Table of Contents
Haute Route Books
- Kev Reynolds "Chamonix to Zermatt, The
Walker's Haute Route" (4th Edition) Cicerone, ISBN
1-85284-513-9. This is the standard (and I believe only) guide book to
the Haute Route in English and its popularity over the years testifies
to its general excellence.
There are many comments on trip reports about how fast the times he suggests are. Thus on Dawn and Jason's Haute Route trip report, they write on September 2: "Over the trip we'd grow to respect Kev's judgment and attention to detail, and to laugh at his superhuman level of fitness as evidenced by his fast walking times each day.". Two days later they write: "It was a tough climb! We made it in 5 hours; Kev predicted four. We did take a few breaks, though.".
- Bernhard Rudolf Banzhaf "Randonnées Alpines
Valais, Grande randonnée et tours des massifs", SAC Verlag Bern
(2004), ISBN 3-85902-234-2 (the French translation that I use). The
German original is "Alpinwandern Wallis", SAC-Verlag Bern (1999, 2nd
edition 2003), ISBN 3-85902-217-2.
He
also has a web
site.
His definition of the Grande Randonnée is a bit more expansive than the standard definition of the Hikers Haute Route: while he starts at La Forclaz he continues all the way to the Furka. He covers that distance in 25 stages, some very long.
By and large the routes he describes are more strenuous than the ones in Kev Reynold's book, and he further often describes variations to make them even more strenuous. He also includes a few glacier crossings; while they are described as being "easy" they are probably not for everyone. In spite of that, I found it a fascinating book, and have adapted some of his ideas to my more modest abilities.
As the title implies his book covers, in addition to the Walkers Haute Route, several of the more popular tours around major massifs: The Tour des Combins, the Tour du Cervin, the Tour du Mont Rose, the Tour du Fletschorn and the Tour du Blinnenhorn. Enough ideas for a lifetime of hiking in the Valais!
The book has a thumbnail map for each stage, but such maps are far too small to be of any use if you cannot read the text.
- There is an interesting brochure "Les
Tours/Wandertouren" published by the Valais hiking
association (VALRANDO). It has schematic maps and tables of
distances between major points, hiking times and availability of food
and lodging on many hiking tours in the Valais, including the Haute
Route. It is available from the Valais Tourist
Office either as a download
(PDF) or as a paper copy that can be ordered (free!) from the tourist
office's brochures page.
I very much recommend the printed version, as the PDF version has a
much poorer resolution.
This shows one version of the Haute Route, as well as several other tours from which alternate approaches to an Haute Route traverse can be chosen.
Valais Hiking Books
These are not really needed for someone planning to spend the entire trip on the Haute Route, but I have found one or two ideas for alternative routes in them.
- Kev Reynolds "Walking in the Valais" (3rd
Edition). Updated in 2003. ISBN 1-85284-388-8.
- Philippe Metzker "Randonnées en montagne -
Chablais-Valais francophone", SAC Verlag Bern (2002), ISBN
3-85902-208-3.
- Philippe Metzker "Randonnées alpines en
Suisse - D'une cabane a l'autre", SAC Verlag Bern (2004), ISBN
3-85902-227-X. German translation is "Alpinwandern Schweiz von Hütte
zu Hütte", SAC Verlag Bern (2007), ISBN 3-85902-263-8. Only twenty
of the 103 trips described are in the Valais, but I got a few ideas
from it.
- Michael Waeber and Hans Steinbichler "Valais West", Edition
Rother (2002), ISBN 3-7633-4820-6. The German original is titled
"Unterwallis", ISBN 3-7633-4128-5.
- Michael Waeber and Hans Steinbichler "Valais East", Edition Rother
(2001), ISBN 3-7633-4806-0. The German original is titled
"Oberwallis", ISBN 3-7633-4127-7.