Alps Haute Route

[gamma]

Anyone done this? Have tips on what time of year is best,(May?) where it starts and ends etc? what gear is needed?

many thanks

[skierX]

its basically a 100 mile skin track

[cramp]

An excellent day-by-day description with tons of photos and maps can be found at

Haute Route

Most crowds will be found around the Easter holiday season (this year in the middle of April).

[JoeStrummer]

its basically a 100 mile skin track

Disrespectful. That is like calling my wife a "decent piece of ass."

[Tony]

An excellent day-by-day description with tons of photos and maps can be found at

Haute Route

Most crowds will be found around the Easter holiday season (this year in the middle of April).

I've actually meet Mark and Kathy(?) while guiding their group when I did the normal route in April 2005. Great guys.

Tips?

- You can find most info in their website.
- Early April is usually the best time.
- Starts in Chamonix with a vertiginous descent down to the Argentiere Glacier and ends at Zermatt with a glorious lager under the shadow of Matterhorn.
- Gear list is in the link above. Two words: aluminum crampons.
- Still don't figure out how you work out the Custom Tax for the bindings. Tips?

[Idris]

Great route. Can get overly busy. Late season can be more a mountaineering experience than a ski. Done by a lot more mountaineers than can ski a bit rather than vice vesra.

Best skiing is febuarry. But short days and you have to carry all your provisions and stay in the winter rooms in the huts.

Two words: aluminum crampons.

Don't do it. Don't know any of many freinds who've owned these stick with them. They only work on firm snow - not ice - on the Haute route there will be ice.

[bbirtle]

I've got it on my to-do list, email me if interested.

http://www.summitpost.org/plans/view...p?post_id=5210

March is the best time, IMO...

[Choucas]

Done it four times via various routes over the last 25 years. I've always done it late in the year....sometimes even late May. I think that late April or first week of May is best for reliable weather and snow, though it can get crowded then. Lots of long slogs. Do it for the distance covered and the scenery not the downhill skiing. Make your pack as light as possible. Some claim that east west is better due to sun at your back in the morning while climbing followed by downhill that the sun has not turned to unskiable mush. Sometimes true, but you can't bank on consistent snow/weather no matter which way you go.

[arg]

Skied most of the route last April. The weather was pretty unsettled but we had powder most days. Due to the weather and high avy danger we started from Verbier rather than Cham. Not quite the Haute Route but pretty good given conditions.

Best tip I can give ya is to be flexible. Be prepared to start the route from a variety of different points and be prepared to bail from any point.

Other random thoughts...
Don't bother to hire a guide, if you start after the guided parties have left for the day, you will have a nice skin track to next hut. If you're fast you'll be able to catch the leaders and still get good snow on the descents.

Be wary of the Vignettes Hut, we felt that the hut warden was a bit stingy with the food.

Always be sure to call ahead to the huts, we cut one of our days short because of the weather and showed up unannounced at one of the huts. They let us stay but weren't pleased about it until we started spending money.

There's plenty of great skiing off the main route. You can usually find it by watching the day trippers or the helicopters.

My crampons never came out of my pack and we only used the rope and axes once but were nice to have.

Go light, my pack weighed about 18 lbs. We saw plenty of people struggling under heavy packs.

Bring ear plugs. The dormitories are noisy.

[verbier61]

I did the verb-zermatt last spring (april 22-26, if I remember well) and made a report here. sorry I can not be more fluent right now because I'm in verb with limited interenet access. Anyway plase note that there are MANY possible haute route in the alps, not just one. I might do the one of the bernese alps this spring

[p@wder]

There is only one "Haute Route" The Haute Route. If you are british or American anyway. Of course, the alpine natives know this as a folly.

Still, it is one of the best huate routes.

I may be skiing it this spring. Depends if I can push my mountaineering and touring skills up.