Haute Route Advice

Haute Route Advice for Skiers

Some sound Haute Route advice for anyone thinking of skiing the world’s most famous ski tour: The Haute Route is well known as one of the all time classic mountain journeys in the world, with good reason. It links two of the most important centres for skiing and alpinism in Europe (the world?!): Chamonix and Zermatt. It has incredible scenery and glacial ski terrain. It passes beneath a host of iconic peaks, starting with the impressive north wall of the Argentiere basin and finishing below the Matterhorn. And finally, of course, it’s an essential tick!

This article provides information on the minimum fitness and experience requirements needed to ski the Haute Route, as well as background info on the route and what to expect each day. Hopefully this should help you decide if the trip is suitable for your current ski mountaineering experience and off-piste ski level.

(Please Note: This article describes the ability and experience required to join a Haute Route ski trip lead by a professional mountain guide. To do it safely on your own, you need a broad range of additional skills including avalanche safety training, navigation skills, crevasse rescue and glacier travel skills, logistics knowledge and good quality ski mountaineering decision making experience).

Are You Ready to Ski It?

The Haute Route is a popular target for experienced ski tourers looking for an adventure… However, in recent years the route has become significantly harder due changes in glaciers and snow cover on technical sections of the route, so it’s not to be under-estimated.  It’s a tough and committing trip, with some long and tiring days plus some steep, exposed terrain in both ascent and descent – requiring both experience and a careful approach. Above all, you need to realise that the Haute Route is not a trip for beginners, or those with just a few days experience of ski touring, or skiers who have no mountaineering experience.  Please use the following guidelines to help you decide if the time is right.

Technical Ski Ability, Fitness and Ski Mountaineering Experience

The Haute Route is an Advanced Level Alpine hut to hut tour, that includes some ski mountaineering, so you need good levels of ski touring experience for this to be a suitable trip. More specifically, there are 4 requirements for joining a guided Haute Route trip (or any hut to hut ski tour) – here they are, using Alpine Guides’ ski and fitness levels as benchmarks:

1. Technical Ski Ability – your off-piste ski ability should be at Ski Tech Level 3-4 (more info here).  NB If you are a Telemarker, then it needs to be at Level 4.

2. Physical Fitness – you should be at Ski Fitness Level 3-4 (more info here).

3. Alpine Ski Touring Experience – you should have several weeks ski touring experience, using an alpine touring setup/equipment. This needs to be in the Alps, or on equivalent terrain eg. in North America, New Zealand, Scandinavia etc (ie ski touring in the UK is not enough!) – this means at least 3 weeks ski touring experience, preferably including some hut to hut touring, but a strong day touring resume is ok too.  NB By a ‘day tour’, we mean a minimum of 2-3 hours uphill skinning in the day! – ie doing a shorter skin off the top of the lift in order to pick up a nice descent is what we’d consider a typical off piste day. If you have skied with us on a Silvretta Tour, a Ski Touring Course, or other similar introductory level trip, we can advise you on the suitability of a Haute Route, or make a recommendation regarding any further training required. If you have already been on one of our intermediate or more advanced level ski mountaineering trips, you should be fine joining a Haute Route. If you haven’t skied with us before, you should have a solid touring resume including at least 3 weeks worth of hut or day touring, or a reference from another guide/guiding company.  In particular, before the start of the trip you must have used harscheisen (ski crampons) and must be safe and proficient at doing uphill kick turns whilst skinning on steep, possibly icy terrain.

4. Mountaineering Experience – in recent years the route has become more technical due to glacial recession, with more sections of steep ground needing to be climbed on foot whilst wearing crampons and roped together.  A number of key points along the route that were once all on snow, now involve climbing sections of snowed up rock and/or ice in crampons – so before the start of the trip you must have experience using ice axe and crampons on this type of terrain – ie you can no longer just ‘learn how to use crampons as you go along’, as the route is getting harder!

Power to Weight Ratio

Ski touring is a sport for everyone – big, small, young and old! – but clearly, it involves going uphill for several hours a day, so your body weight has a big effect on the amount of effort this requires. You don’t need to be an athlete to ski the Haute Route, but you do need to be fit and active and regular training in the run up to the trip will be required.  Crucially, you don’t want to be carrying too much extra weight.

