The Haute Route 2023

 

The Haute Route, Chamonix to Zermatt April 2023

Synopsis: 5 out of 5 stars. There are lots of alternative European traverses however the Haute Route certainly doesn't dissapoint. A tremendous experience with the huts, the skiing and the opportunity to bag some peaks. Obviously with a high traverse weather will make a big diffference.

Mid April 2023, Paul, Chimene, Gary and I set off to Chamonix to give the Haute Route a go self guided. None of us had much experience ski touring in the European Alps and we were keen to give it an attempt. We originally planned to leave a couple of weeks before however after a dry snow year it proved to be in the middle of a rather large storm cycle with high avalanche hazard and poor visibility, so we delayed the trip for 2 weeks. In addition, we booked two weeks in Europe to have some flexibility in dates. I was a bit of a late addition to the team and thus got out of most of the organizing, thanks to Gary and Paul for doing most of the heavy lifting. We landed in Geneva early on Wednesday April 12^th, breathed a sigh of relief on having all of our gear arrived and caught a prearranged shuttle to Chamonix (thanks Paul) which was only a little more than an hour away. After a day to get our legs under us, Fridays weather looked to be sunny with an added bonus of 20 cm of fresh snow. We decided on the classic warm up and skied a version of the Vallee Blanche which was a great introduction. 

The day started with a delay due to the snow and a fantastic gondola ride up to the Aiguille du Midi (3842 metres). We wandered around the viewing area and then took the airy hike down to the start of skiing. The whole thing was a complete mind bend. Some parties roped up for the hike however we were good with crampons and a firm grasp on the rope alongside the trail. The skiing was darn good, and the day ends with a cog train back to Chamonix. A great experience and had us all chomping at the bit to get going on the haute route itself. Fortunately, a weather window appeared to start on Sunday so we (by that I mean Gary and Paul) changed, made, and cancelled hut reservations and were good to go.

Sunday April 16^th 2023

Paul sorted out the bus stop and we arrived at 7:30 am however being Sunday it took a bit to get to the Grande Montet ski area. There was about 20 cm of fresh snow on the hills which slowed things down a bit. Apparently, the top lift burned down so we took the second gondola to the right, the Bouchard Lift. We got to the top right around 10 am and the weather was cool and windy enough I ducked into the gondola station to dress up a bit.

Staying high skiers right and high as possible, around the corner fairly quickly leads to an obvious spot to skin up. As we were skinning up Paul met an old buddy Paul who happened to be a guide taking a crew up. Good guy and provided a fair amount of beta. We were skiing up and further skiers right at 10:30 and hit a bit of a col in ½ an hour with the Col de Passon pretty much right in front. It was windy enough to duck behind the shack to deskin. Some tracks were heading hard right however latter figured out those must have been going to the Argentierre Hut. I traversed far right, and we had some good snow however it would have been simpler and faster to descend straight down from the col. We met guide Paul with two English clients Rob and Joe at the bottom and stopped for a snack. About then it socked in and the 7 of us went to the far side of the valley and worked skiers left to keep elevation while the valley fell away.

1:00 pm put the skis on the pack for a short boot back through a rock band. From here it’s roughly a 650-metre climb, guide Paul told clients 3 hours which I thought was way too long however proved to be spot on. The four of us then skinned up through the pea soup on a solid track with voices around us. A couple of fast parties passed and higher up two parties bailed and skied down which frankly worried me more than carrying on up. The down skiers messed up the up track in a couple of spots and it took spreading out to find the up track in the pea soup. Finally, the 100 metres of boot packing became obvious and with a few parties ahead we plunged on. Great steps in solid snow ending in scramble up a short rocky ridge, to avoid the increasingly powdery snow.  I was the only one of our party without a helmet and about here I realized that was a bit of an error on my part.  At one point, Paul the guide yelled up out of the thick mist below, “Go to the Albert Premiere Hut!”.  He evidently assumed it would be cloudy at the col and beyond, in which case it would have been problematic to find our way to the Trient Hut given the visibility and the time of day.

We popped out at the top of the col at 4:00 pm to roughly 15 people on top and, happily, much clearer skies ahead. 

