Kev Reynolds - Chamonix to Zermatt: The Classic Walkers Haute Route

About the Author

Kev Reynolds first visited the Alps in the 1960s, and returned there on numerous occasions to walk, trek or climb, to lead mountain holidays, devise multi-day routes or to research a series of guidebooks covering the whole range. A freelance travel writer and lecturer, he has a long association with Cicerone Press which began with his first guidebook to Walks and Climbs in the Pyrenees . Published in 1978 it has grown through many editions and is still in print. He has also written more than a dozen books on Europes premier mountain range, a series of trekking guides to Nepal, a memoir covering some of his Himalayan journeys ( Abode of the Gods ) and a collection of short stories and anecdotes harvested from his 50 years of mountain activity ( A Walk in the Clouds ).

Kev is a member of the Alpine Club and Austrian Alpine Club. He was made an honorary life member of the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild; SELVA (the Socit dEtudes de la Littrature de Voyage Anglophone), and the British Association of International Mountain Leaders (BAIML). After a lifetimes activity, his enthusiasm for the countryside in general, and mountains in particular, remains undiminished, and during the winter months he regularly travels throughout Britain and abroad to share that enthusiasm through his lectures. Check him out on www.kevreynolds.co.uk

100 Hut Walks in the Alps

Alpine Points of View

crins National Park

Swiss Alpine Pass Route Via Alpina 1

The Bernese Oberland

The Mountain Hut Book

The Swiss Alps

Tour of Mont Blanc

Tour of the Jungfrau Region

Tour of the Oisans: GR54

Tour of the Vanoise

Trekking in the Alps

Trekking in the Silvretta and Rtikon Alps

Walking in Austria

Walking in the Alps

Walking in the Valais

Walks in the Engadine

CHAMONIX TO ZERMATT

THE CLASSIC WALKERS HAUTE ROUTE

by Kev Reynolds

JUNIPER HOUSE, MURLEY MOSS,
OXENHOLME ROAD, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA9 7RL
www.cicerone.co.uk

Kev Reynolds 2019

Sixth edition 2019

ISBN 9781783627820

Fifth edition 2015

ISBN 9781852847807

Fourth edition 2007

ISBN 9781852845131

Third edition 2001

ISBN 9781852845131

Second edition 1995

ISBN 9781852843274

First edition 1991

ISBN 9781852840761

Printed in China on behalf of Latitude Press Ltd

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All photographs are by Kev Reynolds and Jonathan Williams unless otherwise stated.

Route mapping by Lovell Johns www.lovelljohns.com

Contains OpenStreetMap.org data OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA. NASA relief data courtesy of ESRI

For my wife without whose love and practical support this guidebook would not have been written.

Updates to this Guide

While every effort is made by our authors to ensure the accuracy of guidebooks as they go to print, changes can occur during the lifetime of an edition. Any updates that we know of for this guide will be on the Cicerone website (www.cicerone.co.uk/1048/updates), so please check before planning your trip. We also advise that you check information about such things as transport, accommodation and shops locally. Even rights of way can be altered over time. We are always grateful for information about any discrepancies between a guidebook and the facts on the ground, sent by email to updates@cicerone.co.uk or by post to Cicerone, Juniper House, Murley Moss, Oxenholme Road, Kendal, LA9 7RL.

Register your book: To sign up to receive free updates, special offers and GPX files where available, register your book at www.cicerone.co.uk.

Acknowledgements for 2019 edition

Research for this latest edition was undertaken by Jonathan, Lesley and Madeline Williams who not only acted as my legs and lungs but took over a thousand photos (a small selection of which grace this book) and supplied all the information to bring the guide up to date. I am profoundly grateful to each one of them. The Cicerone team at Juniper House transformed the words, photographs, maps and profiles into the attractive book you hold in your hands which, I trust, will enable you to enjoy the trek of a lifetime. I offer my thanks to them all, as ever, for enabling me to benefit from their talents and their friendship.

Front cover: Trekkers on the last part of the Europaweg beginning the gradual descent into Zermatt (Stage 14)

Looking across the Mattertal to the Weisshorn from the Europaweg (Stage 13)

ROUTE SUMMARY TABLE

The Matterhorn and the Stellisee above Zermatt

PREFACE TO THE SIXTH EDITION

Since the first edition of this guide was published in 1991, the Walkers Haute Route between Chamonix and Zermatt has become accepted as one of the finest of all Alpine treks, growing in popularity among both individual and group trekkers from around the world. Its not difficult to see why. The scenery is second to none, trails are clearly defined almost everywhere, the passes offer both challenge and reward in equal measure, and accommodation is plentiful and varied. It is little wonder that some trekkers return more than once to enjoy this classic route and introduce others to its delights.

But the Alpine landscape changes year by year often in dramatic fashion through rockfall, avalanche or flood. Snowfields shrink, moraines crumble, glaciers withdraw and even disappear completely. Nowhere is immune to change, and that is certainly true of the region through which this trek makes its way. This latest edition of the guide reflects changes that have occurred since the previous updated edition was published. In some cases the way has been rerouted, improved, safeguarded or provided with better waymarking. On some stages new signage indicates the adoption of the route by the Swiss National Walking Route 6, and on the final stage of the trek, the worlds longest pedestrian suspension bridge has been created on the exciting Europaweg above the Mattertal.

All these changes were noted on my behalf by Jonathan, Lesley and Madeline Williams during their research trek in the summer of 2018, and I am deeply indebted to them for their attention to detail. They also recorded the distances covered on each stage, as well as height gained and lost, with a greater degree of accuracy than I had for previous editions. All of which should both aid in the planning of your trek and when you set out with this guidebook in hand on what is an epic and exquisitely scenic journey from Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn.