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Snowboarding at Les Grand Montets, Chamonix Mont-Blanc, France

The Legendary Chamonix - Zermatt Haute Route Ski Tour

The most famous ski tour in the World, taking you from Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn.

Ski Touring Moderate, Difficult

Also in Haute-Savoie, France

Snowboarding at Les Grand Montets, Chamonix Mont-Blanc, France
Snowboarding at Les Grand Montets, Chamonix Mont-Blanc, France Photo: TRAILSOURCE.COM

Description

There are longer, tougher and more extreme ski tours out there but this route, from Chamonix to Zermatt, is without doubt the most celebrated and historic ski journey in the World. There are several variations on the route but this option (via Verbier) is one of the most aesthetic and logical ways to do the trip.

It's possible to ski the Haute Route throughout March and April and whilst you are unlikely to have it to yourself, the popularity of the route means that there will almost always be a skin track to follow and the prevalence of other skiers increases your safety margins somewhat. That said, the terrain is glaciated and much of it is quite featureless so to attempt this tour you need to be confident finding your way through serious, high mountain terrain in all conditions.

Provided you have the pre-requisite skills and experience, this adventure is well worth the hype. It starts under the highest mountain in the Alps, finishes under the most recognisable peak in the World and has some fabulous ski touring in between.

If you want to change things up a bit, check out our guidebooks to the 2 main Haute Route variants -

/discover/guidebook/9516

/discover/guidebook/9517

Routes included

Related guidebooks