Almost at the last minute, Chris Sicaras from New York, flew east to join Mark for a week of climbing in the Berner and Zermatt areas. Typically, for this summer at least, the weather was problematic. We started in the Berner, climbing the Mönch and Jungfrau, both in near whiteout conditions, then, finally as the weather cleared, we traveled to Saas Fee for a good climb of the Nadelhorn, finally in good weather. With one more day left, we climbed the "Egg" route on the Riffelhorn, a fun rock climb overlooking the Gornergletscher.

Kleine Scheidegg and the North Face of the Eiger.

Our first day of climbing, the Mönch's SE Ridge. Though we didn't see much, the climbing itself is good, with the route in fine condition.

Climbing on the Mönch.

On our second day, we climbed the Jungfrau. The weather had a bit of promise in the morning, but quickly socked in. No summit views for us today. This view is from the climb, looking SE towards the Wannenhorn.

High on the the Jungfrau.

Getting back to the Jungfraujoch, we enter the "pen" out of which the train-riding tourists are encouraged not to go.

We traveled to Saas Fee to climb the Nadelhorn. Saas Fee is like a sleepy Zermatt, but the mountains seem closer and the valley deeper.

The Nadelhorn, as seen from just above the Windjoch. Climbers can be seen in the lower-right corner.

Another team climbing above the Windjoch on the way up the Nadelhorn. Behind are the Weissmies and Lagginhorn.

Climbers coming up the final rocks of the Nadelhorn. The peaks of the Berner Oberland, far to the north are seen behind.

On the summit of the Nadelhorn.

From the summit of the Nadelhorn, we got a good view of the Lenzspitze, just next door. Here we could see a team of two, climbing the North Face.

After the Nadelhorn, we made a quick dash up the very nearby Ulrichshorn. From here we got a good view of the Lenzspitze as well as the route u the Nadelhorn.

On our last day, we climbed a fine route on the south face of the Riffelhorn, the Egg route, as its called. The climb is about 6 or 7 pitches and up to about 5.7 in difficulty.

On the summit of the Riffelhorn. The impressive north faces of the Breithorn and Liskamm give the climb a distinctly alpine flavor..

The Matterhorn viewed from the Rotenboden train station, the starting point for Riffelhorn climbs.