We met a French family that offered goat cheese and pastry which was a delicious pick me up. We had reservations at the Trient Hut however there was some discussion about going to the Albert Premier Hut which would be a bit closer. The French family was heading to the Trient and gave us great beta (although indicated it would be 2 hours which was a bit off) so, spirits raised by blue skies ahead, we decided to carry on there. We were using Gaiai along with public gpx tracks and had maps and compass for back up but basically followed their tracks, catching up along the way. Great skiing on fresh powder on the downs and good up tracks, mostly clear with some high cloud coming and going. There were crevasses about however the track followed relatively benign terrain so we left the ropes in the pack, although had harnesses on throughout the tour. Beautiful terrain although the route isn’t terribly obvious. 7 pm saw us approaching the fairly short Col de Tour which was great fun with skis on the pack using crampons and ice axe. From there it was roughly 5 km of slightly downhill and the Trient Hut (3170 metre elevation) was hidden to the right. A short climb at the end of the day didn’t feel all that short and we arrived just as the sun was getting low roughly 8:30 pm.

The folks at the hut were very understanding of our late entry and the place was probably only at 40% capacity with several teams turning around. Best hut supper of the trip with all the soup, salad and all the lasagne you could eat, with an apple tart for dessert. The hut is under construction so no door on the rooms and the guy who runs it is a bit grumpy, but we were still darn happy to be there. Everyone was able to leave gear on the breakfast table and surrounding area but not much really dried out. We also learned a valuable lesson in the morning as there was limited and shared meat, cheese and hot water for thermoses and we were a bit slow and missed out.

Monday, April 17^th

It was 9.1km to Champex, most of it downhill. We were out the door at 8:15 am in great visibility. The French family were going the same way and were out the door before us, however the route is pretty straightforward. There was a 15 minute ski down to the Col DesEcandes, which was an obvious boot pack up on the right. 

It was a little steeper than yesterdays climbs however there was a rope to pull on should you feel the need and it was good fun. I used the one pole, one ice axe and crampon technique and managed to poke yet another hole in my ski pants. After the col, we enjoyed several hundred metres of excellent boot top powder, followed by some semi-suppoprtive crust then boilerplate as we hit treeline then descended into the Champex ski hill and road. Along the way we passed a few parties skinning up for a run. We got to the bottom at 10:15 and met the French family who were once again great help. The next bus wasn’t until 1:00 pm so we walked the 10 minutes into town and stopped for tea and pastry’s part way. Luckily the bus stop was right in front of a grocery store in town and across from public rest rooms. Champex is a beautiful town although we were definitely in shoulder season. We bought snacks at the grocery store and loaded up on water given the price difference when it gets helicoptered into the huts.

When the bus arrived (and took credit cards) it was a glorious drive down to Orsieres where we were originally going to spend the night. Gary had been lobbying hard to go to Verbier and spend the night at the Cabane Mt Fort and it was a good call. We caught the first of two trains to La Chable stop and right next to the station was the Verbier lift. We arrived at the La Chable train station at roughly 3:00 pm and it struck me it would help to have the schedules sorted out in advance to make sure you caught the last lift up to the Hut. Using my modest, rusty French it took a few tries to get the fact that 21 CHF would get you a single lift and lots of skinning up to the hut or 52 CHF would get you to the Col des Gentiane and allow you to ski a couple hundred metres of groomers down to the hut. Needless to say, we took door #2 and arrived at Cabane du Fort at 4:30 pm. It’s a neat, well-run hut that services lift skiers during the day and tourers overnight. It wasn’t really busy, but we had a room for just the four of us and hot showers. The hut was a little lower at 2457 metres, so the next day would be a bit more climbing. We had supper with guide Paul and his two clients, they were leaving very early the next morning to make it all the way to the Dix hut so that’s the last we would see of them.

Tuesday, April 18^th

Tuesday morning, we were out the door at 7:30 after a better breakfast “experience” and I stuffed two pieces of bread from breakfast into my pack as a bit of a lunch. The day starts off skinning up a groomed track that almost goes all the way to the col. We were warned ski crampons might be helpful for the last bit however at the end of the day they weren’t necessary. We were amongst several parties on the ascent however by the time we hit the col we had some space to ourselves (code for most parties passed us). As usual, sun and a beautiful view greeting us as we transitioned for a short ski down.

