In the summer of 2024, I walked from St. Moritz to Zermatt along the border between Switzerland and Italy. Lots of mountains.

Plan

The idea was to walk along the southern alignments of the Swiss Alps for a meaningful, linear route that I could squeeze in a two week window. Lots of possibilities in the dense trail network in the area.

I drew my way along Route 6 in the Swiss system, the Alpenpasse-Weg, for about the first half of my time. When the Alpenpasse-Weg appeared to enter less interesting terrain by staying in Switzerland, I drew over cross-border trails and into Italy to roughly follow la Grande Travesata delle Alpi / Via Alpina Blu for most of the second week.

The final days were designed counter-clockwise over the southern half of the Tour de Monte Rosa to reach Zermatt from the south. This was the only stretch that I hiked differently from plan. Due to weather issues, I thought it was safer to reach Zermatt from the Swiss side and avoid high passes in tough conditions and the danger of being stuck on the wrong side of the hills when that was not an option so I hiked clockwise over the northern half of the Tour de Monte Rosa instead.

St. Moritz to Zermatt in the context of the alpine arc

Season

Hiking in the first half of September was fully intentional and an integral part of the plan, looking for less people and quieter weather than the high summer at the expense of shorter daylight time.

Quick facts

Effective Distance: 413 km

Originally planned route was 13 km longer.

Hiking Days: 15

Day 1 was not a full one as it included train travel to the starting point. Day 9 was cut very short due to adverse weather.

Average daily distance: 27.5 km

Longest day: 39 km

Shortest day: 7 km

Highest: 2983 m at Fuorcla d’Agnel, Switzerland

Lowest: 573 m in Varzo, Italy

Average daily elevation gain: 1816 m

It’s for some reason that I had the impression I was always climbing up and down.

Camp nights: 6

Hut nights: 5

Other overnight options: 1 hotel, 1 B&B, 2 village campgrounds

Days with rain: 10

Out of which 2 had heavy and long-lasting precipitation. 3 more had hefty rain for a limited period.

Resupply points: 2

These were Bella, Switzerland on day 5 and Varzo, Italy on day 11, both on-trail and both partial resupplies as I got breakfast and dinner every time I stayed overnight in a staffed hut plus lunch in some others as I went along.

Final route

As it was hiked.