Buddies, co-workers and Denver-ites Roger and Grant spent several days with Kathy and Mark in the Alps this summer. First, Roger joined Mark for 3 days, that included Mont Blanc and the Arête des Cosmiques. Photos from those climbs are on this page.

Then both Kathy and Grant entered the picture, and the four of us climbed for another six days, starting in Chamonix but moving to the Saas - Zermatt area. Photos from those climbs can be found here.

And finally, Mark and Grant climbed together for another four days. Click here for pics of those climbs.

Here's Roger, all decked out and ready to go.

With a good weather forecast for only a couple days. We decided to head straight up to attempt Mont Blanc. Roger, being the very fit fellow that he is, and also living at a somewhat advantageous elevation, handled the abrupt jump to high altitude with ease.

On our first day, we hiked up to the Tete Rousse hut, seen here.

And early on our second day, we climbed Mont Blanc. Here we are looking up the Bosses Ridge, the last hour and a half of the climb (more or less).

Roger on the summit. Despite the relaxed expression, it was really quite cold, and we lingered only for a few moments before heading down.

Just off the summit, heading to warmer and lower climes.

Crossing the plateau at the Dome du Gouter. We easily got back to Chamonix that night for a well-deserved rest.

The following day, with a more leisurely start, we climbed the Arête des Cosmiques on the Aiguille du Midi. Here, we are on the "approach".

Higher on the climb. You can see the cloud cap on Mont Blanc, and the reason for climbing it the the day before.

Climbers working on the extremely difficult Digital Crack (8a) on the Arête. We sensibly avoided this section by descending the snow and ice gully to the right of the tower.