Haute route

Part of the Haute Route ( Otemma Glacier ) with two alpinists on the way.

Haute Route is the name of an international high-alpine hiking and ski crossing that takes several days and leads through the Valais Alps from Chamonix ( France ) to Zermatt ( Switzerland ). It can be extended over the Adlerpass to Saas Fee , which under good conditions requires an extra day.

The route was first made known as a summer route in the middle of the 19th century by members of the Alpine Club . It comprises at least 12 days of hiking or at least 7 days of skiing, during which the 180 km from Chamonix with Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn (Zermatt) are covered.

Because the route was originally hiked by an English club, it was dubbed The High Level Route . However, this was immediately translated into French when the trail was first conquered on skis in 1903. The Frenchman Michel Payot led the first group over the Haute Route in winter. A month later, Robert Helbling and Friedrich Reichert followed , who did not know anything about the previous crossing.

The official name Chamonix-Zermatt Haute Route mutated in parts to a generic name for any multi-day alpine hut tour.

Route of the Haute Route

Huts and villages along the way

• Le Tour , France
• Refuge Albert 1er
• Cabane du Trient ( Trient Glacier and Orny Glacier)
• Champex , Switzerland
• Valsoreyhütte or Chanrionhütte ( Valsorey Glacier )
• Cabane des Vignettes , at the top of the Val d'Arolla ( Pigne d'Arolla ).
• Arolla village, Switzerland
• Bertolhütte ( Col Bertol )
• Schönbielhütte
• Zermatt

Partly - namely from Arolla to Zermatt - the Haute Route is identical to the annual Patrouille des Glaciers ski mountaineering race , which, however, takes place in the opposite direction.

“Walker's Haute Route”: Without crossing glaciers

The Pas de Chèvres in April 1999 with the 30 meter long ladder

This route does not lead over snow or over glaciers. Mountaineering equipment (safety ropes, crampons) is therefore not necessary, and you can stay overnight in mountain huts and hotels. Each day's stage lasts six to seven hours. The route takes around 13 days and can be done from mid / end of July.

List of villages and overnight accommodations on the route:

• Chamonix
• Argentière , via Col de Balme ( 2204  m ) to
• Trento VS , via Fenêtre d'Arpette ( 2665  m ) to
• Champex
• Sembrancher
• Bagnes
• Verbier , for
• Cabane du Mont Fort . Via Col Termin ( 2048  m ), Col Louvie ( 2921  m ) and Col de Prafleuri ( 2987  m ) to the
• Prafleuri hut . Over the Col de Roux ( 2804  m ) to the Lac des Dix , further over the Col de Riedmatten ( 2919  m ) or the Pas de Chèvres to
• Arolla . From Arolla to
• Les Haudères is the shortest stage at 3–4 hours. From there or La Sage over the Col de Tsaté to
• Cabane de Moiry ( a sight because of the Moiry Glacier ), via Sorebois to
• Zinal . Migrate down the valley and the Meidpass ( 2790  m ) or the Pass to Forcletta
• Gruben (Turtmann Valley). Over the Augstbordpass ( 2893  m ) to
• Boys and St. Niklaus Dorf . Up the valley to
• Zermatt

As an alternative, the tour can be extended by one day by using the higher Europaweg to Zermatt and spending the night in the Europahütte . Another variant of the route leads from St. Niklaus Dorf or Jungs over the Weisshornweg to the Topalihütte and to Randa , then up to the Europaweg and the Europahütte or from Randa directly to Zermatt.

literature

• Marianne Bauer and Michael Waeber: Haute Route. From Chamonix to Zermatt. Mountaineering route and hiking route. 2015, ISBN 978-3-7633-4460-4 .
• Kev Reynolds: Chamonix-Zermatt: The Walker's Haute Route. 4th edition 2007, ISBN 1-85284-513-9 .
• Alexander Stewart: The Walker's Haute Route: Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn. 2008, ISBN 1-905864-08-6 .
• Maurice Chappaz : La haute route. Galland, Vevey 1974.
• François Perraudin: Haute Route. From Chamonix to Zermatt - in winter and in summer. AS Verlag, Zurich 2005.
• Mario Colonel: 100 years of Haute Route Chamonix – Zermatt . In: SAC (ed.): The Alps . tape 11 , 2003, p. 24-27 .

documentary

• «Haute Route» - The Drama . SRF, 2018.
• Adventure Alps - the ski tour of a lifetime . SRF, 2018.

Web links

• Descriptions on Wikivoyage :
  • Haute route
  • Walker's Haute Route
• Haute Route on alpenverein.de (PDF; 716 kB)
• private tour description
• private tour description

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 2016.07.23-29 - Haute Route Chamonix-Zermatt (7 jours). In: Wikiloc - Routes and points of interest GPS del Mundo. Retrieved October 1, 2016 . 
2. ^ FIS : History of Skiing. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on December 4, 2012 ; Retrieved October 25, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ^ A. Schellenberger: Dr. Robert Helbling - between Aconcagua and Tupungato. (PDF; 1.7 MB) Institute of Geography at the University of Bern, p. 1 , accessed on October 24, 2010 . 
4. ^ The Haute Route self-guided , accessed September 21, 2013
5. ↑ Haute Route. From Chamonix to Zermatt. Mountaineering route and hiking route. Rother hiking guide, 2015, p. 182 ff.