If you are new to ski touring, then we cannot emphasize enough the importance of not being significantly overweight: if you are a stone overweight (7-8kg/15lb) , then you will find the trip a lot harder and you are likely to struggle.  If you are more than 12kg/25lb overweight then you may manage some steady day touring, especially if lift assisted, but you stand almost no chance of completing a big multiday ski tour like the Haute Route.

Although it’s possible to ski at a high standard off piste whilst being somewhat overweight – as soon as you point the skis uphill, gravity starts to work against you…  Therefore, if you are carrying a few extra pounds, then losing as much of this as possible in the run up to your trip will have the biggest single effect on how much you enjoy the ascents.

Minimum Haute Route Skills

In any event, the ski mountaineering skills you should have before booking on the trip include:

Familiarity with alpine touring kit – you should be familiar with and know how to use alpine touring boots/bindings/skins/harscheisen and other touring kit.

Skinning skills – you must have used harscheisen (ski crampons) before and need to have efficient skinning technique, being able to skin safely on a variety of terrain, including icy traverses.

Uphill Kick Turns – before booking on the trip, you must be able to do safe and efficient uphill kick turns: changing direction in a zigzag track on exposed, steep (up to 35deg) and sometimes icy slopes.

Skiing with a rucsac – you must be able to ski well whilst wearing a heavy rucsac (~8kg) containing safety and overnight gear.

Mountaineering experience – before booking on the trip, you need experience using an ice axe and crampons on steep snow, snowed up rock and/or ice whilst roped together – ie you need to be confident walking in crampons on snow, ice and rock unroped on easier terrain and climbing in them whilst roped up on steeper terrain.

Steep descents – you need to be happy being lowered down steep snow slopes on a rope (either side slipping on skis, or on foot wearing crampons) to get down short, technical descents.

Avalanche Awareness – you need to have worn an avalanche transceiver before and be aware of basic avalanche safety protocols.

Finally, with all this comes the need for some grit and determination – ie you need to be happy living in alpine huts, making early starts and dealing with any bad weather during the week.

Skier Age and the Haute Route

Our minimum age requirement for skiing the Haute Route is 18 years.  We have no maximum age limit, but clearly there comes a point where age starts to count against you:

18-35yrs

An age where you can get away with a lot physically. You are much less likely to be overweight in this age range and if you have the necessary ski touring and mountaineering experience and train regularly in the run up to the trip, you should be Ok to complete the Haute Route.

35-55yrs

The age range that covers most of our clients on the Haute Route. There is a much bigger range of abilities in this group than in the younger one, e.g. someone who is comfortable putting on weight in middle age and doing virtually no exercise, compared to someone with 20 years of triathlons behind them. Stamina is less affected by aging and experience levels go up as you age, so if you are not overweight and take regular endurance exercise, then there is no disadvantage in being in this age group.  However, if you are carrying some extra weight or not doing as much endurance exercise as you used to, then you need to start training and losing weight a minimum of 6-12 months before to the trip, in order to be fit enough when you arrive.

55+yrs

We have many clients in this age group who ski with us at a very high level each year, but in general they are all very experienced and unusually fit and active for their age – the older they are, the truer this is. Over 60 you realistically need to have a solid background in endurance sports and be carrying no spare body weight to enjoy skiing the Haute Route.

Weather and Avalanche Conditions on the Haute Route

Like all multiday alpine hut tours, when skiing the Haute Route you will be traversing avalanche terrain and crossing glaciers along sections of the route each day – so reasonable weather and sufficiently stable snow conditions are required in order to complete the whole route. In particular, if the avalanche risk reaches Level 3 – considerable – then for safety reasons, changes to the itinerary will be necessary. Having a spare ‘weather day’ built into your itinerary is a good way of increasing your chances of reaching Zermatt.  If you don’t manage to get the full route done, it’s usually because of a large dump of fresh snow, in which case you’ll ski plenty of fresh powder during the week – so not all is lost!

Success Rates on the Haute Route

We are often asked, how likely is it that we will make a successful traverse of the Haute Route and reach Zermatt by the end of the week? This is a difficult question to answer, as it can vary a lot from year to year. We will always do our best to ensure everything that is within reasonable control, ie. the strength and experience of our client teams and guides, the logistics and all of our planning is aligned for you to succeed. However, the weather and mountain conditions do not always allow us to proceed safely, and there is no way to predict this in advance – in some seasons only one or two teams may reach Zermatt, but in good, settled weather seasons it will be closer to 100%.

