Chamonix-Zermatt - The Walker’s Haute Route

The classic walk in the shadow of great peaks from Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn, the Chamonix to Zermatt route skirts the northern slopes of the Pennine Alps. Described in 14 stages (180km, 11 passes and 12,000m of ascent and descent), this is one of the most beautiful treks in Europe.

Recommended Maps

Maps of the Swiss survey, Landeskarte der Schweiz (LS or Carte nationale de la Suisse, www.swisstopo.ch/en), are among the finest in the world. By artistic use of shading, contours and colouring, the line of ridges and rock faces, the flow of glaciers and streams, the curve of an amphitheatre, narrow cut of a glen, the expanse of a lake and forest cover of a hillside all announce themselves clearly. A picture of the country immediately leaps from the paper.

At the head of each stage of the walk a note is given with regard to the specific map recommended for that particular stretch. In each case I have chosen the 1:50,000 series as this should be perfectly adequate for most needs. The greater detail provided by the 1:25,000 series is not likely to be required on this route, given the amount of waymarking on the ground. (No less than nine sheets would be needed of 1:25,000 scale.)

Standard coverage at 1:50,000 scale runs into five sheets (numbers 282T, 283T, 273T, 274T and 284T), each of which highlights major walking routes in red. Though not highlighting individual routes, the LS has also published two large sheets which cover the whole area crossed by the Walker’s Haute Route. These are:

•    5003 Mont Blanc – Grand Combin
•    5006 Matterhorn – Mischabel.

In addition, Kümmerley + Frey has a single sheet at a scale of 1:120,000 (Wallis) which, though lacking sufficient detail to be useful on the ground, is handy for advance planning.

Addresses of map suppliers are given in Appendix C.