Swiss TV have a series of 5 High Definition films covering the Haute-Route from Chamonix to Zermat

http://www.hauteroutetsr.ch/

some more information about this classic long distance ski tour

http://pistehors.com/news/ski/comments/0660-skiing-chamonix-zermatt-haute-route/

The films always look great, some shots from the Dynafit women’s record attempt here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWGfNfo64Ms

they finished in Alagna covering the 10,500 meters in 3 days.

Anyone done the HR here?

Not sure what you mean by “classic long distance ski tour”—since almost nobody actually skis all the way from Chamonix to Zermatt any more.

Virtually all guided parties (and nearly all non-guided) take a taxi or bus ride in the midst of their travel, so it’s more accurate to say that it’s two ski routes.

My memory of the Dynafit “record” is that for one section in the middle they rode bicycles.

Not sure what you mean by “the HR” ...
There’s several different route variations, so I guess for most people “the HR” is whatever their guide declares it to be, as long as it has some sort of connection with both Chamonix and Zermatt. Anyway almost none of the routes done today is the same (or as difficult) as the “classic” route of the early parties.

Back when the HR was first done, it made sense to think of it as a “long distance ski tour”, because it went thru terrain that was pretty inaccessible in winter. But nowadays with the Grand St Bernard road open and an asphalt road open to Arolla in winter (and ski lifts above Arolla)—it’s more helpful to think of it as four different sections any of which can be done independently.
1) Argentiere to la Fouly (or Champex)
2) to Bourg St Pierre (or Verbier)
3) to Vignettes near Arolla
4) to Zermatt

If some people want to tell a story when they get back home to Chicago or London, that they “skied from Chamonix to Zermatt” by a single long committing route, that’s their business (and I hear the guide services make lots of money encouraging that story).

Ken

What a wet blanket Ken is. If the HR doesn’t qualify as a “long distance ski route”, I don’t know what does. Sure, you can do various segments instead of linking the entire route, but so what? The ability to bail if necessary is what makes this large an effort possible.

The Chamonix-Zermatt Haute Route is a spectacular route. There’s not as much controversy as he suggests--basically any route through the mountains between Mont Blanc & the Matterhorn qualifies. Most guides take their clients through Verbier, which involves very little mountaineering & a road section. The Classic route is harder & also involves a road section.

But far better, in my experience, is to skip the road in favor of a route over or around the Grand Lui, then on to Velan via Grand St. Bernard before rejoining the more conventional routes. You can also sneak around the Italian side for several segments, if you want to.

Thanks for the great video links

Those look great, thanks for posting, will watch them when I’m not at work…

We did it in April 2009 and had a really fantastic time. The pics were really lovely so I made a site for them and wrote a bit about the trip etc here

http://the-haute-route.com

We had to miss out the Pigne d’Arolla due to bad weather, so our plan this year is to start at the Dix hut and go through to Saas Fee by a diferent variant to the one we took - really looking forward to it.

Chalet La Foret - 14 January 2010 10:23 AM

Those look great, thanks for posting, will watch them when I’m not at work…

We did it in April 2009 and had a really fantastic time. The pics were really lovely so I made a site for them and wrote a bit about the trip etc here

http://the-haute-route.com

We had to miss out the Pigne d’Arolla due to bad weather, so our plan this year is to start at the Dix hut and go through to Saas Fee by a diferent variant to the one we took - really looking forward to it.

Nice micro-site, great idea and I really like the photos. I love the lace curtains and deepening snowpack. Well done for your project and thanks for posting the link.

FF - 14 January 2010 06:25 AM

If the HR doesn’t qualify as a “long distance ski route”, I don’t know what does.

Uh ... about 30 other multi-day routes in Bill O’Connor’s two guidebooks that do not have a bus or taxi or bicycle ride in the middle. Lots and lots of ski routes in North America that do not have taxi ride in the middle.
(Surely the Verbier variation has no place in a real “long distance ski route” connecting between Chamonix and Zermatt—but it makes great sense as some fun + pretty touring somewhere in the general region.)

FF - 14 January 2010 06:25 AM

What a wet blanket Ken is.

