Haute Route Report
7 Day Ski Tour from Chamonix to Zermatt

Approximatively 1300m uphill, 300m for the downhill

Early to bed, early to rise, and we were not so happy about the 5 o'clock wake up call, nonetheless, we had to get up, the people in the hotel were nice enough to prepare an early breakfast. While most people from La Fouly take a bus or taxi towards Verbier, we head off in the opposite direction, into the valley, towards the col de Fenêtre and the Monastè du Grand St-Bernard

La Fouly to Lacs de Fenêtre (about 870m uphill)

We started off in the dark, skis on the back first, to get out of town following a pretty flat road until it stopped being cleaned, then skis on and past the little village of Ferret, where we had to slow down to respect the cows crossing and the 50km/h limit, and up into the left side of the valley. Some more semi flat area, until we reach a trail crossing.

From now on, we will be going uphill, and the nice weather of the last few days, has nicely softened the snow, but the cold night that we just had, turned it into a beautiful hard frozen ice pack. Knives (ski crampons) on... even with the knives, we still had to be carefull, as we slowly and carefully skinned up the steep slope. On second thought, putting the skis on the backpack and bootpacking up with the crampons might have been easier.

The way up is very nice, though impressive due to the icyness of the path we are following, but we are surrounded by beautiful scenery and as the sun rises and reaches into the valley, the different summits light up. Eventually we reach the end of the steep section and continue on, reaching the frozen and snow covered Lacs de Fenêtre. It doesn't really feel like we are skiing over lakes, as they are iced up and covered in snow, it feels more like we are traversing a flat plain on the way to the next col. A nice relaxing rest after the previous uphill.

Lacs de Fenêtre to Fenêtre d'en Haut (about 250m uphill)

From the Lacs, we head up a gentle slope towards Fenêtre d'en Haut, as we move towards the Fenêtre, the weather degrades rather rapidly, a thick cloud layer forms over the pass, and our rest break is cut short by the strong wind coming over from Italy, the situation seems like Foehn, as the side where we came from remains a bit further in the sun.

Fenêtre d'en Haut to Monastè du Grand St-Bernard(about 300m downhill and 150m uphill)

Wasting no time then, we remove the skins and ski down to our lefts, over a small ridge and then find a small powder patch. We reskin (puting the skins back on) next to the carcass of a dead (hunger?) chamois and nicely cruise up the last little bit (either above the tunnel, or inside) up to the Monastère du Grand St-Bernard.

We arrive just in time to have a late lunch and spend the rest of the afternoon resting, visiting the open sections of the monastery and getting ready for dinner. After dinner we are treated to a multimedia presentation of the Monastery and its origins, through to modern times, including the building of the first road and tunnels that, when open in summer, allow for people to reach it without any effort.

Most notable for a monastery, is the sign that says to take care of your belongings, as they might get stolen!!!!

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