Paul Stillman joined Kathy for the "Frontier Traverse" of the Monte Rosa massif near Zermatt. Paying their dues with very unsettled but warm weather early on, conditions shifted abruptly to cold, windy and clear on the last few days.

The first few days were not auspicious, with much fog and poor visibility. Here Kathy and Paul pose for photos on their second summit, that of Pollux. Could've been anywhere, to judge from this photo!

Paul is amused by the unusual equipment through the crux moves!

Finally, warm and clear weather caught up with us at the Mantova hut, above the Italian town of Gressoney, the evening before our climb of Liskamm East. Damp climbers came out to bask in evening sunshine.

The following morning was a long-awaited bluebird day, clear and cold. Mont Blanc and the Grand Combin here seen from the "Lysgletscher" en route to the Margherita hut.

Our route up Liskamm east follows the right hand skyline.

Descending the exposed and corniced east ridge of Liskamm. The Margherita hut ressembles a rock on the left edge of the "Signallkuppe", on the left in this photo.

The views from the Liskamm summit are incredible on a day like this: from right to left in this photo are the Signalkkuppe, Zumsteinspitze, Dufourspitze with Nordend in the background.

From the Margherita hut (seen behind Paul) we faced a strong and bitter wind that we braved as far as the summit of the Zumsteinspitze before descending to Zermatt via the Grenzgletscher.

A beautiful but very, very cold morning! It was hard to stop long enough to enjoy or photograph the clear, lovely views.

Descending past an impressive view of our previous day's climb on the east ridge of the Liskamm.

Paul's last day was still cold, but calmer and gorgeous. We went back to pick up the Half Traverse of the Breithorn, which had eluded us at the beginning of our trip. It was great to come full circle and enjoy a fun climb with great views of our week's journey.

This is more like it!

Topping out on the Breithorn, the beautifully sculpted cornices of the east summit are an impressive sight.