Stats Summary / Hut Information
Day 1 – Col de Balme, 5.75 miles, 550 ft gain, 3850 ft loss, 7 hrs
— From Chamonix took Flegere Gondola and Index Chairlift
— From Montroc took free bus to Le Tour
— From Le Tour took Gondola Charamillon and Les Autannes Chairlift
Daily Summary: After Refuge Lac Blanc, several miles of stairs and ladders.
Day 2 – Gîte Bon Abri, Champex, 11.5 miles, 4500 ft gain, 7000 ft loss, 10.5 hrs
Daily Summary: After Chalet du Glacier, trail steepens. Great Views.
Day 3 – L’Escale, Le Chable, 10.2 miles, 1200 ft gain, 3200 ft loss, 6 hrs
Daily Summary: Easy day through tiny villages
Day 4 – L’Escale, Le Chable (Cabane du Mont Fort was closed for renovation)
Daily Summary: Nice hikes around Verbier. Zipline off summit of Mont Fort.
Day 5 – Cabane Prafleuri, 10 miles, 3900 ft gain, 2650 ft loss, 10 hrs
— From Le Chable took Le Chable – Verbier gondola, Medran IV gondola, and Chaux Express chairlift
Daily Summary: Lots of exposure until Col de Louvie then boulders and route-finding issues. Possible snow.
Day 6 – Cabane des Dix, 7.3 miles, 2700 ft gain, 1800 ft loss, 6 hrs
Daily Summary: Easy day. Cabane des Dix is worth going out of the way for.
Day 7 – Hotel de la Sage, La Sage, 12.5 miles, 2125 ft gain, 6200 ft loss, 10 hrs
— Bus available from Les Hauderes to La Sage save 800 ft gain and 1.5 miles
Daily Summary: Pas de Chevres is closed. Must use Col de Riedmatten which is steep with loose dirt. Advise backtracking on trial over cross glacier which includes a large boulder field.
Day 8 – Cabane de Moiry, 10.5 miles, 6000 ft gain, 2275 ft loss, 8.5 hrs
Daily Summary: Nice trail. Advise taking the standard route. Hut is beautiful, newly remodeled. Nicest hut on the route.
Day 9 – Auberge Alpina, Zinal, 6 miles, 2000 ft gain, 1500 ft loss, 6 hrs
— From Col de Sorebois took Corne de Sorebois gondola and Zinal – Sorebois – Espace Weisshorn gondola
Daily Summary: Nice trail. Gondolas here are expensive.
Day 10 – Hotel Schwarzhorn, Gruben, 10.5 miles, 4100 ft gain, 3600 ft loss, 8 hrs
Daily Summary: Nice trail.
Day 11- B&B Alpenrosli, Gasenried, 8 miles, 3675 ft gain, 3200 ft loss, 8 hrs
— From Jungen took Luftseilbahn St Niklaus – Jungen tram to Sankt Niklaus
— From Sankt Niklaus took two local buses directly to hotel
Daily Summary: Nice trail. Jungen tram only holds 4 people at a time and comes every 20 minutes. Cold drinks are available in Jungen.
Day 12 – Europa Hut, 8.6 miles, 4800 ft gain, 2800 ft loss, 7.5 hrs
Daily Summary: Nice, new trail. Created in 2021. Half my group did the old trail while others did the new trail. The old trail has lots of washouts. The worse washout is right before the old trail joins the new one.
Day 13 – Zermatt, 11 miles, 3000 ft gain, 5175 ft loss, 8 hrs
Daily Summary: Nice trail. Second longest suspension bridge in the world. It was pouring down rain, so half our group dropped to Randa and took the train to Zermatt.
Trip Report
After a questionable June which ended with Jim having surgery to remove a cyst from his spine, I boarded a plane to Geneva leaving Jim at home to recover from surgery and do “urban” walking.
It was an emotional decision to go without Jim. We had been planning this trip for a year and had 5 friends joining us for the traverse: Doug, Beth, Susie, Tony, and Andrew. Brooke and I definitely struggled from time to time on the journey.
We allowed 2 days in Chamonix to recover from jet lag and for everyone to come together which was good since Beth got stranded at an airport in Portugal for an extra night.
Chamonix is a beautiful, sprawling city with gondolas going up both sides of the valley. We took advantage of our passes and road every gondola in town.
And hiked the Grand Balcony.
After a crazy night of packing the bags we were not taking on the traverse, we headed to a gondola station on the edge of town and took it as high as possible to start our traverse.
The temps were in the 90’s and no one was interested in hiking uphill.
Our group was shy three team members at the start: Tony decided to rest his knee, Maeve, our Irish opted daughter from AV2, wasn’t planning to join until the midway point, and Brooke was really struggling over her dad. Brooke opted to rejoin the group at the midway point.
Our first day was full of lake views
… stairs
… and lots of ladders.
Since we started so high, our day was almost all downhill. When we reached the valley floor, we rejoined the heat and decided not to hike up to the hut. After all there was a perfectly good gondola which was covered by our Chamonix passes.
We arrived our first hut just as the rain started. It stormed all night which made us all grateful that we weren’t camping in tents.
When we headed out in the morning, we were engulfed by fog.
When I did the route planning for Alta Via 2 in the Dolomites last year, I included several side trips. We did almost everyone. So I was careful to include every side trip I could find for the Haute Route. We quickly realized the route alone was going to be plenty. We later found out the Haute Route is one of the most difficult hiking trails in the alps.
As Beth, Doug, and I hiked up the valley toward our col for the day, we all felt like we were making good time. At a break, we looked at the map and realized we still had 2500 feet to climb in only 1.5 miles. Things were about to get very steep.
There were even stairs enroute to get you over a waterfall.
Today was the first time in many years that I actually didn’t think I could do it. It was so steep and rocky. I clearly wasn’t used to the altitude yet. (At least that is what I told myself).
Our saving grace was we had a view.
When we reached the col, we were all very excited to stop climbing and start descending. Then we found ourselves in the middle of a boulder field. This couldn’t be the trail. But there were trail markers everywhere.
What kind of a hiking trail was this?
When we arrived the hut, we were all exhausted. Both Doug and Beth had taken tumbles off the trail. Luckily neither was hurt.
Not sure if the tumble ripped Doug’s shirt or if it had just reached the end of its useful life. Either way, this shirt was not leaving the hut.
We all hoped this would be the hardest day of the traverse. We all still believe it was.
From this point on, we stuck to the easiest route. Not that any of this traverse was what I would call “easy”. We took advantage of every gondola and several buses. Tony actually became an expert at the bus / train combination.
The next day was once again all downhill. We crossed through several small towns and enjoyed their quaintness.
We really liked their version of a water fountain.
Once on the valley floor, the heat consumed us again. We all wanted to take a swim in the lake on our map. The lake turned out to be hooked to the quarry so we would have to settle on a shower at the hotel which had the added benefit of doing laundry.
Because of some scheduling issues, we had the next day off. Once again, we took advantage of all the gondolas to explore the Verbier ski area.
We were able to take a gondola to the top of the highest peak, Mont Fort. I was giddy when I saw a zip line. I had to check it out. It was only $50 and they had 1 spot open. I couldn’t hand over my credit card fast enough.
Turn the volume up and you can hear me scream. It wasn’t scary but you have to scream for effect, right?
The next morning, we took the gondola up through the fog to our start of the trial.
Today’s trail started with a very exposed traverse.
The mountain was full of wild flowers. Who knew it was wild flower season?
After the traverse, the trail climbs to a high pass. We found snow fields on the other side and lots of trail markers.
There was a glacier in this basin. We would have to cross the melt streams. Off went our shoes.
As baron as this landscape was, there were sure lots of trail markers. They obviously didn’t want anyone getting lost. We agreed this part of the trail was as difficult as any climbing traverse without the need to navigate.
As we neared the pass, I decided to run to make dinner at the hut. At one point, I came head-to-head with an ibex. I decided he could have the trail. I would go around.
We saw several herd of ibex during our two week traverse but none were as close as this.
After another tough day on the trail, we were all happy to have an easier day. (This route only has hard days and easier ones.)
We hiked along a lake most of the day.
And then climbed a ridge line that soon turned into a moraine.
The last of the climb takes you to a col and right in your face is a granite cliff and glaciers galore.
As we oohed and awed, we looked to our left and there was our hut for the night. Perched on top of the only knoll in the basin.
Completely incredible!
This hut is not on the normal route. I actually read about it and someone called it a “hidden gem”. That is exactly what it was.
They were working on the hut adding a hot tub and sauna. No other huts in the area have those things but then again, no one else has a swing either.
The wildflowers added to the unreal feel of this place.
The next day we had a huge debate. The route we wanted to do was closed. We either had to hike up and backtrack or cut across the glacier. Either route would take us to a horrible ridge crossing. I had read about this crossing and really didn’t want to do it.
In the end, we decided to cross the glacier. If we had to do the horrible ridge crossing, we might as well make an adventure of it.
The glacier crossing turned out to be the easiest part.
The boulder field that followed was not as nice. There were very few trail markings so we had to hunt our way through the field. When we finally exited, we had a horribly loose and exposed trail to climb. Yuck! It did have chains near the top but by the time we reached them everyone was done.
