Marilyn "MG" Geninatti and Tom "TJ" Johnson, joined Mark for a number of days (10 days for MG and 5 for TJ) of climbing in the Alps. Also with them were Jay Riley and Kathy, all of whom know each other. It made for a difficult itinerary to explain. But it's not really important to understand. Suffice it to say that for some of the time, Jay was climbing with Kathy and/or Mark as well as MG and TJ, MG was climbing with Mark and occasionally TJ and Jay, and TJ was climbing with MG and Mark. Yea, right....

So, we started with another of the summer's snow storms, but the weather slowly improved and though chilly, we had some good days. On this page we start with MG climbing with Mark (and also Jay and Kathy). Later on in the week, we were joined by TJ.

With pretty nasty weather on day one, we elected to climb the Petite Aiguille Verte. Here Mark and MG climb the initial "rocks". Kathy took this photo.

Mark and MG on the steeper rock step, not far from the summit.

Kathy and Jay on the descent back down the glacier after the climb.

The weather cleared and we were off to the Tour Ronde. Left to right are MG (taking a picture) Jay, and Kathy (also taking a picture). A beautiful morning.

The route was quite snowed up, but very enjoyable all the same. Here Jay and Kathy move along the Southeast Ridge.

MG scratches across snow-covered slabs on the ridge.

Kathy and Jay, again, higher on the ridge.

Kathy takes a picture of Mark and MG, plotting the route to the summit.

MG on the summit of the Tour Ronde.

Mark and MG then ventured out on their own, here climbing the "Chapelle de la Gliere", a fun rock route in the Aiguilles Rouges.

MG on what is perhaps the best pitch in the Rouges, the "Razor".

MG on the summit of the Chapelle.

At this point, we were joined by TJ, and immediately, took off to Grindelwald for a shot at the Mönch and the Jungfrau. This photo is from Kleine Scheidegg, with the Eiger's North Face.

We dashed up the Mönch, descending in a snow storm. Then spent the night in the Monchsjoch hut, listening to the wind howling outside.

The following morning, that of our planned Jungfrau climb, dawned windy and snowy. Being brave in our failure, we descend the train back to Grindelwald, then continued our journey to Chamonix. This picture shows the Jungfrau, as we stop for lunch in Kleine Scheidegg. Still windy up high.

As a consolation, we visited Tremmelbach Falls, near Lauterbrunnen. Well worth it.

The stream has eroded a deep groove in the mountain side, dropping in a series of waterfalls almost tunneling through the limestone. The ever-resourceful Swiss, have created a walkway/tunnel system to view this natural wonder.

A typical Tremmelbach view.

With clear but windy weather in the forecast, MG, TJ and Mark decided to give Mont Blanc a go. Here, we start the hike up to the Tête Rousse hut.

Though clear, the weather was exceptionally windy. Here we are approaching the hut. The following morning we rose quite early, and started our ascent. But the strong gusts of wind on the steep terrain above made us all question the sanity of the outing, and, ultimately we decided to descend.

We had a couple days remaining, both with quite cold weather in the forecast. Rock climbing in the Aiguilles Rouges seemed like a good bet. On the first day we did a short climb of the Aiguillette d'Argentière, a fun rock tower across the valley from the Aiguille Verte.

And on the next day we did the East Face of the Aiguille de Crochues. This route has some great climbing, and a challenging finish up a short aid section. Here TJ and MG climb the very clean corner of the 4th pitch.

TJ moving along the rocky crest after the aid pitch.

And, after the descent, we arrive at Lac Blanc, always a fine viewpoint.