2008 Haute route

Thanks everyone!
jdclimber: I will remember you when dancing the night away in brand new Chuck T knock offs!
Final question:  Any recommended hostels or hotels, B+Bs in Argentiere, Bourgh St Pierre and Zermatt? The Peter Cliff guidebook recommneds the following places. If you recognize any and were either happy or unhappy staying there please let me know. THanks

Argentiere:
Gite du Belvedere
Gite La Boerne
Hotel La Couronne
Hotel La Dahu

Bourg St Pierre
Auberge du Valsorey
Auberge du Vieuz-Moulin
Auberges Les Charmettes
Au Petit Velan
Hotel du Cret
Hotel Bivouac Napoleon

Zermatt
Hotel Bahnhof
Hotel Rhodania

Argentiere:
Gite du Belvedere is great. If you are 2 or more get a private (much quieter) room. Also, get the breakfast and you can also cook your own. Up the hill are a number of shops to buy lunch stuff, sausage, cheese and bread. They speak everything.

Zermatt
Hotel Bahnhof is a classic. Can cook your own food, nice big kitchen. Would reccomend it. It was noisy in the bunks, so earplugs are key. It seemed a bit pricey. But hey, you are going to Europe.

Have Fun

Another option would be to continue skiing to Saas-Fee (next valley to the east), or from Zermatt take the train there.  From the Britania Hutte you can access at least 3 4000M peaks that are fun to ski.

Also, a second on the recommendation to ski the Vallee Blanche - classic that shouldn't be passed up. I almost injuried my neck trying to look at all the magnificent peaks at once!

Have fun

Thanks for all the good info. We did the classic variation of the Haute Route in six days. Awesome terrain, awesome numbers of people. Despite the hordes (of course we were contributing to the popularity as well) skiing the Haute Route is highly recommended.
I will post pictures soon, for now here are two slideshows from daytrips from Chamonix:
Vallée Blanche + Col du Belvedere , perfect trips for acclimatization. Most of the elevation gain is via lifts.




and Zermatt:
Pollux , an easy 4000 m peak. Again the lift system takes you to just under 4000 m so you can bag a four thousander even when you are tired after skiing the Haute Route.





Enjoy
runningclouds

Glad you had a good trip, looking forward to more pictures.
Generally, how was the beta? I would imagine some things had changed.
What did you wish you knew ahead of time?

jdclimber, the beta was good. Pretty much everything I found out on the interent turned out to be right, so no big surprises. There is a lot of info, however, it is scattered here and there so it does take time to figure it out. If I have time on some lazy summer afternoon I might put it all together in one place. Anyway thanks to all who responded!

After finishing the classic variation I would add two points:
Stay on schedule. We started in not too good conditions and skied the first day from Argentiere to the Trient Hut in milk bottle condition. It was tempting to postpone the start and wait for better weather and it turned out to be the right choice because the huts are booked full so it might be very hard to rebook for a day later. We met several parties that were delayed a day for various reasons and they had to change their course or finish a day earlier in Arolla because they could not get into the Vignettes hut (it happened to be Friday night too). So unless the avy danger is high be prepared to push ahead.

Be nice to the custodians. The internet is full of stories of uncooperative gardiens unwilling to speak English. I just said "bonjour, sorry I dont speak French, do you speak English" and everything was fine, but I did notice a couple guys just barging in, not saying hello in any language and just speaking English, talking fast and using big words. No wonder some of the gardiens get pissed off. I think it is safe to say that anyone in America would be mightily pissed off too if the French did the same here.

And here is the slideshow of skiing the Haute Route .