During the climb up to Rosablanche (3336 metres) on the way to the Prafleuri hut, the sun came out in earnest, and it got hot. We all had ample sunscreen, but I was envious when I noticed a couple of guides using zinc to protect their nose and lips. It was possible to skin up to a col and leave our bags as it was just roughly 20 metres of boot cramponing up to the peak. 

Here we caught up to a number of parties however here was lots of room for everyone. It’s not necessary to climb Rosablanche (3336 metres) to get to the hut however it’s only roughly an hour up and down from the top of the mandatory climb and if the weather is good the views are fantastic! Skiing down to the hut, we were fortunate to have some light powder that made the descent a lot of fun. We arrived at the Prafleuri Hut (2647 metres) at 1:30 after a 11.2 km, 1033 metres gained day at 1:30 pm for our first “proper” sunny deck haute route experience.

The Prafleuri Hut is a private hut, so our Austrian Alpine Club membership didn’t get us a discount, however it was my favourite hut. Very well organized, lockers for gear once they were dried out in the sun, plentiful wifi and we had a room for just the four of us. It was also our first rosti and beer on the deck in the sun which was a great way to celebrate being in the European mountains (as opposed to cliff bars in a snowbank back in Canada). We were a bit slow to realize we had to get going earlier in the day however the pattern was set for the next couple of huts, roughly 6-hour ski days followed by rosti and beer, followed by an afternoon nap, 6:30 for supper and early to bed. It was here that we started to meet people who would be carrying on to Dix and Vignette huts on the same schedule as us; an American couple, a group of Spanish (sorry Catalans) in their skimo gear and a smattering of English. We shared a table for supper with a French group that included someone who booked the haute route for a travel agency and had to check it out for himself, nice job! Supper was simple but abundant and seconds were available for the asking.

As with all the huts, crocs are readily available. I brought a super lightweight pair of socks for hut wear along with a cotton t-shirt and light weight pants however not everyone did, and it became evident that we (or I rather) packed heavier than the average European, especially those on guided trips. Personal choice, Gary and I also had a cheap and lightweight pair of shoes ($15 Walmart specials) at the bottom of our pack for Zermatt (and we thought Orsieres at the outset). I sure appreciated them in Zermatt as we didn’t forward any gear however the other half of our team was fine strolling around in ski boots, once again personal choice.

Wednesday, April 19^th

Once again out the door at roughly 7:30 am, moving to the Dix Hut. As is often the case, the day started with a roughly 200 metre climb to a spectacular col that we could see most of the rest of the route from. One of the advantages of the Haute Route is we didn’t do much trail breaking and the climbs were solid. Once we had climbed the col, the beta we had was to stay as high as possible traversing above the lake. My sense is that this was good advice, though condition dependent, and there were some teams that descended further including the Spaniards.  A lot of the time the down was more physically demanding than the up, as we initially (and gingerly) crossed several hard frozen soft snow avalanches that had come down the previous day from the steep gullies above.  At one point we were passed by a guided English party that weren’t all that strong on their skis and were using a ton of energy getting around. We did traverse some big country on the high route. I wouldn’t want to do this portion much later in the day on a sunny day. We chose to skin up at a bit of a col as the track continued to traverse to the start of the climbing in earnest and afterwards realized we would have been better to skin up at the bottom of the steeper climbing. The track up started with a steeper section of 30 metres but then kicked back a bit for a pleasant climb up to the hut. Except for the heat, we baked on the way up and all of us got a bit sluggish. This is where we realized we need to get going earlier in the day. There’s a bit of a steeper climb on the last bit to the hut that was southwest facing, and it was pretty sloppy as we made our way. In the end it was an 11.8km, 685 metre day and if I remember correctly, we spent 5 ½ hours on skis, what I’d call a “pleasant” day if it wasn’t for the heat.