By now, we had come to realize the Haute Route is all about starting your day climbing to a col then immediately steeply dropping down the other side. This col was no different. There was room for maybe 8 people on top.
And every col has a sign post. For this col, they used the rock.
We were thrilled to get our first peek of the Matterhorn. (The distant black horn in the middle of the picture.)
One by one, we all started the long steep descent to our hotel. Tony, Susie, and I took up the rear. Right before we hit the valley floor, a thunderstorm hit. This was a big one. We ran for cover and soon the rain turned to large hailstones.
The three of us decided we were done for the day. Opened up google maps and found the nearest bus stop. That is the really nice thing about this traverse: Buses, trains, and gondolas can be found everywhere.
When our bus reached the main depot, we needed to switch to another bus to take us to our hotel. Just as we got off our bus, Brooke got off the one next to us. It was a tearful reunion. During dinner, Maeve joined the group. She and Brooke spent the next hour catching up. We met Maeve on Alta Via 2 in the Dolomites last year. We quickly adopted her into our trail family.
The next day, we headed up the trail through town. Doug and I were completely into the slate shingles on the homes.
We were also quite taken by the quality of the trail. Maeve told us the second half of the traverse was easier than the first. Not sure any of believed her.
Before we knew it, we had crested our daily col and began our descent to the lake. We had hoped to go swimming during lunch but this lake valley was full of cows.
One of the cows actually came over and befriended Maeve and Andrew.
We had hoped to take a long high traverse to our next “hidden gem” hut but we were not so lucky. Doug was smart and dropped off the ridge earlier than the rest of us and saved himself a bunch of additional gain.
As I climbed the rocky trail to the hut, I told myself no matter how fabulous this hut was I was not bringing Jim here when we returned.
Then I walked in. Unbelievable! The hut had recently been remodeled. The dining area was all glass.
I took this picture from inside.
There was a huge deck for afternoon glacier viewing.
The hut booked a 4-piece blue grass band to perform after dinner. They carried their instruments 2000ft up a rocky trail.
After my tiring ascent from the day before, I opted to join Susie for a nice mellow day and hike around the lake and then take a bus to the next hotel. Heck, riding the bus on these windy roads was it’s own experience.
After hiking with Brooke and Andrew the day before, Maeve was happy to get up early and head out with Beth and I. The trail today was nothing but pleasant.
If not for the hailstorm that rolled through just as we were reaching the col, we would have called it a perfect day. Brooke reached us as we were descending into town. The 4 of us hiked into the hotel together.
After us going on about our pleasant hike, Susie decided to rejoin the peloton of girls for our next day’s climb. Though we left an hour before Andrew, he caught us while we were only halfway up to the pass. It was atleast comforting to see him sweating.
Andrew hiked with the girls for a while enjoying the conversation. Then we started discussing childbirth. Having nothing to add to the conversation, he took off. Or so he said.
As we began descending the other side, I noticed the trail cutting across the hillside through a mile of boulders. So much for our easy hike. Susie kept looking across the basin at the trail descending the grass and asking why we couldn’t just take that.
At least today’s final descent of 4000ft could be done via a small gondola. It only ran every 20 minutes so while Susie and Beth headed to town, Maeve, Brooke and I changed into our flip flops and drank a beer. The girls are a very bad influence on me.
During dinner, we read that the route for the next day had been closed due to landslides. In 2021, they rebuilt the trail and it would come up from the valley floor. I had been looking forward to this section of the trail for over a year. Everything I had read talked about the fabulous views. It was a beautiful day. I was not going to miss out.
I have done my share of off route travel so with my InReach in hand and a good GPS, I headed out on my adventure while the rest of the group took to the new trail. In the end, Brooke and Andrew decided to follow me on my adventure route. They always left the hut after the rest of the group so they had time to discuss their options.
Cresting the ridge was as beautiful as everything I had read. Finally we had a ridge run instread of just a col.
I was surprised to find this statue on the high point of the ridge. I understand he is the patron saint of mountain climbers.
I found the trail to be quite pleasant. Maybe the landslide wasn’t that big of a deal. Then I saw it. This would take some investigating. I decided to drop my pack, have a snack, look around a bit, and wait for the kids.
It was easy to see where we rejoined the trail on the other side but finding the best way across was going to take a little noodling. If only Andrew and I had our mountaineering boots instead of little weight trail shoes which weren’t going to hold an edge in the loose dirt. Brooke was pretty happy she does these trail traverses in light weight mountaineering boots for ankle support.
