Skiing the Haute Route

The June 27 Mountaineers meeting will be in-person, with a hybrid adjunct. Rick Rubio will speak about “Skiing the Haute Route.”

The Haute Route is the name given to a route (with several variations) undertaken on foot or by ski touring between the Mont Blanc in Chamonix, France, and the Matterhorn, in Zermatt, Switzerland.

Come listen to Rick’s presentation as he describes his once in a lifetime back country ski trip through the French and Swiss Alps in 2018.  He will present photos of the incredible terrain in the Alps, the amazing views, and why this famous route should be on every skier’s bucket list.  Learn about the logistics, equipment and preparation required to arrange your own trip.  Finally he will describe how the beautiful weather took a turn for the worst, and disaster struck.  He will discuss lessons learned and how to plan your trip to avoid such disasters. Rick writes: “My group did the safe thing by executing on our bailout plan, but unbeknownst to us the group behind us did not, and paid the ultimate price.”

Rick hails from Southern California and recently moved to Los Alamos. He has been an avid skier, hiker, and mountaineer for over 40 years. He has been alpine and backcountry skiing all over the Eastern Sierra, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Japan, and the Alps. In addition to the Los Alamos Mountaineers, he is also an active member of the Southern California Mountaineering Association, where he is on the Safety Committee in charge of testing new members. He is AIARE 2 certified in avalanche education.

We welcome all to this Mountaineers’ meeting, on the regular fourth Tuesday of the month. The social hour, with cookies, begins at 6:45 PM and the program at 7:00 PM. The presentation will be in-person at Los Alamos Nature Center; the slides will be live-streamed on Zoom. Registration is required to Zoom and recommended for in-person – we would love to see your smiling face. Registration is at https://peecnature.org/events/details/?id=46908.

Rick on the Haute Route