Normal route

A normal route or normal way (French: voie normale; German: Normalweg) is the most frequently used climbing route for ascending and descending a given mountain peak; it is usually the easiest — although not necessarily 'easy' (see image) — and often the most straightforward route (e.g. such as the Goûter Route on Mont Blanc). Other generic names include the tourist route or trade route, and some climbing routes have specific 'normal route' names such as the "Yak Route" on Mount Everest.

Although a serious alpine climbing route in its own right, the Hörnli ridge (1,220 m, AD III) of the Matterhorn is the "voie normale" that most climbers use to reach the summit.

References

1. "Cervin". camptocamp.fr (in French). 2023. Retrieved 8 September 2023. Arête du Hörnli (voie normale suisse)
2. Hartemann, Frederic; Hauptman, Robert (2005-06-15). The Mountain Encyclopedia: An A to Z Compendium of Over 2,250 Terms, Concepts, Ideas, and People. Taylor Trade Publishing. ISBN 9781461703310.
3. Perkins, Andy (2011-03-07). "BMG Route Card: Voie Normale - Piz Buin". UKClimbing. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
4. Musa, Ghazali; Higham, James; Thompson-Carr, Anna (2015-06-05). Mountaineering Tourism. Routledge. p. 52. ISBN 9781317668749.