Swiss Cheers

A Stop Along the Haute Route Proves to Be a Festive and Frugal Way to Sample the Freeride Terrain Outside of Saas-fee.

- Matt Cote

As our group approaches the century-old stone hut at the end of a splitter spring day, we can’t help but be awestruck. The building is perfectly cobbled out of the same rock protruding from the glacial alpine around us, pock-marked with Swiss-red window shutters. At 10,000 feet, the vision before us appears as a giant reverse ladybug. Outside it, a terrace with picnic tables sits before a chalkboard surreally announcing that night’s menu. It feels like the Mad Hatter is just around the corner.

Trusting the vision, Marcus Waring, Simon Ricklin, and Andreas Seiler pile onto the terrace ahead of me. On this day, only a handful of other people sit here; the rest are still playing in the mountains. It’s late March and the piercing Swiss sun will be out until about 7 p.m., providing ample time to imbibe in the adjacent shady north pitches before dinner—or stagger in late from a long day’s walk. This spot can either be the beginning or the end of the “Haute Route,” a variable ski-mountaineering traverse connected by huts that lead some 125 miles from Zermatt, Switzerland, to Chamonix, France. Or the reverse.