Having said that the Dix Hut (2928 metres) was in a spectacular setting. A little bigger than the Praflueri but well organized with wifi and a great deck for the Rosti and beer while gear dried in the sun. There weren’t any lockers however lots of bins to organize gear. We had a great chat with a couple of Germans that were doing a short 3-day tour from Arolla and met several teams that spent two night at Dix and climbed some of the surrounding peaks. After a nap we shared our supper table with an Austrian guided party. Gary wowed the ladies with his German, until he didn’t and it got a bit quiet. Hmm.

Supper was typical hearty fare of sausage, potatoes, and salad and lots to eat including desert. As with all of the huts, credit cards were accepted, and you usually pay in the evening after supper. I was originally a bit concerned about continental breakfasts not being big enough in the mornings and some of us bought bars from home (and bought Mars bars at the huts) however there was usually all the bread and jam you could eat and muesli or porridge. Given the not huge days and Rosti’s early afternoon we didn’t go hungry, although I was one of the ones that always had a Mars bar in my bag for emergency munchies. We shared a bunk room (with our group name on masking tape in front of our bunks) however with everyone in the same boat it was surprisingly quiet. Before the trip some of us who are part of the enlarged prostate club were a bit concerned about hitting the toilet in the middle of the night and considered bringing a pee bottle. In the end it wasn’t necessary although in this hut in particular a run to the washroom in the middle of the night involved descending 3 flights of stairs with blinding lights coming on as you got close to them. Water for hand washing was sparse in the last three huts of the trip. One hut had bottles of melted water, one had a dribble of water next to a bottle of hand sanitizer and one had very little of anything. I didn’t bring any hand sanitizer, but a small bottle might not be a bad idea.

Thursday, April 20^th

We finally got the picture and were up at 5:00 am and would have been out the door quite efficiently except the weather started to change. If the weather is good the plan was to go over the top on the way to the Vignette Hut with possible bagging the Pigne d’Arolla which at 3,796 metres would be a feather in our cap. The descent to the Vignette hut is a bit gnarly and the scene of a fairly significant accident. I was originally of the damn the torpedoes let’s give it a go mentality however Paul proved to be the voice of reason as there was a fun and safer route going down through the Pas de Chevre and around the bottom towards Arolla and up. In the end, after my morning constitutional, we agreed with Paul. I found an interested picture of the choice on fatmap: https://fatmap.com/routeid/23526/dix-hut-to-vignettes-hut.

After the discussion we were out the door at 6:30 for a ski down and across to the start of the Pas de Chevre. Some parties went up and over and a number followed us and given I didn’t have a helmet and there is a snow with a bit of ice to climb up to the ladders I was keen to be ahead of the crowd. The climb up to the ladders was straight forward with crampons and an axe. I debated taking the crampons off for the ladders but left them on and that was the right call as there was some icy snow at the top to navigate. Great fun and beautiful views down to Arolla from the top, where we arrived at 8 am. Shortly thereafter joined by the two Germans and the Spanish team among others.

The ski down was very straight forward as you could see the uppermost ski lift and a groomed road to the right of it. Once on the road there was an obvious track up the moraine with the choice of taking it or carrying on down the road further to get around the moraine. We went past the track up the moraine before stopping for a debate and then heading back to it. As we were heading back the Spanish team passed us having made the opposite decision. Our way stayed high and traversed two moraines and a large slope before joining the other uptrack. The Spanish mentioned they skied to the bottom of the moraine and then boot packed for 100 metres to find an easier way up. Their way was likely faster, ours was more adventurous although we did traverse some big slopes so if it was later in the day and/or bright and sunny I’d take the lower way.  The majority of the guided parties took the low route around the bottom of the moraine, likely because it was faster and easier. The higher route that we took does require some comfort with exposure.

We joined the Spaniards up track at 11:00 am by a little shack and sign where two Englishmen were having a cup of tea and a snack which sounded like a good idea. We stopped to chat, and two guided parties caught up having taken the lower way. We all climbed up together, 2 hours to the hut from this point and part way up the weather that had been building since mid morning caught up to us. The weather socked in, with some precip and high winds. Fortunately, the way was pretty straight forward up the valley and a steeper pitch trending right at the top. Following the cast of thousands didn’t hurt either.

