Graham made the quick drive from his home in Switzerland to Chamonix to join Mark for 3 days of climbing. Unfortunately, his visit coincided with, shall we say, not the best conditions of the summer. But despite a bit of a soggy start, in the end we did manage some good climbing.

We began with a rather moist ascent of Voie Câline, an "easy" route on the Rochers des Monttets, below Montenvers. The climb was distinctly more sporting than usual with big boots on wet rock.

The start is quite nicely marked.

The route consists of some 19 very short pitches up wandering slabs. Nice views of the Chamonix Valley, however.

And a fine finish at the Buvette des Monttets. A good place for a revitalizing cup of coffee.

With rather moist weather coming in from the northwest, we believed we would find sunshine in Italy. So through the tunnel to Machaby for us. We climbed the superb Diretta al Banano, a great route, some 9 pitches with a wee bit of 5c+ on the first pitch. This is a photo of the sign at the car park. I have emphasized our line.

And this is what it actually looks like from the car park. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera in the car and have no photos from the route itself.

For our last day, we wandered up in the mists to Pointe Gaspard, in the Aiguilles Rouges.

As luck would have it, things more or less cleared as we approached the climb. Another party about to start.

Looking towards the Aiguille de Crochues from Pointe Gaspard.

Fine face climbing on pitch #5.

Only a couple more to go.

On our way down we got a clear view of the entire route. Mouse over for the line.

The Mont Blanc Massif from Pointe Gaspard. Mouse over for labels and move the scroll bar to see more of this long panorama shot.