the trail joined a road that led down to the hotel in town. (An important point: the ATMs in the Geneva airport only dispense Swiss Francs; but Alpy Bus would only accept Euros since they were taking us into France…I had to withdraw Francs and exchange them to Euros at the exchange counter). A lot of others on the trail had simple drawstring backpacks as their “day pack”. I was just staring ahead and didn't look down once! Watch Alpenwild's free video training series to answer basic questions and help you prepare for a wonderful journey on the Haute Route. Trip cost includes trip transportation, accommodations, meals, deluxe excursions, luggage transfers (so you can hike light during the days) for guided tours It took us about 20 minutes to get down this steep section of trail which eventually gave way to a large boulder field. We began the day with intentions of climbing over the Col, but as we watched a few people climb the ladders, it really didn’t look too bad (this coming from a guy that had freaked out most of the day before). We paid the lift operator once we reached the bottom (don't recall the cost of this lift) and waited for the 5:10pm train to Zermatt (32 CHF for both of us). Most of the hikers on the trail were older than we expected – early 50’s maybe? Two of our friends did this hike in July and they ran into some lodging issues (which they knew by calling ahead) forcing them to stay an extra night in the town they were currently in - doing this hike late in August or September should eliminate most, if not all, of the lodging vacancy issues. After an hour of hiking, we reached Chalet du Glacier (about 2 miles from Col de la Forclaz). Eventually, as I knew we would, we ran out of ridge to contour along and it was time to round the corner into the next hanging valley…this, as I knew beforehand, was where the trail was exposed. This was no primitive cabane anymore! Beyond the trail split, we continued hiking another 3 miles, gradually gaining and losing elevation as we followed the ridgeline high above the valley floor below. Once across the bridge, the trail began to climb steeply again, gaining another 630 feet in 0.5 miles before leveling out briefly. As we descended around Chalte Berg, we lost the trail and ended up following a false spur that contoured around to the north instead of dropping down to the road. The sky was overcast, but the valley was still clear below us (for now). What the rest of the valley lacked in terms of exciting views (at least that we could see from here) was entirely compensated by the glacier itself, and the path it carved through the rock. All that was obvious to me was that the hillside fell away rapidly to my left, so I stayed as focused as I could on the trail itself, and not how high up we were. The ski route depicted on this map illustrates the Grand Lui variation, which is the longest and most technical route that eliminates the road links of the Verbier and Classic variations. For your planning purposes, I’ve included costs of lodging, meals, and transportation in this report – this is to help you gauge what this trip cost us in September 2010. We cut out a lot of stages on our trip and I wouldn't recommend skipping any of the stages I listed above. The local food, supplemented with Clif Bars (or gluten-free Kind Bars for Lisa) worked really well along the trail. The route traverses below the summits of 10 out of the 12 of the highest peaks in the Alps, and crosses several high passes. It was obvious that these switchbacks had been graded to accommodate the many day-trippers as they were not of the standard “Swiss” standards we’d come to expect (i.e. The stream had a set of rocks forming steps to cross (I probed the depth of the stream while crossing and I couldn't hit the bottom with my hiking pole). Following on from our previous blog, hiking the Mont Blanc Trail, we’re continuing our summer hiking series with another challenging, multi-day hike in the Alps. The trail started just outside the dining area of Hotel Schwarzhorn and didn’t waste any time climbing. If we wanted cash, we’d have to take a bus two miles down the valley into Evolène. Dinner was served from 6:30pm to 8:00pm; after showering and recovering from the day, we headed down for dinner where we met our first American of the trip, from New York City of all places. We reached the summit of Col du Tsaté (9,405 ft) at 11:45am. standard route) and began to contour along the ridge to our right, climbing steadily as it contoured. We set off through town in search of the trail. We purchased a 50 MB international data plan for Lisa’s iPhone (from AT&T) which was perfect; we used about 15MB to occasionally surf the web (for things like bus schedules), check weather, send emails, or re-read others’ trip reports while we were on the trail. We arrived in Jungen at 3:40pm. The hotel was at the