Laetitia and I had planned to do the Haute Route with Ian, Rachel and Andy, and Dawn and Austin several months earlier. However, first Ian had to drop out due to work commitments. Then Austin had to bail because of illness. And now as we arrived in Chamonix Laetitia had caught a wicked flu from me (that I was, thankfully, just getting over). Omens were perhaps already bad?
The Alps had seen weeks of endless sunshine – perfect conditions for a long ski tour like the Haute Route. But as we arrived the forecast changed to mixed weather, heavy snow fall events, and thick clouds that would make navigation in the high mountains really tough. Not to mention the enhanced risk of avalanche. Omens for the Haute Route were getting worse!
With the fresh spring powder Andy’s off-piste skiing was also exposed. He’d done well to come from novice to contend with the idea of the Haute Route. But alas Andy was the next casualty from the gang. Omens had finally turned to fate – we decided to cancel our hut bookings and enjoy a bit of pisted skiing, grab a blue sky day to ski the Valle Blanche (something Rachel was perhaps more excited about than the prospect of the Haute Route), and do the odd day tour…
Valle Blanche
Dawn, Pete, and Rachel ready for the Valle Blanche 
Pete, Rachel, and Dawn on the Mer de Glace 
Pete and Dawn toasting the Mer de Glace and the Vallee Blanche
Crochues-Berard Traverse
Dawn, Rachel, and Pete on their way up to Col des Crochues from the Flegere ski area 
Pete and Rachel booting up the final steep slope to the Col des Crochues 
Laetitia, Rachel, and Pete skiing down in to the Combe des Aiguilles Crochues 
Laetitia and Rachel on their way from Combe des Aiguilles Crochues to Col de Berard 
Skiing out of the Combe de Berard 
Rachel and Pete in the Combe de Berard 
Rachel ready to negotiate a tricky narrow ice walkway in the Combe de Berard 
Beer rewards at Le Buet after skiing the Combe de Berard 
Beer Rewards!
Zermatt
We had successfully cancelled all the huts we’d booked for the Haute Route with no penalty. However, the budget hotel we had arranged in Zermatt was less cooperative, they insisted their cancellation policy was in effect and we had to pay the full fee. Well! If that was going to be the case we thought, lets pop over to Zermatt and use the hotel and enjoy some skiing there, especially as only Dawn was the only one of us who had been skiing in Zermatt before…
Series - Not the Haute Route
- Chamonix, but no Haute Route for us!
- Zermatt
- Fontainebleau Stop-off
Such a shame that illness and injury created a sum of effects. But it sounded like a good choice to bail. Hope you folks get to conquer the Haute Route another time. It’s such a fantastic thing to do. Plus you come back down to sea level feeling invincible for a brief time too 🙂