Dark and wet, infact properly chucking it down.  We couldn’t help wondering if we were keen or just mad this morning on leaving the Arve Valley.  We were heading north […]

OK, we exaggerate more than a bit with the Himalayan title joke, but the scale of some of these couloirs and features in the ‘middle mountains’ is impressive.  Whilst folk […]

In typical Chamonix style – there were plenty of folk heading up the Aiguille du Midi this morning to make the most of the continuing good weather and relatively stable […]

In Cogne the sun has been shining and the ice has been building.  Whilst there is little snow left on the sunny slopes there is plenty of ice, and it’s […]

1000 years experience of hospitality from the monks at the Monastery ot the Grand St. Bernard pass…and it shows!  Thanks to the team for their welcome, hospitality and providing such […]

The fresh snow at the weekend was significant enough to take the avalanche category back up to ‘High’, 4/5 and there was lots of wind transportation of snow in the […]

There were head torches bobbling their way up towards the base of Lillaz Gully well before dawn this morning.   A keen early start on a -10C mid winters morning.  Although […]

Compared to a recent series of deep freeze mornings, it was relatively mild in Cogne this morning.  Ice has been steadily building in advance of the Cogne ice opening, and […]

This weekend started with a major storm event and finished with a major sun event – giving some quite brilliant early winter ski conditions around the Mont Blanc & Aravis […]

Whilst November is one of the quietest months of the year in the Mont Blanc Massif, with pretty much all the lifts and huts closed, it can also be one […]

Despite the recent almost continuous good weather in the mountains, last weeks dump of fresh snow had not gone unnoticed by various teams of skiers and there were some fine […]

Whilst recent reports indicate that Mont Blanc is getting smaller, we can confirm that this is not making it feel any shorter during the actual climb!   Any ascent of Mont […]

Whilst it felt like summer and there were teams rock climbing in t-shirts on the South side of the Perrons today, it was pretty chilly & autumnal on the north […]

Brilliant names for brilliant routes…’Bada Bing’ and ‘Bada Boom’ take soaring lines up the magnificent grey and red walls on the South Face of the Perrons.  A wonderful spot where […]

There is an end of season feel in the Alps as the summer draws to an end, huts and lifts are closing, and we are very much in the transition […]

This late summer week that was forecast to be pretty challenging weather wise started and ended well, but yes, sure, it was a pretty damp in the middle!  Well done […]

With the Hornli Hut on the Matterhorn closing earlier in the week, some of the lifts in Chamonix winding down and, more to the point, plenty of cool and wet […]

Who could resist the offer of a night in the winter room of the highest mountain hut in Europe? Well, probably most people actually who either have a better offer […]

The long walk in to the Cabane Mountets (2886m) is more than compensated for with stunning views of the upper Zinal Valley and arriving in the magnificent high mountain glacial […]

19 August 2021, Matterhorn Summit This was the scene on the Matterhorn from Hornli Hutte last night: And this is the scene from the summit at 0830 this morning: Well […]