In the event of poor weather or conditions along the route, we will not cancel your trip – it will continue with a modified itinerary.  We will always modify or replan your trip to keep you safe and provide the most enjoyable weeks skiing that we can. This may sometimes involve skiing sections of the route, linked by taxi or public transport, or even relocating the trip to a different part of the Alps where conditions are safer – in past years we have skied in the Vanoise, Bernese Oberland, Mont Thabor region (Briancon) and various other areas, to allow our teams to enjoy a great weeks’ touring when it just hasn’t been possible to ski along the Haute Route safely.

Best time to ski the Haute Route

The Haute Route Season runs from mid-March to the end of April – this is when the glacier and snow conditions are generally best for the route and therefore when the mountain huts are open, along with all the uplift and other infrastructure supporting the route.

We are often asked when in the season it’s best to go, so it’s important to understand that the biggest single factor affecting conditions along the Haute Route is the kind of weather you get on the week.  This determines everything – and unfortunately there is no reliable seasonal pattern to the weather you get in the Alps at this time of year.  In the past 20 years, we have had seasons where the weather has been consistently stable from mid March – mid April and all of our teams have reached Zermatt and others where there has been a month of storms and none have reached Zermatt!  It can be equally stable or unsettled throughout the season, with heavy snowfalls occurring at any time, along with the associated avalanche risk, which is the main reason itineraries sometimes have to be modified or changed.

In terms of the skiing conditions – March has average colder temperatures and shorter days, so there is more chance of a colder snowpack and skiing on powder.  As the days get longer and average temperatures increase through April, the snowpack becomes more transformed, with a greater chance of skiing on spring snow.  At the end of the season, the snowpack becomes thinner in the mid-mountain, so there is more chance of having to walk the occasional lower section carrying skis. This is all based on averages of course and each year is different!

In terms of avalanche conditions – windslab risk is more frequent at the start of the season, with a spring snowpack developing as the season progresses (in good weather, this creates stable conditions in the mornings and a daily increasing risk on sun affected slopes).  As mentioned however, the weather and temperatures each week create the current avalanche situation – so a storm, wind, or change of temperature at any time during the season can increase avalanche risk along sections of the route.

Before the main season, in February, the crevasses on the glacier sections may not be as well filled in with snow and consolidated, days are even shorter and colder and the snowpack can be less stable than later in the season (more chance of persisting windslab risk, due to wind and lower temperatures). It isn’t the best time to ski the route and the huts therefore don’t open until mid March.

However, the conditions can often be suitable in February and a relatively small number of people do ski the route staying in the unguarded ‘winter rooms’ of the huts. Winter rooms have blankets/bunks and cooking gear, but you have to carry and cook your own food – so this means skiing with considerably heavier packs, which is much harder work on both the climbs and the descents. It can be done, but it’s regarded as a more esoteric/hardcore way of doing the tour for experienced ski mountaineers – and also some luck with the weather and conditions are definitely needed!

In order to increase the chances of reaching Zermatt in less-than-perfect weather conditions, we schedule a spare ‘weather’ day into our itinerary.  This can often be used to let poor weather pass through (eg we spend an extra night in a hut, or valley base as necessary) before continuing along the route to Zermatt.  Without this spare day, any poor weather during the week can lead to teams having to abandon the route immediately, due to lack of time.  During sustained periods of poor weather or increased avalanche risk, there are various work-arounds which allow teams to continue skiing the safest sections of the route, using taxis or public transport to link things together.  There are possible joining and escape points at Verbier and Arolla (approximately 1/4 and 3/4 of the way along the route) and we sometimes have to make use of these during longer periods of poor weather.

Our scheduled Haute Route trips run in the main season – starting in mid March and running every week until mid/end April.

Mountain Huts on the Haute Route

During the week you will spend up to 5 or 6 consecutive nights living in mountain huts. Its desirable that you have previous experience of using huts, so that you know what to expect and how the hut network operates, but please read our Using Alpine Huts article for further info.

