Zermatt to Verbier

The Patrouille des Glaciers (PDG) is a historic national and international ski mountaineering race organised by the Swiss army. Considered to be one of the toughest courses in the world, the PDG covers a 57.5 km route at altitudes of up to 3,650 metres between Zermatt and Verbier.

The Zermatt to Verbier challenge is not a race, instead our team will complete this famous alpine traverse at a more achievable pace. The trek will take four days and is fit for confident skiers with ski touring/ski mountaineering experience.

We are building a team for 2024, places are limited and you will need:

Relevant experience
To commit to a year of regular training
To fundraise for the Intensive Care Society
To help source sponsorship including corporate sponsors (we'll provide you with packs to help with this)

Think you have what it takes?

Complete the form below to register your interest in joining our team!

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Meet the creators of the challenge

Gary and Debbie Pittaway

Most folk would say that the Patrouille des Glaciers (PDG) Route is a little crazy, but the inspiration for bringing together the first team to take this challenge on, was our daughter Harriet.

March 2020 is a date that will stay with us all for the rest of our lives, but for us, it was when we realised that Harriet, a junior doctor, was going into the eye of the Covid storm when she joined the ICU team at the Royal Free Hospital, London.

The challenge of working in an ICU in normal times is obvious, but March 2020 saw all health professionals commencing on a journey that most had no idea of how it would end. Being 150 miles away from our daughter gave us only the snatched phone calls between her commute to and from overfilled wards.

We were amazed at her resilience and her capacity to ‘carry on’. Not once did she moan. There were occasional tears, particularly when her patients lost their fight against Covid. But one of the most outstanding memories were her chats where she marvelled at her colleagues- nurses, medics, AHPs -ability to ‘keep on going’. It was inevitable that the pandemic would impact on all our mental health, not least our frontline workers.

Nothing can compare to what the pandemic brought but we wanted to do something, so we began looking for an immense challenge that with enough training, strength and resilience is possible to anyone with a base level of fitness.

The PDG Route was the one; a tough trek, a high - altitude traverse in the Swiss Alps, requiring tenacity, endurance, commitment, and a battle against the worst that nature may throw at you- much like the qualities we saw in Harriet and her colleagues during the pandemic.

Stepping up to this challenge is no ‘walk in the park’, so if you want to throw yourself into a challenge of a lifetime, contact our team for a chat.

A brief diary from the 2022 team

Day 1 Zermatt to Schonbielhutt

Full of enthusiasm with fresh legs we arrive in Zermatt in the shadow of the Matterhorn (4478m).

Marco our guide allows time to buy a cake from the local bakery even though we are on a tight timeframe to make the first hut before dark. It proves to be the tastiest thing that we will eat for the next 4 days!

Day 2 Schonbielhutt to Arolla

After our first night in a Swiss mountain refuge everyone looks like they are suffering from a lack of sleep.

It’s an early start. A short distance on skis to the valley. We can barely hold an ‘edge’ on the ice, rotten snow and bare rock. 500m of probably the worst skiing conditions I’ve ever experienced. 10 hours on our feet later we arrive in Arolla.

All are totally exhausted, and two team members confide that they may not be able to continue...

Day 3 Arolla to Cabine de Dix

After a good night’s rest in the Hotel Du Pigne we awake to a bright morning and the Team are all once again as enthusiastic as on day 1!

It’s a shorter day but all uphill. Apart, that is from the ice axe and crampon descent to the Dix Hutt. The Hutt is a welcome refuge.

Day 4 Cabine de Dix to Verbier

Another bright and very cold morning- our longest day.

We leave the hut on skis and spend the next 4 hours traversing the lake. My left leg permanently bent and right permanently extended- recovery from this position seems unlikely at this point!

Eventually we approach a col and a vertical ascent. Foolishly I assume the summit will bring us back into the ski resort. But we still have another 2.5 hours of climbing to the Bec de Rosses, another near vertical ascent. But our last climb!

We summit the col above Verbier. Marco checks everyone to the ridge, Will encouraging a couple of the team to the top and Alice snapping away with the camera. “We are in Verbier”!!!!

Two of our 2022 team members The full 2022 team in action The 2022 team hiking uphill