January 07--New SPRING TRIPS:

Ski Tours: Ortler Ski Tour4/2-8/07; Haute Route 3/22-29/07; HR Prep 3/18-20; Chamonix Steep Camps 2/19-23 &4/14-19

Rock Camps: Kalymnos 4/23-29; Majorca 5/3-9; Chamonix Alpine Rock 6/11-17

January 07--The skiing is good. I just did a nice ski tour with Paul Petzl yesterday in val Ferret, Italy. You take the tunnel under Mt. Blanc and arrive in Val Ferret in 15 minutes. There are great cross country tracks there as well. Paul and I skinned up a little side valley past the Bonati Hut to the Col Entre Deux Sauts. It was a white out all day so we didn't see much, but we had nice smooth powder all the way down. One the valley floor we had a cake and tea at restaraunt run by the Grivel family. It was full of pictures Grivels making ice axes and crampons from generations back. One young Grivel who runs the hotel/restaraunt was there to explain the lineage to us. It was kind of funny to see the meeting of Grivel and Petzl/Charlet Moser.

Winter 06/07-- Europe is getting a bad wrap this winter as far as snow is concerned. Atleast at high altitude! While it is true that there has not been much (none for a the last month until today)snow at lower altitude, above 1800m the snow has been great. And above 2200 meters it has been outstanding. I have had some great powder days so far and now we just got a big dump so I am sure I'll get some more.

Summer 06--What great weather we had this summer! Only one trip was changed because of weather. That meant going from Piz Badile in Southeastern Switzerland to the Dolomites. We had cold weather in the Dolomites, but still got up some good stuff.

Highlights were Linda Givler of REI coming over for some Chamonix alpine climbs in June, we just had three days, but got up three classic climbs: The Traverse of the Crochue, the Index rock climb and the Arete des Csomiques.

The Nick Martire came over and we focused on rock climbs, ticking off the glacier surrounded Pyramid du Tacul, a Yosemite like granite crack and face climb of 12 pitches that goes at 5.8. We also climbed the vetical Brevent Face that overlooks Chamonix. The top of that climb was where Nick proposed to WIlla, so the climb had special meaning.

Then Steve Ellis and his wife, Jenny, came over for and attempt at the Matterhorn. We had a great week leading up to the Matterhorn doing many good alpine climbs in Zermatt, but unfortunately, the last few days brought bad weather. However, we were able to include Jenny on the Via Ferratta, going down the gorge.

In July, I guided some cyclists on the Mountain week of the Tour de France. We rode all the famous cols together, cols du Galibier, Glandon, Lauteret, Columbiere, Croix-Fry, and the Alp d'Huez.

Then I skied for a week in Zermatt. This was a unique opportunity to train gates next to all the Wolrd Cup Skiers. We hung out with Didier Cuche (currently #2 on the Wolrd Cup curcuit in winter 06/07) and Giogio Rocca. I highly recommend this training for summer 07.

After that Rich Davis and I did some great climbing in Albigna and were hoping to get up the Piz Badile. Weather kept us off the Piz, but got propelled us to Cortina, Italy and the Dolomites.

Then in August a little more rock work and Jon Rockefeller from Petzl USA and I climbed a few days togethers. My favortie climb with him was a rock climb on the Puce (thumb) in the Aiguille Rouge.

September was busy as I visited the Swiss Mountain Gudies Association guides examination just before I taught an American Mountain Guides Association course. This was the last two weeks in September and we had great weather and no other climbers and we ticked off many hard classics in the Chamonix area.

The last two weeks of November I guided rock in Sicliy. This place is amazing. We had warm weather while the rest of Europe was getting pounded. The rock was so good. The food was also and the history of the island in mindboggling. One day we climbed in a valley of limestone, that the ancient Greeks had built a cemetary in by carving out over 5000 caves in the cliffs. They carved little troughs in the rock to thread ropes through to access these sites. And this was over 2000 years ago!

Winter 05/06--We had a great winter in the Alps. Lots of cold temps and deep snow. I had pleanty of skiers come over for off-piste, heli skiing, ski touring and ski instruction. Some highlights were a great ski tour in the Ortler Range. It is in Northeastern Italy surrounded by the Dolomite, Stubai, Silvretta and a few other ranges. You ski a circuit rather than point to point. This enables you to stay in each hut 2-3 days, each day skiing a peak and zipping back down to the hut in time for some sun bathing,a nice coffee, or a nap, then you eat super well, a full course Italian meal. The huts are extremely nice as well with electricity, some private rooms, and showers.

