The Haute Route, (or The High Route or Mountaineers' Route) is the name given to a route (with several variations) undertaken on foot or by ski touring between Chamonix, France and Zermatt, Switzerland.
First charted as a summer mountaineering route by members of the Alpine Club (UK) in the mid 19th century, the route takes around 12+ days walking (or 7+ days skiing) running the 180 km from the Chamonix valley, home of Mont Blanc to Zermatt, home of the Matterhorn.
Since the route was originally walked by members of an English club they dubbed it the The High Level Route; however, this became translated into French when it was first successfully undertaken on skis in 1911. Now it is commonly referred to by English speakers only by the French title for both summer and winter routes.
Technically, haute route has become a generic description for any of the many multi-day alpine hut-to-hut tours; the correct term is therefore, "Chamonix-Zermatt Haute Route".
