Via Valais
Trail run the classic Haute Route through the Alps– but using specific trails that have been selected with trail runners in mind! The Haute Route has long been a famous hiking and skiing track, but now a new version, designed just for trail runners by our friends at ALPSinsight, takes you across the mountainous Swiss Canton of Valais. This multi-day trail running tour avoids the busiest trails while contouring around impressive landscape to cover more runnable ground than the traditional trail runner’s version of the Haute Route. As a level 3-4 tour, the Via Valais features big mountain days, sometimes over 16miles long with more than 6000ft climbing and descending.
Our version of the Via Valais starts in the beautiful Swiss village of Arolla, famous as a base for mountaineering. We have a full day to find our trail running feet in this valley, before heading off on our journey towards Zermatt, at the foot of the Matterhorn.
Each day will start with a hearty continental buffet breakfast at your inn – delicious fresh baked bread, local cheeses, cereal, fruit, coffee and juice – which gives you the energy needed for a full day of trail running. Hut breakfasts are often simpler, and usually consist of bread, jams, butter, cereal, coffee, and juice. We’ll provide snacks for you to take on the trail. Every day we pass a café or mountain hut where we can also buy drinks or snacks. In the evenings we’ll enjoy dinner together at our accommodation – a hearty multi-course feast featuring delicious local Swiss specialities.
Several days have options for a longer or shorter route. Your bags will be transferred separately, each night, except for the three nights we stay in mountain huts – on these days we’ll “fastpack,” bringing the essentials for a night at a high mountain hut. At the end of the trip we have a day free in Zermatt for you to relax, run some more trails or explore the town at your own pace.
The Via Valais is one of the most challenging trips offered by Run the Alps. You should be comfortable in steep, rugged and remote mountain terrain, and able to climb and descend over 2000m daily over the course of the trip. If you are uncertain whether this trip is for you, please contact us.
Lead photos: PatitucciPhoto, Steph Lefferts, Mark Brightwell