What To Expect

The following is a rundown of what to expect on a typical Haute Route trip.
Please Note: There are numerous different combinations of huts and accommodation along the route and we frequently vary our itineraries to make best use of bookings and current weather and snow conditions. For example – if there is a significant fresh snowfall, the guide will often re arrange hut bookings in order to keep the team safe and increase the chances of success.

Day 1 – Ascent to Argentiere Hut

~400m ascent. Before setting off on the Haute Route, we do some warm up runs at the Grands Montets, before donning skins and heading out of the patrolled ski area. This leads to a great 500m descent with stunning views down on to the Argentiere Glacier, which we cross and then skin up to the Argentiere Hut.  En route we refresh on some key skills, which may include kick turns, transceiver training or crampon and ropework.

NB this is a warmup day and hut approach, not a beginners training day – ie the idea is to acclimatise, refresh the skills you already have and arrive at the first hut ready for an early start the following morning.

Day 2 – Argentiere Hut to Trient Hut or Albert Premier Hut

1250m ascent, 800m descent ~6-7hrs From the Argentiere Hut a choice of routes now presents itself – either the Col du Chardonnet or Col du Passon.

Both are the same distance, but in recent years the Col du Passon has become more and more popular, since the Col du Chardonnet dried out in 2003 and is now a roped down climb/abseil rather than a ski descent.

We follow which ever route is in best condition, as both lead on to either the Swiss border and the Trient Hut, or the Le Tour Glacier and the Albert Premier Hut. This first day is quite long, with 1250m of climb and two or three sections of roped climbing on foot – however the views and high mountain ambiance are amazing. Hut choice depends on the group, current conditions the best combination of hut bookings for the week.

Day 3 – Val D’Arpette – Verbier – Prafleuri Hut or Mont Fort Hut

700m ascent, 2400m descent ~8-9hrs. The day begins with a few hundred metres of descent down the right bank of the Trient Glacier, followed by a short roped climb on snowed up rock to reach the Col des Ecandies at the top of the Val D’Arpette.

This deep, north facing valley gives a wonderful long ski run right down to Champex, where we meet a pre arranged minibus to take us the few kilometers down the valley to the Verbier lift system. After lunch on the slopes in Verbier, if heading to the Prafleuri Hut we set off in the afternoon to traverse 3 cols with short descents in between, which leads to the glacier below the Rosablanche and a good north facing decent down to the Prafleuri Hut – this is a long day and we usually arrive at the hut around 5pm.

If staying at the Mont Fort Hut, we can get up a little later and enjoy a quiet descent of the Val D’Arpette before having an afternoon’s off piste skiing around Verbier, as the Mont Fort Hut lies within the Verbier lift system.

Day 4 – Prafleuri (or Mont Fort) to Dix Hut

900m ascent, 600m descent ~5-7hrs From the Prafleuri Hut, an hours skinning leads to the Col des Roux, where the long descending traverse above the Lac de Dix begins. This section of the route is south facing, so in warm weather, must be completed early in the day.

In good conditions with a fast team, various alternatives may be taken here, in order to find some fresh snow. If starting from the Mont Fort Hut, it takes a couple of hours longer to reach the traverse above the Lac de Dix, coming around the North side of the Rosablanche before making a good descent off the Col de Sovereu. Although longer (1400m of ascent to Dix Hut), this route is quieter and offers good skiing.

Either way, at the end of the lake the long climb up to the Dix Hut begins – usually in the afternoon sun. On paper this is quite a short day from the Prafleuri Hut, but the uphill finish in the afternoon heat makes it feel much harder. Luckily the Dix Hut is in a superb position, with a great sunny terrace where you can enjoy the view and a well earned beer before dinner.

Day 5 – Pigne D’Arolla to Vignettes Hut or Nacamuli Hut

950m ascent, 700m descent ~4hrs At 3790m, the Pigne D’Arolla marks the highest point reached on the trip and is a wonderful viewpoint across the whole of the Western Alps.

The ascent from the Dix Hut involves 900m of climb and takes about 3 hours, passing through some steep glacier terrain, including the passage of the Serpentine, which often has to be climbed on foot.

From the summit, it’s a 600m descent down to the Vignettes Hut, which lies perched in a spectacular position on a rocky ridge crest. Here again, in the right conditions it’s sometimes possible to take a different line in order to find fresh snow.

