Summit successes all round so far this summer

Klemen traversing the summit of the Matterhorn

The Alps have been blessed with amazing weather since the beginning of July and we have had almost unbroken sunshine for a few weeks. The temperatures have hit a scorching 35 degrees in places and it has been nice to escape up the mountain to cooler temperatures.

Our guides have been out leading trips across the Alps and everyone has enjoyed excellent climbing with ground conditions. Olly guided a group around the Swiss Valais and climbed some of the classic 4000m peaks in the area. Klemen Gricar, who many of you will know from the winter has been busy guiding in Chamonix and Zermatt for us. We have had a group successfully summit the Matterhorn recently, well done to Mark and Andrew for their achievements.

Mark, Andrew and Ross (guide) on the summit of the Matterhorn

Klemen has also guided Hayden and Clifford to summit four 4000m peaks above Zermatt, these were Roccia Nera, East Twin, West Twin and the Central summit of the Breithorn. They also completed ascents of Castor and Pollux to add to their tally; congratulations to them both.

Hayden and Clifford

Matthew Betts and his friends have just finished their trip to Chamonix and the Italian and Swiss Alps. After some warm up days in Chamonix they headed to Zermatt to meet Klemen for the Spaghetti Tour, which is an amazing circuit around the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa area. A report in this morning from Klemen says they climbed eleven 4000m peaks in 6 days, pretty good going.

Matthew and Friends atop the Breithorn

Olly has just set of on an ascent of the Eiger and Matt is away in Saas Grund with Karen and John for a week of climbing. We have a Haute Route Trek starting on Saturday and places still available on another from the 11th – 20th September as well as a Bernese Oberland Trek from the 4th – 11th September if you still want to get away into the mountains this summer.

View from the summit of the Dent du Geant down the Mer du Glace

We have also had some busy weeks in and around Chamonix, the Tour de France once again passed close by; with a stage finish in Morzine/Avoriaz. Lots of people headed across to watch and ride the climb before the riders passed though. Being a Lance Armstrong fan it was sad to see his chances of a podium victory disappear that day in a series of crashes during the day; but it will be interesting to see how Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck fight it out for the win.

We have also had the World Climbing Championships take place in Chamonix last weekend, watching the men’s and women’s finals of the difficulty and speed competitions on Tuesday night was amazing. The huge crowds erupted when French girl Charlotte Durif won the women’s difficulty. Ramon Julian Puigblanque from Spain won the men’s difficulty and afterword’s the crowds enjoyed the firework display to mark the Bastille Day celebrations.

Last Wednesday saw Glen Plake, now a Chamonix resident, and all time ski hero give a talk at the Cinema prior to a showing of the famous, cult movie Blizzard of AHhhhhhh’s. Mr. Plake was then one of the judges for the Nissan Outdoor Games held in Chamonix all of last week. 5 teams put together a short movie showcasing climbing, kayaking, paragliding, speedflying, basejumping and mountain biking. Some outrageous stunts were pulled including basejumping from paragliders, mountain biking off the ski jump in Chamonix and soloing some crazy climbing routs. Team Argon won the competition with their film, you can view all the films at the Outdoor Games Website.