Cybercasts

Greeting from Chamonix, France.

Today, July 9th some team members enjoyed the lovely sightseeing of Chamonix riding up the Aig du Midi tram station. The Aig du Midi, which tanslates literally as Needle of le Midi is the third busiest tourist attraction in all of France. Some of our other climbers did the Aiguille Crochues Traverse which is a mixed rock and snow exposed ridge traverse in the Aig Rouges part of the Mont Blanc Massif.

The three climbers that joined us on the Croches Traverse found it to be an amazing climbing adventure and had a great time. One climber said, “I’ve never done anything like that before and love it!”

Tomorrow with more rain and snow forecasted the avalanche danger has continue to increase. One of the best things about Mont Blanc and Chamonix is there are plenty of options. So tomorrow, we plan on checking out more of those options by taking our climbers on a via ferrata about 30mins outside of Chamonix. Via Ferrata’s are not common in North America but are often found in the Alps. Check out this link to learn more about what a via ferrata is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_ferrata

We hope to get some good photos tomorrow and will update when we get back from having fun.

With over foot of snow overnight on the Mont Blanc, the team decided to stay in Chamonix and sample some of the fine climbing still possible at lower elevations.

After a team meeting this morning we settled on a glacier tour on the Mer De Glace we worked on cramponning and ice climbing skills. Tomorrow we are heading to the Aguilles Rouges for some alpine rock climbing.

Bonjour from Chamonix, France!

We are back in Chamonix after spending the last three in the the Aig d’ Tour area. Yesterday, we all stood on top of the Aig d’ Tour as a whole team. The weather has been stormy. Last night we at the Trient Hut in Switzerland we got to witness a major lighting storm from the inside comfort of a Swiss Hut.

We are currently enjoying a hot shower and some fresh food before heading to the Mont Blanc. Tomorrow we will start our ascent of the Mont Blanc by heading up to the Tete Rousse Hut. We hope to make our summit attempt on July 9th. We will be in touch from the mountain with more updates.

Here are some pictures from the first 3 days:

Hello! Greetings from Mont Blanc Expedition #2.

It is July 6th and we are over in Switzerland at the Trient Hut. This morning we woke up early and we all summited the Aiguille du Tour which is just under 3500 meters, a beautiful, technical acclimatization peak for Matterhorn prep, sorry, Mont Blanc prep.

Currently we’re out at the Trient Hut sitting out and enjoying the beautiful scenery. And yeah tomorrow we’re going to work our way back towards Chamonix. Alright, thanks.

Hi, this is Jonathan Spitzer with the Mont Blanc Expedition #2. Today is Saturday, July 5^th. Last night the whole Team, all seven of us, met at Hôtel de L’Arve and got to know each other and went out for dinner.

Today we took some of the local transportation, drove up to La Tour and then hiked up to the Albert Premier Hut at just below 2800 meters. We arrived at the Hut in the early afternoon and had lunch. In the afternoon we went out on the La Tour Glacier, reviewed and learned some snow school with cramponing, ice axes, and in our harnesses.

Currently it’s about 5 o’clock here and we’re going to get ready to sit down for dinner at the brand new Albert Premier Hut. It’s a beautiful structure that the Club alpin français just remodeled. Tomorrow our plan is to climb up and over the La Tour Glacier onto the Trient Plateau and spend the night at the Trient Hut. We’ll give you guys an update over on that side if we have cell service.

Anyway, thanks for following our cybercast. And everybody’s having a great time. Bye.