If staying at the Vignettes Hut, this is quite a short day. However, in good weather it’s also possible to continue a further 2.5 hours to the Nacamuli Hut in Italy, which is less well known and makes the last day a couple of hours shorter.

Day 6 – Final Day to Zermatt

750m ascent, 2400m descent ~8-10hrs from the Vignettes (or 650m ascent, 7-8hrs from the Nacamuli) The final day of the Haute Route is always one of the most memorable days out in any ski mountaineers career – crossing three cols and six glaciers, with a final huge descent down to Zermatt under the North Face of the Matterhorn.

An early start is required to make the first climb up the Col de L’Eveque, before a nice descent and second climb up to the Col du Mont Brule. The final section of this is steep and frequently climbed on foot.

From the Col Brule, the Col Valpelline doesn’t look that far away, but it always takes a good two hours to reach. Cresting the final col, the Matterhorn rears up ahead, opening the way to the final 1900m descent down the Stockji and Zmutt Glaciers to Zermatt.

Day 7 – Spare Day

To allow for weather delays. We’ve been guiding the Haute Route for many years now and our guides are well aware that having an extra day in the itinerary greatly increases your chances of completing the route. It makes the trip a little more expensive, but you get 7 days skiing instead of 6 and it’s definitely worth it if you are serious about reaching Zermatt. If we reach Zermatt on Friday, then Saturday morning will be spent skiing in Zermatt, before returning to Chamonix in the afternoon.

OUR BEST HAUTE ROUTE ADVICE

The better your ski level, the more you will enjoy the trip – ie being able to ski comfortably and in control even when tired at the end of a long day, or if snow conditions are challenging.

The fitter you are, the more you will enjoy the ascents – over half the time spent on the mountain each day will be in ascent on skins – and the more energy you will have left to enjoy the descents!

Good personal touring skills means greater safety and efficiency – as you have a much-increased margin of personal safety. This means you can make quicker progress along the route, rather than needing extra help at every small difficulty along the way.  Therefore, the whole team benefits.

Some good reasons for having an efficient team

• A faster group can utilize small weather windows each day, increasing the likelihood of a successful crossing in mixed weather.
• A faster group can avoid warm afternoon weather, which often leads to poor snow/ski conditions and avalanche danger. Also, arriving at the hut in good time gives more time for food, relaxation and recovery for the following day!
• If you are especially slow, or become injured due to poor technique, you may have to leave the tour early.
• You are a team of like minded people who depend on each other for a successful trip – abandoning the route may be unsafe without a guided escort to the valley, in which case the success of the whole group may be compromised.

If you arrive well prepared, then all you need is a bit of sunshine, some half decent snow and you’ll enjoy skiing one of the most amazing mountain journeys out there – so do it properly, safely and enjoy it!

Rating

5.0

Had a fantastic time skiing the Haute Route with Alpine Guides last week. Expert guiding, patience, and great company from our guide Lori 👍 😀⛷❄️Logistically everything went fab!! Planning next year already 👍😀

recommends

Roy Håvik April 26, 2019

Great company and a great Haute Route (honeymoon) trip!!

recommends

Alex Mills April 23, 2019

Great trip with Alpine Guides doing the Haute Route last week. Logistics, guides, huts, and everything else was first class (and very reasonably priced). Would highly recommend to anyone looking to do this.

recommends

Martin Hedley April 23, 2019

Just back from an amazing Haute Route with Alpine Guides. Great organisation before and after the trip and the fact that they screen the clients before letting you sign up means that we had a very strong group, which made it better for everybody. Our guide (Jon Bracey) was superb and very reassuring, even when trying to find a hut in a white out! Would definitely use these guys again if venturing into the high mountains.

recommends

William Law April 3, 2019

We had an awesome Haute Route trip with Alpine Guides a couple of weeks ago. The information provided before the trip was detailed and Rich was super helpful and communicative in the run up to the trip, despite our annoying questions! John Taylor led the trip - he was super knowledgeable and very capable... his managed to get us all to Zermatt safely and with high spirits almost all the way! I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Alpine Guides to anyone! Chris

recommends

Chris Mattock April 30, 2018

Load More