Friends Bruce Beaman, from Virginia, and Steve Murchie, now in Colorado, joined both Kathy and Mark for 5 days of climbing in Zermatt and Saas Fee areas of Switzerland.

Bruce and Kathy climbing on the SW Ridge of Prolix. After this climb we descended to the Ayas hut for the night.

Kathy and Bruce on the first of the "chain" pitches.

....and Bruce tops out on the last of the three steep pitches, just before the final snow ridge to the summit.

Bruce, looking good, just below the summit.

Bruce, Kathy and Steve on the summit of Pollux.

Looking towards the Breithorn from Pollux. The following day Mark and Steve climbed the Half Traverse (shown in red) while Kathy and Steve continued around to the left to attack the summit more directly.

Mark and Steve on the approach to the Half Traverse.

The view towards Monte Rosa from the col at the start of the technical section of the Half Traverse.

After completing the Half Traverse, we see the Matterhorn past the west and highest summit of the Breithorn.

Steve on the Breithorn's summit. Monte Rosa behind.

With challenging weather in the forecast, we opt for a fun day in the Gorner Gorge. The entrance is via a long free-hanging lower.

Mark and Bruce in the Gorge.

Steve enjoys the first of several zip lines.

Bruce steps out on a rickety bridge.

This part of the route follows an historic platform used by tourists almost 100 years ago.

For our next climb we chose the Jegihorn, a rock summit above the Saas Valley. There are a number of routes on this face. One of the best is the SW Ridge, shown here.

Steve belays Kathy part way up.

And Bruce is ready to catch Mark's potential fall.

Steve starts up the crux pitch of the route, the "Tower". Though there are lots of holds, it is quite steep. Kathy belays from above.

Bruce in the same spot as Steve in the previous pic.

Bruce Steve and Kathy on summit of the Jegihorn.

After our Jegihorn climb, we spent the night in the nearby Hohsaas hut. While most climbers use this as a base for the Weissmies, shown here, we planned an ascent of the Lagginhorn, out of view to the left in this photo.

A small pond just above the Hohsaas hut.

Bruce on the Lagginhorn. Weissmies behind.

Kathy and Steve elected to climb the South Ridge, a long rocky route. The North Ridge of the Weissmies can be seen behind.

Steve near the summit of the Lagginhorn.

A last view of the Weissmies, from the Hohsaas hut.