My Favorite Way: The Haute Route - Classic Itinerary

The Haute Route. I’m talking about the accept-no-substitutes-original. This is the ski tour that launched a sport. The high ski tour from Chamonix, France to Zermatt, Switzerland isn’t the longest in distance, or the biggest in elevation gain. But the terrain it crosses still continues to inspire generations to see backcountry skiing as a tool for exploration with a big dash of fun mixed in.

Nowhere in the mountains has been safe from the effects of climate change, and the Haute Route is no exception. Glacier reduction and retreat have made some of the crossings less reliable, or pushed us to use routes that used to be alternatives. I’ve skied it almost annually for 12 years, and I’ve definitely built some opinions about my favorite way to ski.

Most parties opt for a 5-night, 6-day itinerary: (by hut nights) Trient, Mont Fort, Prafleuri, Dix, and Vignettes; or Trient, Prafleuri, Dix, Vignettes, and Bertol. This itinerary is really popular with North Americans because it allows them to have a day in Chamonix to ski the Vallee Blanche and adjust to the time zone. The first option requires a big day at the very end, skiing out from Vignettes past the Bertol and on to Zermatt. The second option also requires a big day - the second day from Trient to Prafleuri skips the Mont Fort hut and essentially packs two shorter days into one bigger day. This let’s you stay at the stunning Bertol hut at the end of the tour and makes a really reasonable final day to Zermatt.

What’s complicating this tour is how the start has changed. The classic tour starts - or started - with an awesome tram ride to the summit of the Grand Montet and a ski down and across the Argentiere Glacier. But in 2018, the mid-mountain tram station caught fire and burned down. The resort company and community took this as an opportunity to replace the tram altogether. Then in 2024 one of the project cranes had a catastrophic failure and collapse (luckily after work hours so no one was hurt). The tram is scheduled to open sometime in 2027.

A consequence of this project is that we now have to ride gondolas and chairs to mid-mountain, then have a ski run, then start climbing back up just to reach the same point we used to access with a tram run and ski descent. It unavoidably adds several hours to the day, and now we have two days, not just one, where we have to be on the go for more than 8 hours. Add some poor weather, and it can really be crushing instead of the fun adventure you imagined having when you bought your plane tickets to the Alps six months earlier. What can you do?

Add a day! That’s all it takes. By adding one more day, I think it opens up the opportunity to have a better trip. It was a long wind-up, but because of the limits a 6-day itinerary creates, I think the best way to ski the “Classic” Haute Route itinerary is currently a 7-day itinerary that looks like this:

Day 1 - Grand Montet to the Albert Premier Hut.

Day 2 - Albert Premier to Mont Fort

Day 3 - Mont Fort to Prafleuri

Day 4 - Prafleuri to Dix

Day 5 - Dix to Vignettes

Day 6 - Vignettes to Bertol

Day 7 - Bertol to Zermatt

“What if I have a little more time?” Before the tour, there are a number of really cool day tours you can do around Chamonix - skiing the Vallee Blanche to the Mer du Glace should be on everyone’s bucket list, one of my favorite alternatives is a tour on the other side of the Chamonix Valley through the Aguille Rouge. Consider adding the Trient hut to the classic tour (on Day 2) - this would allow you to have a fun afternoon skiing and exploring the Trient Glacier on Day 2, and another fun afternoon skiing the resort at Verbier on Day 3.

And if you really have time - I can’t recommend the “Purist” Haute Route highly enough. The Classic tour avoids some of the more complicated terrain by shuttling over to Verbier. The bypassed terrain covered on the Purist itinerary isn’t particularly hard to ski, but weather and snow conditions can force delays and prevent exits. This Purist itinerary follows the spine of the Alps from Chamonix to Zermatt, passing through the historic Col du Grand San Bernard. Getting to ski it has been a highlight of my time in the Alps! It’s best to budget at least 11 days, or two full weeks with travel from North America.