Greg Mellinger, of San Diego environs joined Mark for a few days of climbing and hiking, first in the Berner Oberland, and then to Zermatt. On arrival in the Alps, Greg had designs on the Eiger and the Matterhorn. Unfortunately, an unseasonably cold and wet storm arrived along with him, and the few days we had together were not conducive to difficult climbing.

We first did the Southeast Ridge of the Mönch, essentially in a snow storm. The poor weather chased us down to the valley and then on to Zermatt. Here things were looking better, though still wet. The day we traveled by train from Grindelwald, we also did the Gorner Gorge. Though it was raining and the outing had a distinctly muddy tone, the raging river in the Gorge was spectacular. In some of the waterfalls we could actually see rocks being thrown up into the air as they made their erosive way down valley.

The night of our arrival a unusually cold and windy storm put down snow to a very low elevation. Not only that, but the high winds knocked the electricity out from the Klein Matterhorn lift. With few climbing options open we did a long, scrambly hike from the top of the Gornergrat to the summit of the Stockhorn and then down to the north, eventually circling back to the Riffelalp station. The views were spectacular.

Greg on the Mönch. On the way up the left sides of our faces got blasted by the blowing snow, and on the way down the right. We had virtually no views until the way down the train.

The view of the Mönch from the Eigergletscher Station. Our route, the SE Ridge is on the opposite side of the peak.

The North face of the Eiger from Kleine Scheidegg.

The Eiger as seen from Grindelwald. The Mittellegi Ridge is the left skyline.

On to Zermatt.... Here, we are riding the Gornergrat train to its upper terminus. The view of the Hotel Riffelberg on the way up.

The Riffelhorn in front with the Breithorn behind.

Lots of folks enjoying the view from the Gornergrat station. The Matterhorn has picked up a fair bit of new snow.

Greg negotiates an exposed little bit on our climb of the Stockhorn.

Later in the day the new snow begins to melt off. Here is the view to the SW with the Gorner Glacier below

The obligatory summit photo on the top of the Stockhorn.

On the hike back to the Riffelalp we had good views of the Ober Gabelhorn (left) and Rothorn (right). The small "village" of Findeln lies below. Zermatt is in the deep valley and out of sight.

Coming back into town on the Gornergrat train.