I had originally planned on doing the walk with a friend who I had previously walked with on the Tour du Mont Blanc. In fact the idea of doing the Walker’s Haute Route was his idea. Unfortunately his family commitments meant that he couldn’t get away for the time that we had planned on doing the walk i.e. late in the 2015.
As on previous walks in the Alps and Pyrénées, I spent some
time planning the walk in getting myself fit.
Navigation
I used Viewranger on my Samsung Galaxy S Advance mobile
phone buying the relevant digital Swiss 1:25,000 maps together with the
directions in the guide book. I didn’t
buy any paper maps. My thoughts on the use of Viewranger are given in my blog:
I did have some problems with Viewranger which I didn’t
sort out for almost a week. The software
had been updated and although I tried it out on a training walk and resolved
one minor issue caused by the phone being in a leather case. This new problem is mentioned in the various
posts and eventually having emailed Viewranger, it started working
properly. It was probably solved by switching
on the Google assistance on and also Wifi and/or mobile networks.
Gear
and Equipment
I will make a few comments on some of my equipment where
I think it might be of interest to others.
Rucksack - this was an Exos Osprey 58 weighing 1.19
kilos. This was a replacement for the rucksack that I had worn on the
Haute Route Pyrenees for which I bought some shoulder pads by Axeman and didn’t
suffer from the same pain in my shoulders as in the Pyrenees, mind you I was
carrying a lot less weight.
Boots – I used Salomon Quest boots which I
had also used on the GR5, TMB and HRP but having suffered from a soft corn on
the Pyrees, I bought size 10 instead of the 9½ size boots that I had used
previously.
Sleeping Bag – I didn’t carry one as everywhere that
I staid either had duvets or blankets.
Sleeping Mat – I didn’t carry one.
Crampons – I used Yaktrax weighing 100 gms
although I never had cause to use them..
Camera – a Panasonic Lumix DMC -TZ8 which is
small and light weighing only 216 gms with an excellent Leica 12 x Optical Zoom
Lens which I found takes good photographs.
Alpine Club Membership – I joined the Austrian Alpine Club
which for £30 a year not only gave me discounts at many of the refuges but also
provided insurance in case of accident or illness.
In total I was carrying about 11 to 12 kilos which included
2 litres of water.
Weather
and Conditions
In general the weather was good although it rained on the
first two days and again on two days towards the end of the walk and
unfortunately, it was misty on the section between Zinal and Gruben where one
is supposed to get the best views.
There weren’t many sections of the walk when one didn’t
have to constantly look where each foot was going to be placed next although
that certainly wasn’t the case on the last section between St Niklaus and
Zermatt which is probably why my average speed on that section was almost twice
that for the complete walk mind you there was no steep climb or descent
either. Some sections were particularly
hard including that between Cabane du Mont Fort and Cabane de Prafleuri and
that between Zinal and Gruben. Overall,
the walk was no harder or easier than any of the other mountain walks that I
have done i.e. GR20, GR5, TMB and HRP.
I met quite a number of people walking the whole of the Walker’s
Haute Route and some of them I saw from almost the beginning of the walk to the
end. Perhaps my one regret is that I
stayed in very few mountain refuges compared to the other walks and whilst the
auberges, gites, zimmers and hotels were very nice, they somehow lack the
atmosphere of a manned refuge.
The
Guide Book
I used Cicerone’s “Chamonix to Zermatt – The classic
Walker’s Haute Route” by Kev Reynolds. On the whole, I don’t have any serious
criticisms of the book and it is much more concise than the alternative
Trailblazer Guide although I am sure that there are those who like their
direction maps although with Viewranger, they aren’t really necessary. The trailblazer guide also has lots of
additional information which might be of interest to some but is certainly not
necessary to either complete or enjoy the walk.
The times in the Cicerone guide are reasonably accurate for someone as
old and fit as me but they are only, as they can ever be, a guide.
Training
Since I am 67, I took my training quite seriously as I
didn’t want to be walking for several weeks suffering from blisters and aching
muscles especially when having to carry a heavy rucksack. I walk about 20 miles a week on a regular
basis and from the New Year started carrying a rucksack with a load of about 7
kilos (15 lbs) increasing to 12 kilos (26 lbs) by the beginning of May. I slowly increased the weight carried to 14
kilos (30 lbs). The training walks involved an average of 160
ft ascent and descent per mile walked (31 metres per kilometre) compared with
the actual ascent and descent walked of 330 feet per mile walked (65 metres per
kilometre) but then if one lives in England, it is often difficult to find
steep hills on one’s doorstep. The
average speed walked on the route was 1.61 miles (2.58 kilometres) per hour
taking due allowance for stops and lunch breaks.
Statistics
I walked 13 of the stages given in the guide book and
didn’t do the section via the Europa Hut.
Total distance walked:
|
176 kilometres
|
109 miles
|
Number of days walking
|
13
|
|
Total hours walked including stops
|
83 hours
|
|
Total hours walked excluding stops
|
74 hours
|
|
Total Height Loss and Gain
|
13,500 metres
|
44,285 feet
|
Average speed with stops
|
2.11 km/hr
|
1.31 m/hr
|
Average speed without stops
|
2.36 km/hr
|
1.46 m/hr
|
Wildflowers
I have always had an interest in wildlife being brought
up on a farm and started taking a more detailed interest in wildflowers when
walking the GR5 in 2010. I have now
photographed and identified some 125 different alpine flowers. I have had some assistance in identification
through the website http://www.flowersforums.com. The most useful website for identification
has been http://www.guenther-blaich.de
and although this doesn’t have photographs of every wildflower you might come
across, there aren’t many missing. My
own photographs of flowers taken on my walks in the Alps and Pyrenees can be seen
on:
Photographs
Photographs taken on the walk can be seen on:
