Cybercasts

Bonjour from Chamonix, France!

We are back at Hotel d L’Arve in Chamonix after a wet, stormy day in the mountains. Everybody is doing great and is having fun despite our inclement weather. Today we departed the Trient hut in Switzerland with an improving weather forecast. However that was not the case. We encountered heavy rain/sleet conditions with 30-40mph head wind as we traversed back over the Le Tour Col Superior to access the Le Tour glacier back in France.

The conditions and weather were not the best, however great teachable climbing moments where made by the weather. On the way back to Chamonix we stopped in Albert Premier hut for a break front the weather and some hot tea. Even with the weather our climbers where sharing jokes and laughs about it.

We are currently drying out clothes and getting ready to head to Mont Blanc. Tomorrow our plan is to head up to the Tete Rousse and hopefully conditions will allow us to make a summit attempt on Mont Blanc on Aug 13th. We will be in touch from the field over the next couple days.

Attached are a two pictures from the last couple days.

Thanks for following our cybercast,
Jonathon

Hello and greetings from Zermatt, Switzerland!

This morning the team departed the Hohsaas hut above Saas Grund and climbed the Lagginhorn. The Lagginhorn is 4010m tall and a technical peak with great climbing on mixed snow rock and ice. The climb took around 8hrs roundtrip and all climbers summited. We had amazing weather this morning and climbed above the clouds. We had great views of other 4000m peaks sticking out of the sea of clouds below us.

In the afternoon we took the train and bus back to Zermatt, were we washed up and showered before meeting up for a celebration dinner in Zermatt. All the climbers talked about what a great trip and time they had even though they didn’t get to even touch the Matterhorn. All the climbers plan to return to Zermatt next year in hope of better weather and conditions to make an attempt on the Matterhorn.

We, the guides would like to thank our recent climbers for coming prepared and being flexible with the current weather and conditions.

Below are photos from our recent ascent on the Lagginhorn.

Thanks for following our cycbercast!

Jonathon

photo 1: On the summit!

photo 2: On the final knife ridge of the Lagginhorn

Today, Aug 4th, we got a break in the weather and were able to climb the Jegihorn. Our 3 climbers all summited today climbing long multipitch rock routes to the summit. The routes varied from 5.5 to 5.6 climbing and were around 1200ft long. This was excellent training for the Matterhorn, but more important just a great day out in the mountains.

Tomorrow we will spend our final day of this trip making a summit attempt on the Laggenhorn. Tomorrow afternoon we will return back to Zermatt for a group dinner with everybody.

Here are some pictures from today:

Jonathon Spitzer
IFMGA licensed mountain guide

Hello,

We have had a great two days in the Alps with new adventures. Yesterday, with a fast moving storm and increased avalanche danger we descended back into northern Italy.

We found ourselves in an amazing village in northern Italy. We ate lunch at this great little restaurant “Le petite coq”. It was traditional northern Italian food with incredibly friendly service.

We drove back around to Zermatt and spent the night back in town. Today we drove around to Saas Grund and rode up the Hohsaas lift and spent the night at the Hohsaas hut. Over the next three days we will be climbing around this hut in alpine objectives and steep rocky peaks.

Thanks for following our cybercast!

Jonathon Spitzer
IFMGA licensed mountain guide