11/05
What's in store: I'll be climbing in Spain at Siurana and Montsant from November 19-28. Come join me on the 29th if you want a little warm rock and sun before winter sinks in.

Then I'll be teaching skiing in Villars and guiding off piste in Chamonix until the spring when I'll start the Haute Route Season. Haute Routes fill up fast, so sign up early. There is still a possibility to sign up for a private Chamonix Extreme Ski Camp with Chris Davenport and myself, depending on the dates. Thanks for reading and see you in the mountains.

11/05
Just got back from rock climbing in Sardinia. It was excellent limestone cragging near many beaches of warm Mediterranean water. I highly recommend Sardinia for the next time you want to climb someplace warm in the spring or fall. One plus is there is no smoking allowed in any restaurant or public place throughout Italy.

10/05
This fall has been exceptionally dry with beautiful foliage. The great weather has made weekend climbing exceptional.

09/05
Summer Recap

The weather wasn䴜t always perfect this past summer, but I was happy that all my trips went very smoothly.

I did a lot of rock climbing in June with Ben Stoddard. Then skied with Oliver and climbed with my father in law, Warren. In Mid June, I gave an Everest prep week for Carrie Gibson and her friend. They are attempting the North Side of Everest for the Scouts of the UK. Then I was joined for five days by the Alexander family and we scampered around the Chamonix mountains finishing with an ascent of the Ar̻te des Cosmiques. After that I climbed with Dan and Shannon Morgan. This was their second summer with me and Shannon and I did some road cycling as well, culminating in catching the Courcheval stage of the Tour de France where we watched Lance Armstrong race for the last time.

Roody Rasmussen of Petzl had a short trip in the middle of July with me, then I ran off to guide the Matterhorn with my friends and colleagues Mark Houston and Kathy Cosley. The conditions on the Matterhorn were the best I had ever seen. After that for the last week of July I was joined by Bob Matarese and the gang from Vail, Colorado. Bob had just sprained his ankle and wasn䴜t climbing, but his wife Trudy headed the gang of 4 women. We rock climbed at Les Gaillands, then traversed the Vallee Blanche, and culminated in an attempt of Mont Blanc. We got stormed off, but were happy that we got up the Mont Blanc du Tacul two days earlier.

After the gang from Vail, I did a little rock climbing with Miles Smart and Tim Connelly. Then some rock climbing with Rich Davis in mid to late August. We were hoping to climb the Piz Badille in the Engadine, but were weathered out and had to settle for cragging in southern France. We did also get up a 500 meter, 16 pitch climb on the Mirroir d䴜Argentine. I finally did get up the Piz Badile, but not with Rich (next year).

Richard Feachem came back for his fourth summer and we blazed in climbing the North Ridge of Piz Badile during a clear spell on August 29. That was my last summer guiding trip, but after that I spent a few days hanging with Dan and Janine Patitucci. They did some photo shoots with Nina and me above Chamonix. We䴜ll see if we end up rich and famous.

05/05
This past winter and spring went by super quickly. Although Chamonix, Zermatt and Italy did not have a big snow year. The Bernese Oberland, which stretches east to west across middle Switzerland, did. And we live in Villars on the eastern edge of this range. During the early winter months I taught cross country and Alpine skiing at the Swiss Ski School of Villars and did a ton of cross country ski racing. Nina and I both raced a few Nordic ski Marathons: the TransJurassien in France and the Engadine in Switzerland were two World Loppet races we did. We also thoroughly enjoyed ski mountaineering racing. Nina raced most of our weekly night series of uphill skins were you sprint up a different ski area each Friday night with a headlamp. The moonlight ski down and the pasta meal awaiting you always makes it worth it. We were up against some tough competition as the Swiss National team was always there.

The spring time is for ski touring and my biggest trip was with Nina䴜s Dad, Warren Cook and his friends and colleagues from Sugarloaf Ski Area in Maine. We had a great trip with some bright and some stormy weather. The highlight for me was the long day climbing over Rosa Blanche and skiing down the back valley to get to the Cabane des Dix. Nina was the tail guide and did and excellent job keeping everything together. We were shut down our very last day, but I hope to get the group back to ski from Arolla into Zermatt.

After the Haute Route, I skied with Oliver and Natasha Dugan on many weekends. Oliver and I did our first steep ski descent, the Northeast Face of the Aiguille de Toule. After a year of preparing mentally and physically for it, it seemed far easier than anticipated. We had hoped to ski Mont Blanc but were foiled by weather. It will have to wait for next spring.

Thanks for taking a look at my new web site and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments.