Climate for Walker's Haute Route Mid June 2014

Good call on foregoing the hike to st niklaus today. 2 young men we befriended (24 yrs old and fearless) posted pictures of today's trek and said they were in knee deep snow most of the way. Not our idea of fun on a long stage without proper gear and a guide! But they seemed to have enjoyed it!
The locals are commenting on the unseasonably cold weather. We were in light down jackets today in st niklaus!

But oh are the flowers ever bountiful and beautiful. ..a hint of what sunny beautiful weather they must get!

July 10 again. Friends stuck at hotel weisshorn due to heavy and continuing snow. Four parties staying together for safety.

Mountaingirl57 your updates are driving home that I might need to really gear up for this. I do not have an ice axe, crampons, or snowshoes, all things which your reports indicate I need. Thanks again for the straight goods from the mountain.

I dont think you'll need an ice axe or snowshoes. I might bring micro spikes though. Gaiters are a good idea. Waterproof footwear is also a must. Either for the snow or the many streams you cross!

I wore low cut hiking boots. Loved it! Used running gaiters. They worked great at keeping snow and pebbles out of my boots.
11 days of serious hiking and NO blisters. I wore injinji toe socks. Best imvention!
We're now in Zermatt. Took the low valley route. We were told the route from Tasch was closed so changed our original plans. 18km today. Thought it was going to be a walk in the park. Nope! Still lots of ups and downs. But were treated to sunny views of the Matterhorn this evening. Very tired. Very lucky. Prosseco and rum and cokes ate making us feel better. Well deserved!

I will not bring snow axe, crampons. Seriously, it's still a summer route, I did TMB last year and run into snow fields couple of times, but no problem with just hiking shoes. I know conditions on haute may be more unpredictable but still winter gear will be a overkill IMHO.

I would agree with mountaingirl, I'd say it's overkill. We didn't use the crampons we brought in June and they would not have helped us in wet or soft snow. See previous what meckerdv said on the issue.

If it's bad weather or soft snow, you really can't do much about it. Just have slosh through it and be flexible. Public transportation should all be up by now so it's easy to change plans.

The trail is all walkable, but you want to be confident on the trail. So if you don't mind the weight and it give you more confidence, bring it.

For an ongoing update on the snow condition, you may want to follow this great blog: http://realhousewifeadventures.wordpress.com/

It seems the part from Cabane du mont fort to cabane de prafleuri is really dangerous due to the recent snow. Not sure if the author is following the default route (Cabane du mont fort – col Termin – col de louvie ) or alternative (Cabane du mont fort – col de la chaux – col de louvie ), because the book says the alternative is less risky in bad weather.

Thanks, eyeofvancouver for the link to that blog. It seems we were very lucky! We were just ahead of the really bad snows. We hit our first snow storm on the way to Cabane de Moiry on July 7. We hiked out to Zinal in snow that morning too....Then we were told that the route from Gruben to St. Niklaus was dangerous due to avalanche warnings, so we took bus, cablecar and two trains to St. Niklaus. We then found out that the upper route from Tasch to Zermatt was closed so we trekked into Zermatt via the lower route. (It was a nice young lady from Vancouver who told us! We met her at breakfast at the hotel in Gruben.) We arrived in Zermatt on July 11.
The Swiss have said that it's an unusually cold summer....we were blessed to have had some nice sunny days at the start. By staying lower, we also enjoyed nice cool sunny days. All in all, it was quite the adventure! Some of the people we met, however, did get stuck in the mountain huts due to snow. We were glad we listened and chose otherwise.
Also, because we arrived in Zermatt a day early, we had the time to try to hike to Hornli hut, the base camp for people attempting the Matterhorn summit. We started from the top of the Schwarzee gondola....3 of us made it halfway up and turned back because of the steepness and precipitous drops while 3 of us made it to within about 100m of the hut. Then it was too icy and snowy and dangerous to go any further without the proper equipment.

Although, one may not need winter equipment normally on the Haute Route in summer, if anyone is thinking of attempting the high routes during the snows, it's a good idea to bring micro-spikes and maybe some kind of ice axe....It's a very unusual summer! But be aware that even if you don't have the right equipment, there are always the alternatives...and they were lovely as well. If you don't have the right equipment, please listen to the advice of the locals and don't take chances. These are serious mountains and they are very steep!