Planning | Hiking the Tour de Monte Rosa, High Route & GR5 to Geneva

Gear

Sat, 19 Jul 2014 16:22:49 +1000

December 2013

Excel spreadsheet with detailed checklist list

Everything is weighed on my Soehnle Kitchen Scales

My aim was to get my backpack weight down to at least 7.5kg, preferably below 7kg, plus 2kg of gear/clothes I'm wearing. Ian is not so fussy as the extra load isn't a problem for him. But I work on the theory that the backpack weight should not be more than 15% of body weight, and me being 52kg, means about 7.5kg. Roughly that's 1.2kg for backpack, 1.2kg for computer and charger, 1.2kg for food, eating utensils and water, 1.2kg for maps and passports etc, 1.2kg for toiletries, rain gear and gloves etc and 1.2kg for one change of clothes and PJ's. That's about 7.2kg

Whenever I go shopping for travel gear, I always bring along my Soehnle kitchen scales. It's amazing how you can strip 3kg off the weight just by being careful.

By the time we hit Zermatt, my backpack weight had crept up to almost 8kg. I couldn't resist the French toiletries on the Air France Flight and the extra Mick's nuts that each of us brought to have with the pre dinner drinks after a day's hike.

Route Maps and Booking

Sat, 19 Jul 2014 16:22:49 +1000

Big Picture Location of the hike

During the previous Alp walk, we became aware of the Tour de Monte Rosa - a walk around the Monte Rosa Massiff, and decided to couple it with the Walkers High Route from Chamonix to Zermatt, and add on a section of the GR5 to Lake Geneva. The question them became in which order to do the walk and that was soon solved when a little research revealed the high mountain passes of the Monte Rosa had to be done in mid summer.

And so it was that our trip was delayed until August instead of June. We also decided to walk the circuit in reverse, avoiding a 3,300 metre climb on the first day, which then followed that we needed to hike the Walkers High Route in reverse from Zermatt to Chamonix.

Monte Rosa, High Route, GR5

Planned itinerary for 500k hike

Tour of Monte Rosa by Hilary Sharp

Chamonix to Zermatt by Kev Reynolds

The GR5 Trail by Paddy Dillon

The Cicerone walking books Tour of Monte Rosa by Hilary Sharp, Chamonix to Zermatt (The Walker's High Route) by Kev Reynolds and The GR5 Trail by Paddy Dillon were invaluable in planning the walk as they give a detailed account of the walks together with suggested alternatives. I used these books to help map out a route, making my own adjustments along the way. You will see in the planned itinerary, that each day lists the route description with a few accommodation possibilities -all of which can be changed if needed.One week before our trip began I booked all accommodation for the first 10 days around the tour de Monte Rosa - the busiest time of the year.

Getting there:Brisbane to Zermatt

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Sunday 17th August: Brisbane to Geneva 17th August, Geneva to Zermatt 18th August

Brisbane to Zermatt: Flight Departed 12.45pm, Train arrived Zermatt 5.13pm:

Accommodation: Hotel Dufour Traditionell Zermatt

Zermatt checking out puffer coats

Zermatt is buzzing with tourists

Matterhorn backdrop to Zermatt

Hotel Dufour Traditionell

Matterhorn in all it’s glory

We departed Brisbane at 12.45pm Sunday 17th August with Etihad to Singapore, then with Air France to Paris before connecting to Geneva. We like Air France as their times suit with minimum disruption, arriving in Paris at 8am. Their business class seats do lay down to an angled flat bed - great for lifting your feet off the floor but not good when you continually slide down feet first. We're delayed in Paris an hour - someone was a "no show" and the crew needed to remove their baggage for security reasons.

We arrived in Geneva to a 20°C warm day, stressing when our blue and white stripey Chinese laundry bags containing our back packs failed to turn up. We don't have a Plan B, so we're relieved when they're the last to roll off the conveyor belt an hour later. There's no customs and it's just a few hundred metres to the adjoining train station where we buy tickets for the 1.23pm to Zermatt - $AUD238 - train travel in Switzerland is very expensive.