Your Haute Route traverse begins in the Chamonix Valley. You might go for some warm up skiing to Vallée Blanche, just an hour from Chamonix. To start the traverse, cruise up to the village of Argentière, which has lift access to the Argentière Glacier.

Depending on the group’s wishes and weather conditions, there are a few options here. Some might go up the glacier to Argentière Hut, and this option gives you a short day with some lift-accessed skiing—this is good because it allows you to practice crevasse rescue skills. Then on the second day, you would go through either Col du Passon or Col du Chardonnet.

The other option is to undertake one of these cols on the first day, making it a long one. It’s worth mentioning that Col du Passon, unlike Col du Chardonnet, does not have mandatory rappelling, though it still involves some technical climbing. Either way, you will get to Trient Plateau, crossing into Switzerland, and overnight at Trient Hut.

The final part of the first section is marked by a short climb to Col des Escandies, and then you have a long 2,500-meter descent down Val d’Arpette, all the way to the village of Champex, where you catch a taxi to the Swiss village of Verbier. This is the ideal time for a resupply. Grab your lift tickets, ski around the Verbier Ski Resort and stay at the Mont Fort Hut.

Early in the morning you will skin out of the Mont Fort Hut and do a big climb out of the Verbier Ski Resort. You’ll have some long climbs and long descents alternating today (all of it around a 3,000-meter mark). When you get lucky with powder skiing and bluebird skies, you’ll add some bonus laps into the route. Continue to the summit of Rosablanche and enjoy a descent to the Prafleuri Hut. Settle in, share stories with other folks at the hut, and get some rest.

Get a very early start the next morning—the reason for this is lots of south-facing slopes on the way which can get warm and wet, presenting avalanche danger. By leaving super ealy, you will try to get around these. You’ll see how things go, but some people choose to detour to the village of Arolla by climbing down the Pas de Chèvre (“goat steps”) and base down there, and then travel to the Dix Hut. Another option is to travel up straight to the Dix Hut, in which case you would reach it early on, giving you the chance to get some drinks, lunch, and then do some ski turns.

On your second to last day of the Haute Route Traverse, you will go up and over the Pigne d’Arolla—a 3,800-meter summit, the highest point on the Haute Route. Enjoy a long ski descent down to the Vignette Hut, one of the more famous huts on the route, spectacularly positioned.

Last day of the Haute Route! Also the biggest one—you’ll cross 7 glaciers, a couple of cols, cover 20 km of distance, and have a massive descent into Zermatt. Congrats! You’ve reached the end of this iconic route.