Far from it. Rather by emphasizing the reality and desirability of doing disconnected segments, it’s easier for more groups to find more ways to enjoy the many great touring options available to fit the weather and conditions available.

Most of the great views on the website of “Chalet le Foret”, I’ve seen on ski tours that did not and had no intention of spanning between Chamonix and Zermatt. Those special dawn views from Bertol are not included at all in the two main routes considered by most parties. I went to Bertol as part of a delightful loop tour from Arolla.

My suggestion is that most groups would have more fun + prettier + safer skiing for a week in the high western Alps if they allowed themselves even more freedom to depart from any sense of a “single ski route” than a mere single taxi ride.

Generally ski touring is more fun and more safe if you start with an awareness of more options, rather than focusing on one big goal.

Ken

Surely the Verbier variation has no place in a real “long distance ski route” connecting between Chamonix and Zermatt

Then your beef is with the Verbier variation, not the HR in general, as your initial post seemed to suggest.

I’m not sure you need be such a purist about it--the original 1911 winter route (the Classic variation over Plateau du Couloir) had a road segment, too, so Verbier is actually in character if it matters. You do ski every day on the Verbier route, so I’m not sure how it’s not a long-distance ski tour--you cover, what, 50K on skis on consecutive days (weather permitting, of course)?

Personally, I think the road segments are less fun, but they have their own charms. It’s a marvelous contrast to the US, for instance, where the lack of public transit would never allow you to ski out of one mountain range, scoot across & enter another without elaborate & contrived shuttles (like bicycling between, for instance). And even if you could, they’d never allow you to carry your sharp ice axes onto a public bus

Most of the great views on the website of “Chalet le Foret”, I’ve seen on ski tours that did not and had no intention of spanning between Chamonix and Zermatt. Those special dawn views from Bertol are not included at all in the two main routes considered by most parties. I went to Bertol as part of a delightful loop tour from Arolla.

I’ve always wanted to tack on a loop through the Bertol to a Cham-Zermatt HR, but we’re always racing weather by that point. The Arolla loop through the Dix, Vignettes, Bertol looks really great--is that what you did?

...by emphasizing the reality and desirability of doing disconnected segments, it’s easier for more groups to find more ways to enjoy the many great touring options available to fit the weather and conditions available.

Can’t argue with that, but the experience of skiing the HR, with it’s history, strong effort & amazing scenery is better saved to do in one go, IMO. As you stated, there are lots of other tours to do if your time slot is short or the conditions unfavorable.

My suggestion is that most groups would have more fun + prettier + safer skiing for a week in the high western Alps if they allowed themselves even more freedom to depart from any sense of a “single ski route” than a mere single taxi ride.

Generally ski touring is more fun and more safe if you start with an awareness of more options, rather than focusing on one big goal.

Ken

Again, can’t argue, although I think there is a big difference between ski touring for a week out of a town, & ski touring for a week out of huts. The real problem is that a week isn’t really enough for a HR. The success rate would be much higher if people allowed a couple weather days. But the Arolla Chamber of Commerce would suffer…

Skiing the HR, for better or worse, has become a milestone in anyone’s ski mountaineering career. There’s nothing like it in the US (or UK, obviously), & most people aren’t even aware of any other multi-day tours until after their first HR.

Unlike many other options--including those in Bill O’Connor’s books you mentioned--it’s also well structured as a multi-day tour, so there are many variations possible to suit different skill levels & snow conditions, & so you don’t have to sleep in winter rooms or camp part of the time, or eat Spaghetti Bolognese every single night, as has happened to me more than once on other hut routes.

FF - 15 January 2010 07:08 PM

Unlike many other options--including those in Bill O’Connor’s books you mentioned--it’s also well structured as a multi-day tour, so there are many variations possible to suit different skill levels & snow conditions, & so you don’t have to sleep in winter rooms or camp part of the time, or eat Spaghetti Bolognese every single night, as has happened to me more than once on other hut routes.

I’d agree with that, there’s no particular virtue in sharing a room with 20 other people. I’ve been known to take the weekend off on some routes, summer and winter, here in Switzerland and go home before picking the route up again on Monday morning, in fact I was just planning a 16 day route doing exactly that I’ve never seen huts, refuges and hostels as anything more than a necessary evil, the mountain equivalent of the strings of nondescript hotels I used to stay in for business.

