Haute Route- Chamonix to Zermatt

Back to back Haute Routes! On day one, Marnie and I went from the Grand Montets, over the Col du Passon, across the Tour Glacier, through the col superior du Tour, down the Trient Glacier, up through the Col des Ecandies, then down the Arpette valley to Champex. We spent the night in Verbier, then skied corn the next morning on the Marlene, corn off the SE face of Mont Fort, then on to the Prafleuri Hut. Then we did Dix, Pigne d’Arolla, Arolla, Bertol and down to Zermatt. What perfect conditions we had! The snow was brand new, super white crystals, laid down from the previous four day’s snow storm.  Living in Whistler certainly prepared Marnie for some of the hight gain each day, but I was happy to see her impressed with the vastness we live in here. Seeing the steep couloirs and faces to climb, her untrained eye was at first intimidated, but she soon felt comfortable once she had crampons on her feet and was in the thick of it. Hut life was super pleasant, meeting only a handful of people each evening, sharing the same desire to relax and travel up over these peaks and passes. Then I did a fun variant the past 4 days, traveling from the Valsorey Hut to Chanrion and then up and down to Arolla. The wildness of our own upper Val du Bagnes always impresses me and feeds that yearning to discover more of its nooks and crannies. Here are a few shots from the last few days…

1 thought on “Haute Route- Chamonix to Zermatt

  1. Marian Kamendy

    Reads and looks absolutely fantastic. I can even recognize some spots from our summer version of Haute Route we did together a couple of years back. Makes the desire to do the winter/spring version even more irresistible! 🙂

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