Way back in 1960, Bob decided to climb the Matterhorn after seeing Disney's "Third Man on the Mountain". A couple years ago, he realized that dream, making the ascent with friend and colleague Jean Pavillard. But in the process of preparing, he became hooked on climbing.

This July, he traveled from his home in California, to have a go at the Eiger and the Dent du Geant. Unfortunately, this has been a discouraging year for the big rocky peaks, as the weather and continuing snowfall has put them out of condition. But we did manage to do some good climbing nonetheless.

Bob on our first day.

We had a day of fine weather to start, but only one day. We chose the classic Arete des Cosmiques to begin. This shot was taken from the bridge on the Aiguille du Midi.

To add to the fun, and to have a bit of a warm-up, we started with the "Arête à Laurence", the lower part of the ridge. The view from part way up the Arete. Mouse over to see the route on the next section.

Climbing on the "Arête à Lolo".

The classic view back from whence we came. I never get tired of looking at this.

Our Day 2 was not so sunny. Rain in the morning tapering to showers was the forecast. We had a good time on the Aiguille de Crochues–wet rock, slippery lichen and all.

On the summit. I think Bob was actually happier than this photo would suggest.

Descending to Lac Blanc.

Time for a few photos at Lac Blanc.

Hiking back to the Index lift we pass a group of walkers enjoying the view.

Another great day, the best of the week. We did a traverse of the Aiguille d'Entreves. This pick was taken on our way to the Entreves, and shows the Tour Ronde.

Nice conditions on the Entreves. A bit of new snow on the rock in the easier lower sections. But when the going got steep, things dried out.

Partway up the climb.

Looking back at the ridge we have been traversing. Mouse over to see the line.

In this photo we are looking back towards the summit from our descent. Mouse over.

We again enter the mists as we near Point Helbronner.

The next day the forecast called for a window of descent weather in the morning, then nastiness coming in in the afternoon. We were off to the Petite Aiguille Verte.

Mouse over to see our line.

Putting on crampons at the base of the stairs. Weather still looking quite good.

Just above the "Demi-Lune".

Having traversed the summit, we are now downclimbing the normal route.

We had one more day, but the weather was anything but agreeable. Since Bob wanted to end his trip in Kleine Scheidegg, we spent the day making our way to Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland's Berner Oberland.

Here, in the Lauterbrunnen valley, the waterfalls were out in all their glory.

We took a stroll up into the Trümmelbach Falls. Impressive with so much water!