Haute Route Report
7 Day Ski Tour from Chamonix to Zermatt

Approximatively 850m uphill, 1400m for the downhill, we got some powder!!!!

The morning starts off with an unexpected beautifull sunrise (there are clouds pretty much on all sides) on the peaks across from the cabane, but once back in for breakfast, reality sets back in quickly, lots of people everywhere, things lost(stolen?) in the chaos, the Cabane de Valsorey, is nice and beautifully located, but rather small for the amount of people in it at that point in time.

Cabane de Valsorey to Plateau du Couloir (about 650m uphill)

We set off on day 5, the legs are feeling a bit the long previous day. First section is a steep uphill, starting off on skins, but before long we are removing the skis and putting them on the backpack, replacing them with crampons and an ice axe, the rest of the way will be a steep bootpack, but thankfully not a pure sheet of ice, the snow is comfortable, the climb not really dangerous, one just needs to pay attention.

Some sections are steeper, but nothing that gets serious, this nice warm up takes us to about 3650m altitude, the oxygen feels rarer, but it is not impeding our progress.

Plateau du Couloir to Charmotane/Effluent du Glacier d'Otemma (about 1400m downhill)

A little break at the col du Meitin, and we cross the plateau du Couloir to ski down a little way and back up to col du Sonadon (3505m). The weather has cleared up , Foehn again?, but it is not so windy.

From the col we now have a long downhill, which starts on a slope that was in the sun the previous days, but has not yet had time to melt, it starts off rather steep and is very icy, bumpy and tracked, not the ideal ski conditions, but it is not very long and we head off to our right reaching the north facing zone, the snow all of a sudden becomes powder.....Not deep, not steep, but the absence of tracks make for a very smooth, long, gentle ride down the Glacier du Mont Durand, right side, as to the left, it ends up abruptly on some nasty cliffs.

As the glacier levels off, we veer off even more to the right, heading on an indecisive uphill (skins on or off???) to reach l'Epaule du Mont Avril where we have a small break. From there skiing some spring snow on a sunny slope, we head down into the effluent of glacier d'Otemma.

Effluent du Glacier d'Otemma to Cabane de Chanrion (about 250m uphill)

skins back on and we cross on the other side of the valley for the final uphill of the day on a gentle slope, to reach cabane de Chanrion.

Since we arrive early, we have plenty of time to hang around and finish off our flask of Laphroaig, making for a fun filled afternoon. After dinner the full moon rises and we enjoy a quiet evening, the hut is bigger and feels less crowded, we cannot decide on a route for the next days, so we will sleep on it, hard or relaxing, that is the question...

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