Ski touring the Haute Route

The Chamonix – Zermatt Haute Route needs no introduction. The ancient High Level Trade Route between Chamonix and Zermatt is top of most ski tourers/ski mountaineers tick list. There are three main variants to the route; the Standard route with the Plateau du Couloir crux on the Grand Combin; the Verbier variant, for less experienced tourers which avoids the Plateau du Couloir (most guided parties take this route); and finally the Grande Lui variant, a more technical route which includes the Plateau du Couloir together with some additional terrain which at least matches the degree of difficulty of the Plateau du Couloir.

If you are thinking of doing the Haute Route, whatever the variant, just do it - it truly deserves its status as ski tour classic. A word of caution though. The Haute Route does attract the ‘more experienced’ ski tourer, yet only 50% or so complete (weather takes its toll). If you do decide to take the plunge, don’t overestimate your ability. Navigation in the high mountains, and travel on glaciated terrain takes acquired skills. If you are in any doubt, go with a guided party, there are plenty of them.

Huts: It is recommended that you book huts in advance. Contact details can be found from our useful links section

Maps: The IGN 1:25,000 Map 3630 for Chamonix/Mont Blanc, SwissTopo 1:25,000 maps 1345: Orsieres, 1346: Chanrion, 1366: Mont Velan, 1347: Matterhorn (Monte Cervino), 1348: Zermatt.

Guide book: Haute Route Chamonix-Zermatt: Guide for Skiers and Mountain Walkers by Peter Cliff

The Grande Lui Variant - Trip report by Greig Scott

The Grande Lui variant offers a challenging technical traverse of the Haute Route, but with the additional aesthetic benefit that at no point do you rely on mechanised transport as you do on the other variants (standard route requires a bus/taxi transfer from Champex to Bourg St Pierre). We wanted to do the complete traverse on skis, so ‘deal done’ !!! The downside is that it takes an extra day.

Day 1:
Starting out early from Chamonix, getting up the Grand Montets is always tough, with hundreds of skiers pushing to be one of the first to start the Haute Route. From the top of the Grand Montets, it’s an easy early morning ski down to the Argentiere Glacier, avoiding the seracs and many open and half hidden crevasses. From the Argentiere glacier, it’s a lung bursting skin up the Chardonnet Glacier. At the head of the Chardonnet Glacier ‘Haute Routers’ are faced with their first challenge. A 50m or so abseil down the 50 degree couloir from the Col du Chardonnet. A couple of the ‘braver’ skiers decide to ski this, which is pretty inconsiderate with a number of poor souls below getting showered with debris.

From the bottom of the couloir, it is s straightforward glide and then skin up to the Fenetre du Saleina, where the skin track up the 45degree slope is being completely destroyed by some inexperienced day trippers who are trying out there new found kick turning skills. Messy, and not a good place to learn !!!! From the top of the ‘Fenetre’ it’s a glide down towards the Trient hut, but the cloud has sucked in, and we navigate straight to the rocky buttress below the hut by GPS. Technology rules !!!

Day 2:
Start by reversing the last couple of kilometres of day one, back over the Fenetre du Saleina and across the Saleina Glacier to the steep skin up towards the Col du Grande Lui. The last couple of hundred metres are on crampons with axes, as the snow steepens to the airy crest. From there, the descent down the a’Neuve glacier is longer, way longer, than it looks on the map, and is pushing 6,000ft of vertical descent. Wonderful. The glacier spits you out at the village of La Fouly, where we check in to the bunkhouse of the Hotel de Glaciers. Bizarrely it is run by a cross dressing mountain guide, who makes our brief stay…..’entertaining’.

Day 3:
Next day we leave La Fouly and skin up the still snow covered road that runs through the Val Ferret. We pass small hamlets, unoccupied and completely snowed in and cut off for about six months a year, before heading up steeper slopes (avalanche sensitive) to the Col du Grand St Bernard (tricky navigation in poor weather). From here, it’s skins off and a ski down to the avalanche tunnel on the ‘summer’ road and the final steps to the Grand St Bernard monastery. Spending the night here is a wonderful experience. The Monastery is snowed in all winter, but the monks provide a service for ski tourers. A warm bed in their bunkhouse and dinner (at mountain hut prices). The building is amazing (once ‘occupied’ by Napoleon), and taking Mass with the monks is a free optional extra. 

Day 4:
Rested and satiated, Day 4  starts with a ski down ‘the road’ using the snow poles as direction finders and we end up at the small (closed) ski lift of Super St Bernard. A straightforward hike up towards the Aiguille du Velan, followed by a tricky  na vi gational traverse takes us to the top of the Chaux de Jean Max. Note that this traverse takes in ascents of two 100m long couloirs of about 50-55 degrees. We ski down the 30-35 degree slopes of the ‘Chaux’ in perfect snow conditions, spotting the Velan Hut high to our right, but that’s not today’s objective, The ski-ing on the ‘Chaux’ is a delight and takes us down to re-connect with the standard route at a gorge 900m below today’s real objective, the Valsorey Hut. Now I wish the Velan had been our aim, as it is a mere 45mins away, whilst the Valsorey is a 3hr late afternoon grind.

Day 5:
It’s a multi group task to break trail over the Plateau du Couloir, helped significantly by a few guides who had been hut bound in the V alsorey with there clients (they break most of trail). We tackle the steep 45-50 degree ascent and final traverse on skis, a lot of groups tend to use crampons and axes, but today the snow is soft and fresh and skier friendly. From the top of the Plateau du Couloir it’s a day of ups and downs (mostly downs) in the shadow of the Grand Combin to the Chanrion Hut. There is some great ski-ing to be had from the Col du Sonadon down the Glacie r do Mt Durand before the final short hike up to the Chanrion.

From the Chanrion, we chose another ‘variant’ to the standard route. We opted out of the ‘tedious’ (if you can use that word on this tour !!!) Otemma Glacier to take the Brenay Glacier route up to the Pigne d’Arolla. Note that there is a fairly steep snow ascent of the Brenay icefall, and it can be bypassed by taking the parallel Serpentine Glacier and via the Col do Serpentine to the Pigne d’Arolla. We managed to time our ascent of the Pigne with the cloud rea lly sucking in to the lee side, right where we were heading on a fairly steep descent punctuated by some fairly large seracs at the bottom. Thank goodness for GPS and the foresight to programme in the descent route to avoid the seracs. After about 300m of ‘blind’ skiing, we came across two parties, each of about six skiers who were completely disorientated in the cloud. From there I played the Pied Piper to now about 16 of us navigating down to the Vignettes Hut. A true relief when we got there. The Vignettes is an amazing hut, in a stunning location.

Day 6: 
Setting off on our final day, yesterday afternoon’s cloud has cleared and the vistas are endless. I have climbed and skied all round the world, from the Himalayas to The Andes with a lot in between, and have had some great days in the mountains. Few rival this day, and this final day of the Haute Route seals it’s status as a classic. Three major cols to climb and thousands of feet of descent to Zermatt through some of the most stunning scenery in the Alps. This day is a real pleasure. From the climb of the Col do Mt Brule to the perfect powder skiing of the Col du Valpelline, from the skiing on the Zmutt Glacier to the views of the Matterhorn, Dent d’Herens, Monte Rosa and Grand Combin (among others), everything is just perfect. We even manage to get a beer and rosti at a mountain bar when we hit the Zermatt slopes and then make our last turns all the way into Zermatt itself, in mid April.

Sitting in a bar in Zermatt, we feel pretty smug about our week and achievement. We got pretty lucky with the weather, but had allowed ourselves the luxury of a couple of hut days should they have been needed, but thankfully weren’t.