Europe’s Most Legendary Ski Route
Most American skiers who travel to the Alps for the first time are struck by two things: the pleasant amenities (trailside espresso huts! huge Italian feasts for lunch!) and the surprising wildness of the peaks. In Chamonix, for example, the Aiguille du Midi tram rises some 12,000 hair-raising feet over graggy granite in 20 minutes. (It takes considerably longer to get back down.)
One of the best ways to immerse yourself in this mind-boggling scenery (and glorious century-old ski culture) is through a hut-to-hut backcountry ski trip, and the Haute Route is the most famous. Navigate couloirs, giant glaciers, and granite spires by day; quaff delicious lagers, down huge plates of Swiss fare, and hobnob with mountaineers by night. Check out my recent primer on skiing the Haute Route, which connects Chamonix, France with Zermatt, Switzerland, in the February/March issue of National Geographic Traveler. 