In 2005 a friend, Bill Sundermeier, suggested an epic adventure run from Chamonix to Zermatt along the Haute Route in Switzerland.  He'd run the Europaweg in a prior year and built an itinerary that covered 120 miles in six days, running from hotel to hotel along the route.  My wife and son, Cathy and Will, agreed to provide support for us and in August of 2006 we left for Switzerland.

    It was an incredible week.  Eye-shatteringly beautiful terrain, a trip we will never forget and one that I would love to reprise.  We flew from PDX to CDG, then in to Geneva.  Rented a van and drove to Chamonix, where we spent the next two nights prepping for the run.  After finishing the run in Zermatt we flew to Paris for two nights, staying across from Notre Dame,  and then returned to Portland.  During our departure from Charles De Gaulle we got stuck in the elevator for an hour.  After pressing the intercom to request help the attendant on the other end said, "We are sending help.  Do you speak French?"  "No", we replied.  "'tis a pity...", was the answer.

    Our route followed much of the low/hiker's Haute Route: Chamonix - Champex - Verbier - Arolla - Zinal - Grachen - Zermatt.  Route specifics are at the bottom of the page under Resources.  We followed our route with one exception.  At Cab du Mont Fort (day 3) we ran into significant new snow at 8,000'/2,940 m and above.  We explained our route to the hut guides and asked about the trail.  They were thoughtful for a moment, scanning our ultralight trail-running gear from head to toe, and said, "in those?  ...you go up there, you die".  Undaunted we decided to climb the Col, negotiating snowy, slippery boulders, we made slow progress to nearly the summit.  But after considering the possibility of encountering more snow and postholing across the Grand Desert Glacier, we made the difficult decision to re-route to Lourtier at lower elevation instead.

    Switzerland:  amazing, spectacular views from the trail so breath-taking it was like flying.

                                                                All photographs (C) copyright  Jeff Maurer, Cathy Maurer, Scott Diamond.  All rights reserved.
                                                                                                  Route/itinerary courtesy of Bill Sundemeier

    Gasenried: 1.2 mi/2.0 km, 0% grade
    Grat: 1.6 mi, 2.5 km, 26% grade
    Gallenberg: 5.0 mi/8.0 km, 4% grade
    Europa Hut: 2.2 mi/3.5 km, -11% grade
    Taschalp: 5.9 mi/9.5 km, 0% grade
    Tuftern: 2.8 mi/4.5 km, 0% grade
    Findeln: 1.2 mi/2.0 km, -8% grade
    Zermatt: 1.2 mi/2.0 km, -22% grade
Zermatt hotel: Hotel Couronne