far end of Zermatt, so we began to walk (through the crowds) to our final destination. As we descended to the valley floor, it felt much more like fall than it had so far along the route. It’s also not to be confused with ‘Haute Route’, the cycling event. The trail is primarily used for hiking, walking, nature trips, and backpacking. Buy your Swiss Topo hiking maps before you leave to ensure you stay on the right track, especially if you're interested in a self-guided tour. I found it useful to stow my hiking poles for the final stretch. There are 12 or 14 stages depending on if you end your hike via the Europaweg or the traditional valley walk. with water and food, Lisa’s was little less. We reached Cabane de Moiry (9,264ft, 160 CHF half-board) at 3:25pm. In addition, Swiss Topo also has hiking maps at a larger scale (1:33,000), although it would be quite cumbersome to carry maps to cover the entire Walker’s Haute Route at that scale. Best Haute Route: Alpenwild’s Chamonix to Zermatt Haute Route. We used his book with my GPS (we had some poor maps as a backup to the GPS) but we rarely needed the GPS at all - it was just a nice safety net for when the trail isn't well marked or worn. We opted to have dinner across the street at Europe Hotel where I had Penne Arrabiata and Lisa had Lamb Steaks for 68 CHF (with wine, of course). Extremely slow stepping was the name of the game here, as the dirt was loose, and small rocks could easily be dislodged (which would roll down onto the trail segments below). The bathroom was co-ed; an odd experience for many of us there – the toilet and shower stalls (3 minute showers were available for 8 CHF) were fairly private, but there were urinals out in the main area of the bathroom. Lisa, thankfully, wasn't phased at all by the exposure and didn’t seem to mind the trail at all. Had we gone left, we would’ve stayed on the trail that led to Champex, but instead we ended up on a paved road down from Arpette to Champex. (Note: we didn’t realize this at the time, but the Postbus and Train systems are linked – you can purchase tickets to Verbier as you get on the bus in Champex-Lac; instead we ended up buying tickets for each leg of the journey). and the rain stopped, we wandered through town. I completed the bottom ladder just fine, and it transitioned smoothly into the second ladder. Trekking Chamonix to Zermatt: The Classic Walker's Haute Route - Kev Reynolds. We stopped in to the tourist information office in the train station to phone the hotel we stayed at 5 years before (Hotel Alpenrose) to see if they had any available rooms, which they did. The cabane host showed us to the mudroom to remove our boots (the mudroom, which was probably the old dining area of the original cabane, was fully stocked with hundreds of brand new Crocs (branded with the Swiss Alpine Society logo) to use as hut shoes) and showed us to our semi-private room. From Les Ruinettes, the trail climbed another 1000 feet gently over 2.3 miles until it reached Cabane du Mont Fort. We found ourselves relying heavily on Stewart’s book to help us up and out of town on the right road. We reached the top of the gondola about an hour after we started, and the summit of Col de Balme (7,244 ft) and the Swiss border an hour after that (11:40am). It was a cool crisp September morning, so the climb helped us warm up quickly. I had been anxious about the transition from the second to the third ladder but now that it was in view I could see that the ledge that you stepped over to looked relatively protected: it sloped into the rock face, offering more security for the transition. Hike the Walker’s Haute Route, one of the world's great treks, through the French and Swiss Alps from Chamonix to Zermatt. After getting our fill of cheese, chocolate, sausage, and bread (for me) we began our steep descent down the other side. You’ll take a few transfers at strategic points to skip the lesser scenic parts of the trip while still doing most of the full route. Finding Hotel Schwarzhorn was easy – it’s the tallest building in town; in fact, we were able to spot it from the trail 2,000 feet above the valley. 7.5 hours, 9.3 miles, +2247 ft, -6014 ft; 13.2% avg grade up, -17.3% avg grade down. If you like hiking poles, bring them. The Walker's Haute Route is one of Europe's best hikes, but also one of its most demanding. Both of them hiked the route without a group or guides using only the Kev Reynolds book; we took a cue from our friends and decided to do the route the same way - guideless and groupless. The group had opted to use ropes, which slowed them down considerably. The only possible downside was that we had to carry all our gear (unlike the tour group that we kept leap-frogging on our hike, who traveled with lightweight day packs....ours were about 30-40lbs each). 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