When the kids reached me, I was working my way across the boulders courageous about how bad the dirt was going to be. We could always turn around.
Before long, I found myself on the other side climbing to the trail. Within 15 minutes, we were all across. Success!!!
It was at this point that Andrew asked, “I wonder how many more of those we have?”. I was thinking “landslide”, singular. Andrew was thinking “landslides”, plural. As we hiked around the corner of the ridge, I held me breath. Oh, crap! there was another.
We spent the next 4 hours working our way across each obstacle. It was one bowl after another. We would find the trail on the other side, go around the ridge, and set our eyes on the next problem.
We were super excited to finally find a bridge. Then we noticed half the bridge was gone and it went nowhere.
You would think we would have had a miserable day but it was actually quite a lot of fun.
We were all pretty happy when we came to the trail closure. The trail really improved after that. Soon we turned a corner and could see Maeve, Tony and Susie. There was a bit of celebrating as we hurried to join them.
Then we came to one last obstacle. It was a doozy. The glacier run off had cut a rather large stream through the hillside where the trail used to be. Total crap!!!!
Brooke and Andrew took a higher route. I dropped down a ways and found a crossing I was comfortable with. In the end, we all ended up with wet feet but I don’t think any of us cared. At least we didn’t fall in and go for a swim.
Tonight was our final hut. We all spent time visiting with people we had meet along the way. Like all hut-to-hut trips, there are total strangers doing the exact same route as you. Staying in the exact same places. Eventually, they feel like they are one the same trip as you.
We woke to thunderstorms. It had been pouring off and on for several hours. Everyone was debating their plan for the day. Some people were still going to hike into Zermatt while others were going to drop down and take the train in. Either route started by crossing the second longest suspension bridge in the world.
When the Charles Kuonen bridge was built in 2017, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. It is 1620ft (494m) in length. 278ft (85m) high. At an elevation of 6825ft (2080m) above sea level.
When Maeve and I headed down to the bridge, it was raining. Our plan was to hike into Zermatt. Stopping at a hut along the way for lunch and wait for Brooke so we could hike into Zermatt together.
After 30 minutes of hiking, Maeve and I realized we had missed a turn and were heading down toward the valley floor. We found a spur trail that would take us back up to the main trail.
As we climbed, it poured. No break in the rain at all. We called Brooke and decided to drop to the valley floor and take the train into Zermatt. We would be there in time for a fondue lunch.
On our way to the valley floor, we came across a field of little cairns. So cool that Maeve decided to add to the collect and built one of her own.
The further we dropped the more it rained. The more we were happy with our decision to take the train. After all, the trail was getting very muddy and slippery. Just before we hit the road, Maeve took one final slip that she couldn’t recover from. Down she went.
When we arrived Zermatt, our hotel was ready, so we took showers and changed before heading out for fondue. The rain varied very light to extremely heavy. The three of us were super glad we opted for the easy way to finish the traverse.
Our dinner that night was bittersweet. Maeve would be leaving the next day, Beth the day after that, then Andrew and Doug, Susie and Tony. Brooke and I would be the last to leave since she had a guide scheduled so she could climb the Matterhorn.
(a group picture of dinner will go here as soon a I get it.)
The storm carried in colder weather, plastering the Matterhorn with new snow. The mountain was basically closed for climb for a couple of days at least. After checking in with the guides a couple of time, Brooke decided not to attempt the Matterhorn. The guide gave them very little chance of summitting even with her strength and experience. I guess she will be returning with her dad in a couple of years to once again try and climb this mountain together.
With the time I had in Zermatt, I purchased a gondola pass and rode everyone. My favorite was the 30+ minute ride to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise on the Italian / Swiss border at an elevation over 12,000 feet making it the highest gondola station in the world.
I was able to tuck in 2 hikes. The first to Hornli Hut on the Matterhorn which didn’t have great views of the Matterhorn but did have great views of the surrounding area.
We did get to see the start of the route and a picture of the route. Looked pretty intimidating.
The other hike I did was the Five Lakes hike. It is the most popular family hike in the area. It was pure delight. Unlike the Haute Route itself.
The Matterhorn is definitely the icon of the area. You can see it from every gondola and lift as well as most streets in town.
Like all trips, they never go as planned. I never dreamed I would have this adventure without Jim. I never dreamed the trail would be this challenging. I never dreamed I would leave the trail and choose to ride buses and trains instead of hiking.
I do have memories I will hold for a lifetime, and I can’t wait to return with Jim. I learned a lot and Jim will be the beneficiary of that. I actually get to use the thoughts “If I was to do this trip again, I would do XXX instead.”
Thanks to all that joined me on this adventure.