Jack Santo, from Michigan, added a few days of climbing time to a business trip in Europe. He joined Mark for 4 days in the Chamonix area. Unfortunately the weather was somewhat less than cooperative, but they managed to get out every day.

Our first day dawned quite gloomy. But eventually, the rains let up and we were able to do a bit of rock climbing at Les Gaillands, a local cragging area.

Les Gaillands is a 120 meter high cliff not far from Chamonix. The local guides and mayor's office have cleaned it off, and peppered it with bolts. There are probably well over 100 routes here, or all grades. The longest section of the cliff, and the one on which we spent most of our time, is on the left side. Here, it is possible to squeeze out 4 pitches of rock climbing.

Jack grabs for a good hold on the Grand Gailland.

On our last day, we finally had weather that allowed us to get up into the high mountains. Here is the view from the summit of the Aiguille du Midi.

We rode the "Panoramique" across the glacier to the Italian border. Mont Blanc in the background.

From Point Helbronner, we went on a short glacier tour, here, arriving at the Col du Toule.