We entered the Cabane des Vignettes (3157 metres) at 1 pm in the middle of a bit of a storm and it was a different experience. When full it sleeps 120 people and my sense it was close to capacity. As you can imagine a lot of gear spread about the entrance, ski room and drying room. Big and busy although well organized. 

We were forced to take our rosti and beer in the dining room and there were signs which party was at which table. While eating Rosti and drinking beer we could look out the window and see a group camping in the snow across the way. The bunk room was comfortable, although there’s no wifi (at the hut you could probably use it the most) and no real way to wash your hands in the toilets. Given the weather and the need for visibility if heading down to Zermatt by the Matterhorn the forecast was the point of much discussion throughout the hut. Given all the various conflicting weather reports gained by talking to people we enjoyed supper and set the alarm for 5 am prepared to make the best of whatever weather presented itself.

Friday, April 21^st

Up at 5:00 am and the day started out just as I feared, fairly socked in and stormy. We ate breakfast and discussed the day. Our beta was to expect a 10 hour day to Zermatt, with 2 ½ hours to the first col after which an alternative route to Arolla could be taken if it didn’t look good ahead and at the second col 2 ½ hours after the first a where a hard go/no go decision had to be made. Our plan A was, of course, Zermatt, plan B was to get over the first col and take a longer, more interesting way down to Arolla and Plan C was to bail to Arolla pretty much following the second half of our climb to the hut the day before. Two early guided parties headed out into the murk however it looked to be getting worse, so we chose plan C and bailed back to Arolla. 

The new snow was pretty sweet up high, however the viz was poor and we primarily survival skied down. Lower the viz improved and the snow quality got worse as expected. We arrived in Arolla at 9:30 am pretty much in the middle of a couple of guided parties. Fortunately, there was a bus stop close by (the first one not to take credit cards) that took us to Sion where we boarded the first of two trains to Zermatt. Pretty much the first stop on the second cog train we had problems with the train. It looked to me that they booted out the passengers of another train, as it wasn’t very crowded, and shipped them to wherever they were going by bus and gave us their train. Packed to the gunnels and resulted in a 1-hour delay. We expected to see a story on the BBC given it was the Swiss trains not performing but nothing appeared to come of it. Still a very cool trip up to Zermatt where we arrived at 1 pm and after a walk to our AirBnB hit a pub to celebrate. Not the perfect ending but still a fantastic trip. Interestingly, in talking to a guide a couple of nights later, he indicated that he preferred booking Albert Premier, Mont Fort, Prafleuri, Dix, Vignette and Bertol huts to give the best chance of success. I’d agree with his assessment as long as you’ve figured out the timing of transportation from Champex to Verbier before last lift to make it to Cabane Mont Fort. We talked to a coupe of parties that added in the Bertol Hut to make the last day into Zermatt shorter and easier terrain wise.

Our original plan was to carry on and ski to other huts in the area, thus we didn’t forward any gear to Zermatt. Unfortunately, Chimene came down with a bit of a nasty cold, so we stayed in Zermatt for three more days. Frankly, I think we were all happy staying in a swish AirBnB in the middle of Zermatt for pretty much the same price as a mountain hut. We had two good weather days and passed them by taking the lifts up to the Klein Matterhorn (little Matterhorn) at 3883 metres and bagging peaks. Day 1 we skied most of the way up the Breithorn (4164 metres), and then put the boot crampons on for an airy ridge walk. It was pretty socked in but from time to time you got a view down to the valley floor resulting in a little more focus on good foot work. The second good weather day we climbed Pollux (4092 metres) which is more of a rock and snow route. An absolute blast with chains in place on the harder sections. One of the highlights of these days was to ski down from the area of the Klein Matterhorn on groomed trails right down into Zermatt which given its 1600 metres is a heck of a run. The last day was a bit late, and we started to ski down at 7 pm only to find the vast majority of the way down had just been groomed. Pretty sweet and a definitely bit mind blowing.

A heck of a trip and many thanks to Paul, Chimene and Gary for making it so!