The Haute Route

Chamonix-Verbier-Zermatt in 6 days

"This hat is useless. It won't keep you warm in the morning, and it's too hot for sunny afternoons."

Our guide, Jean, is tearing through Matt's backpack. Most of the gear meets his approval, but Jean has plenty of packing advice for his new clients. Share headlamps and toothpaste, he advises: every ounce of weight matters. But what about shovels and avalanche probes? Ice axes and prusik loops?

"Too heavy," Jean declares.

The two guides will carry these common safety items, he assures us. We glance at each other suspiciously: crevasse rescue, anyone? And if both guides are buried in an avalanche?

Hmm. But none of us has ever been ski touring in the Alps, whereas Jean has skied this particular route more than 150 times. We return to our hotel and empty our packs accordingly, happy to lose a few kilograms. Speed is safety!

It's Saturday night in Chamonix, and we are finally ready to begin our journey: the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt. We'll spend the following six days skiing 70 kilometers across dozens of glaciers in 3 different countries, climbing 5200m along the way. By comparison, one ascends less than 3500m from the Everest base camp to its summit.

Our party of three Americans is joining a group of seven other clients and two guides from the Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix. Most are native French, and our gender diversity is typical: 11 men and a lone woman, who isn't the least bit daunted by the situation. Some clients are more than twice my age, while others have filled their packs with excess toiletries and pet rocks. Matt, Alex, and I smile at each other knowingly: this is not going to be a fast, efficient group. No point in hurrying to the meeting point tomorrow: we'll end up waiting around while bags are packed and repacked.

Day 1 : Chamonix to Argentière Hut

475m up, 925m down, 6 kilometers

We arrive at the Maison de la Montagne a few minutes late, casually munching on leftovers from breakfast. The entire group is ready to depart and waiting for us.

"You're late. Take this food," Jean commands, passing us three shopping bags and ushering us into waiting vans. It seems that last night's crusade to save weight has ended.

My shopping bag contains a dozen candy bars and pieces of fresh fruit, all for personal consumption. For group lunches, I'm carrying a pound of cheese and a loaf of bread. If we were skiing anywhere but the Alps, these would be sensible provisions. However, the backcountry huts we'll be visiting sell both snacks and hot lunches, along with an impressive selection of wines and beverages. I decide that Jean has simply lost focus, and promptly discard most of the candy and fruit, keeping only what I'll need for the first two days. Speed is safety!

It's warm and cloudy in the valley, but thanks to modern lift technology, we're soon whisked 2000 vertical meters up to the Col des Grands Montets, which is being attacked by icy winds. We quickly descend, making fresh tracks through light and fluffy powder. As the winds relax and the clouds part, it becomes suddenly clear that I'm surrounded by some of the most glorious mountains I've ever seen. The Col du Chardonnet looms above us, revealing a steep 750 meter climb that awaits us in the morning. Yikes.

We reach the flats of the Argentière Glacier and attach skins to our skis for our first ascent. Climbing gently through fresh snow, the group quickly falls into a synchronized rhythm, moving together as a centipede up the slope.

The Argentière hut, our destination, is reached in less than an hour. The final ascent rises steeply from the glacier and manages to challenge my novice skinning abilities. Matt and I end up slipping and sliding our way up, leaving me in a healthy sweat. We've only climbed 170 meters.

After a quick lunch at the hut, we ascend the nearby Glacier des Amethystes for a practice tour. Jean teaches me a better way to execute uphill kick turns, snapping my heel down and flicking my ski tip up (see Couloir Magazine's illustrated guide). I'm still sweating heavily and gasping for air, wasting lots of energy on inefficient turns and slipping backwards. But we've climbed another 300 meters, and stop for a practice session with our avalanche transceivers.

Amazingly, our group spends 5 minutes trying to switch all 12 beacons into "receive" mode, helpfully ensuring that any buried victims become hypothermic. Some are impressed as Alex uses his transceiver to quickly locate a guide's hidden backpack. The wonders of modern technology! It becomes clear that bringing shovels and probes wouldn't have made us any safer: they'd just be useful for recovering bodies.

We enjoy an evening of cards and wine at the Argentière hut, together with a hearty meal of meat and polenta. With any luck, the skies will clear by morning.

Day 2 : Argentière Hut to Champex »