Within the space of a week, both the solo and team speed records on the famous Haute Route, which links Chamonix and Zermatt, have been broken.
On 5 April, British climber and IFMGA Mountain Guide Calum Musklett completed the route solo and unsupported in a time of 24 hours and 30 minutes. His time shaved several hours of the previous record set by Aaron Rolfe in 2021.
The achievement is made all the more remarkable by the fact that Muskett hadn't intended to tackle the route on his own. Writing on his Instagram after completing the route, he explained: "I hadn't intended to go solo and unsupported, in fact, I'd rather have shared the experience with somebody else, but my days off, good weather and snow conditions, didn't overlap with the two other people who were keen for an attempt. Knowing that I might not have the fitness, conditions and time off again for quite some time, I decided to go solo. My main aim was to complete the trip rather than target a time..."
Five days after Muskett's crossing, the route was again completed in record-setting time, on this occasion by ski mountaineer Samuel Équy and alpinist Benjamin Védrines. Starting from the Chamonix church at 12:43AM on Monday 10 April, the pair arrived in Zermatt less than 15 hours later, (15 hours, 54 minutes and 54 seconds to be exact), breaking the previous record of 16 hours and 35 minutes set by Bastien Fleury and Olivier Meynet in March 2016.
