Explorations

Preparing for the Haute Route

Brian, Mark and I are hiking the 10-day long Walker's Haute Route, a legendary trail connecting Chamonix and Zermatt. This is an overview of the trip.

Preparing for the Haute Route

Starting on August 21st, Brian, Mark and I will be hiking the Walker's version of the legendary Haute Route (see Wikipedia) that goes from Chamonix, France to Zermatt, Switzerland.

For me, this is the fourth chapter of the month I'm spending in Switzerland with Michele. She'll be staying "home" in Champéry while I'm hiking, where she'll be working and seeing family.

I'm not sure how much network access and time to write that I will have on this hike. If I do have enough of each, I will be updating my trip update page with photos and updates on our progress.

Map

Here's a high-level map showing the entire route. It starts in Chamonix in the lower left, works its way east, and ends in Zermatt, on the right side of the map.

The blue lines are the walking trails between stops. The red lines are the places we'll be grabbing a bus, taxi, chair lift, etc.

The icons with houses and tents are the places we'll be stopping. Houses are inns - with power, showers, guest rooms, and road access. The tents are alpine huts, way up in the peaks - with food, maybe power, and probably dorm-style sleeping.

Background

See the Wikipedia page for good context. And there are a ton of web pages out there from tour companies that help arrange this adventure. Key bits for us:

  • The first instance of the use of the term "Haute Route" for roughly this route was back in 1911.
  • There are several variations of the Haute Route - the two main variations are the "Mountaineers" Haute Route and the "Walkers" Haute Route. The former stays high, goes over glaciers and is best done in the winter. The latter, which we are doing, stays a bit lower, and doesn't require mountaineering equipment.
  • The "official" route takes about 14 days and has a number of well-known stages. We're doing a modified version that takes 10 days and has us taking transport between points that are considered a little bit less amazing than others. At the beginning of this trip, I'm kind of wishing we'd decided to do the 100% walking version, but in reading the descriptions of those days I can also see the point in accelerating through them.
  • We organized out trip through AlpineHikers, who I've worked with before. They're great.
  • We'll be doing the "lazy" (or "smart" or "great") version of hiking: we're staying in hotels and huts, not camping or backpacking. Our large bags will be conveyed between hotels for us, allowing us to largely hike with daypacks instead of backpacks. But on this trip, we'll have several days in a row where our bags can't get to us as we'll be in very remote locations, so we'll be hauling all the stuff we need for 2-3 nights in a row.

Day Zero Thoughts and Questions

I'm really looking forward to this trip because I've never done anything quite like it. I haven't done any overnight hiking trips in the Alps. I've never stayed in an Alpine hut, despite knowing it was an option and being curious effectively my whole life.

Top things on my mind, that I'm looking forward to, or that are questions:

  • The absolute top thing: I'm just looking forward to the experience, to seeing what's there, to breathing the moutain air, to being in it.
  • It's going to be fun and interesting to hike for 10 days with Mark and Brian. The three of us haven't been on an adventure together since last year's Slovenia trip.
  • What's it like to do a long hike in Europe, in the high alps?
  • We worry a bit about Brian's knee, which has been a question all year.
  • How does the whole Alpine hut thing work and can you actually get enough sleep in one to enjoy it? Once you're used to them, how does it change hike planning and options?
  • The Haute Route has some scary sections. Long suspension bridges, unnerving ladders to navigate a few tough spots. How will we do?
  • Do I have the right strategy for what to take in the day pack and what to take to the huts?
  • I'm processing a lot of stuff right now, including what to do next... how does 10 days of hiking influence that?

See Also

You might also like