It's a pretty popular walk from Chamonix (France) to Zermatt (Switzerland). In winters, it becomes a cross country ski route, but in summer, it transforms to a hiking route, which traverses through pretty high elevation, hence its called Houte Route (High Route). Unlike backpacking in the US, this backpacking was supposed to be much easier, as we were basically staying in hotels/dorms, and we didn't have to carry tents, sleeping bags, and food. But, we were surprised how hard some of the hiking days were. We were a group of 6 friends. My wife (Mona) and I were the most "untrained hikers"; others in our group were more committed and better prepared than us. We expected to walk through Swiss meadows, mountain villages, hi-fi ing cows along the ways. Even though some days were exactly like that, around 1/3 of the trails were very tough and tested us physically and mentally. Here is a very brief summary of our daily adventures on the trail. Day 1 : Chamonix ->