I love the huts, it’s the crowds that distress.

If you get a hut to yourself, it’s a great mountain experience. We do most of our Alpine touring in March, before the season really gets cooking. That way, the huts are like private retreats & you get to do your own route-finding, rather than just following a rut. Snow cover often still extends all the way into the valleys, providing longer ski descents instead of long slogs. The snow can be a bit more of a challenge, but you can usually work it out if you are willing to be flexible about your route selections.

You do have to be careful that there will be a guardian at the huts, or--again--it’s that dreadful winter room. Fortunately, hut keepers are getting much better about opening up briefly if they have a reservation, rather than sticking to some rigid, traditional Easter opening. When sparsely filled, most of them are also getting pretty good about opening a new room for each group, rather than jamming you all into one corner...except that d--d Vignettes

Thanks davidof it was a lot of fun to do.

Also Hi all! I thought I’d posted here before but apparently not!
Cheers,
Martha.

Chalet La Foret - 17 January 2010 12:18 PM

Thanks davidof it was a lot of fun to do.

Also Hi all! I thought I’d posted here before but apparently not!
Cheers,
Martha.

You may have commented on the front page. Anyway it is nice to see you in the forum.

Long distance tour the local French skiers’ way ...
www.skitour.fr/forum/read_137651.html

I sometimes say that the Argentiere-Zermatt haute route is mainly a “tourist” thing—that serious local French + Swiss backcountry skiers have little interest in doing it (as a whole route, as opposed to particular sections and side trips). But here I am contradicted.

Local skiers’ perspective ...
Interesting to notice the differences between this plan on skitour.fr and other approaches mentioned earlier:

* no consideration of any taxi or bus ride: take it seriously as a long distance tour.

* no concern about setting a record like the Dynafit team. It’s non-competitive—conviviality among skiers who love to be out in the mountains.

* freedom from a fixed itinerary: split into two teams each taking their own pace.

* quick 2 days: one of the teams will ski from Argentiere to Zermatt with only one night sleeping in a refuge !!

(that’s the slow group)

Ken

Another different “local” perspective:
the Swiss French-language guidebook, Ski de randonnee Valais Central, by Francois Labande (Editions Olizane 2003).

FF - 14 January 2010 06:25 AM

far better, in my experience, is to skip the road in favor of a route over or around the Grand Lui, then on to Velan via Grand St. Bernard before rejoining the more conventional routes.

So I got the idea of proposing crossing the Grand Lui from Argentiere to near Bourg St Pierre as a weekend tour for some of us, with a car-shuttle to keep the set-up time reasonable.

Started reading the French-language guidebook, noticed lots of discussion of the Haute Route, detailed descriptions of the two main normal routes—and every conceivable variation and route alternative and side trip ...

except traversing over the Grand Lui.

(The guidebook does give an up-and-back ski of the Grand Lui from La Fouly. And that tour description has one sentence mentioning a possible connection with a traverse route—but that traverse is not the HR, rather the “five cols” traverse from La Fouly to Champex.)

More important once I started reading the French-language guidebook, there’s so many more interesting ski tours around there ...
what experienced skier would want to do something so obvious as the traverse over Grand Lui?
(except as part of a speed-touring thing)

Once I looked at the guidebook for around Trient + La Fouly + Champex + Bourg St Pierre, if I were going to drive all the way over there, there’s at least 15 tours I’d chose ahead of the Argentiere - Grand Lui - La Fouly - Grand St Bernard traverse.
The guidebook has 70 or more pages for that area: 30 major tours (and likely 60 more in the notes), with a wide variety of difficulty and length.

This is what happens any time I start to think of doing some section of the HR: I get out the French-language guidebook, see all the other interesting tours in the same area, and lose interest in the relatively boring HR track (how about the Otemma glacier?).

Yes the HR itself still is scenic: But lots of the tours nearby are even more scenic, because they go to higher viewpoints. (with much less logistical hassle, and more freedom to choose a good weather day when I can actually see the great view).

Ken