My Favorite Way: The Summer Haute Route - Climbers’ Edition

The Haute Route — the famous high-mountain link between Chamonix and Zermatt — actually started life as a summer mountaineering route, not the ski tour it's best known as today.

The Golden Age origins (1860s)

Its roots trace to the "Golden Age of Alpinism," when British climbers, mostly members of the Alpine Club, were racing to complete first ascents and traverses across the Alps. In 1861, a group including Francis Fox Tuckett made an early high-level crossing between Chamonix and Zermatt via glacier passes, avoiding the valleys below. Over the next few years others refined and extended these lines — notably Adolphus Moore and Horace Walker, often guided by the famous Anderegg guiding family (Melchior and Jakob Anderegg), who were instrumental in stitching together a continuous glacier route through the Pennine Alps.

By the late 1860s, this "Haute Route" (the name itself is French/English for "High Route," sometimes called the "Chamonix–Zermatt High Level Route" in English) was reasonably well established as a classic multi-day traverse using rope, ice axe, and mountain huts — crossing a series of high cols like the Col de Bertol, Col d'Hérens, and others, staying as high as possible rather than dropping into the valleys.

My Favorite Way

“My favorite way” is a description of how I’d would climb a route or ski a tour. These posts are periodically updated to reflect my experience and new information I learn.

MAP: https://caltopo.com/m/UESC190

Day 0. Destination Chamonix. I have several hotels I can recommend, and we can experience a dinner in my favorite Savoyard restuarant.

Day 1. Destination Cabane Albert Premier. In the morning we can do any last-minute shopping we need, before heading up-valley to the village of Le Tour and launching. Riding up the gondola and chairlift saves our legs for the big days to come. The hike to the Cabane Albert Premier is only 4km and 550m elevation gain, and takes 2 hours to accomplish.

Day 2. Cabane Trient. Today takes longer than you may think, because it involves climbing the Le Tour glacier, passing through the Col Le Tour, and then traversing the Trient glacier to the Cabane Trient. 6km, with 700m gained and 225m loss, typically taking 5-6 hours. NOTE: You can try to combine days 1 and 2, but because of the chairlift hours you can’t start hiking until 9.00a. If you have any delays or if the weather threatens in the afternoon, making it to the hut in time for dinner (6.30p) is at risk. If you absolutely can’t / don’t want to start hiking on Day 1, try staying at the Refuge Col de Balme so that you can still get a 7.00a start.

Day 3. Le Chable. No glaciers today, just a long descent to the town of Orsierres, then a train ride to Le Chable for a night in a hotel. We can even have our luggage bumped to here, letting us have showers and swap out laundry.

Day 4. Cabane Chanrion. A bus ride up the valley to Mauvoisin starts our hike to Cabane Chanrion. The hike starts at the dam for Lac Mauvoisin and the hike up through the dam and alongside the lake is fascinating. And the views of the Grande Combin are amazing. The hike lasts for 4km and gains 550m, and takes 5.5 hours with breaks.

Day 5. Cabane Dix. Doubling back a little bit, but the scenery is worth it and it set’s us up for a fantastic climb the next day. We’ll cross three glaciers on the way to Cabane Dix, traveling 10km, gaining 960m and descending 500m. So this is a long day - at least 8 hours. NOTE: Alternatively, this day could be skipped and you could travel directly to the Cabane Vignettes, but you don’t get to summit the Pigne d’Arolla.

Day 6. Cabane Vignettes. Today’s.a climbing day! The Pigne d’Arolla (3780m) gives an amazing summit view of the Alps, so an early start is recommended. It’s also a moderately long day - 8km almost entirely on glaciers, 980m gained and 740m descended.

Day 7. Cabane Bertol. Another big day (10-12 hours) that requires an early start. We’re circumnavigating the Mont Collon, and it takes a few hours to climb up to Col Eveque before a big descent before a big climb up to Col and Cabane Bertol. It’s 14km, 1190m gained, and 1050m descended. Quite likely the single longest day in distance and elevation for the tour. NOTE: If this sounds like too much, you could descend to Arolla for the night and then climb up to Bertol in the morning.

Day 8. Schonbielhuette. Don’t be fooled by the distance, this is the last big day. It takes a few hours to gain the Col Tete Blanche, but the descent is technically slow to the Schonbielhuette (we cross into German-speaking Switzerland today). But the Matterhorn comes into view, and we get to sleep under the North Face tonight! 11km, only 700m gained but 1300m descended! NOTE: A landslide in 2026 wiped out the access to the fixed lines leading up to Schonbielhuette. I had to pioneer a new route that only works in dry conditions - rockfall would be too hazardous in wet conditions. The hut staff confirmed that work will be undertaken in the fall to try to address it.

Day 9. Zermatt. We get to sleep in - the hike to Zermatt is am 12km, 1100m descent. We get to walk through several historic summer-villages, maybe even getting lunch in Zmutt. Nothing tastes better than that first beer in Zermatt!