Larry has climbed quite a lot over the years with Kathy and Mark both; this time he and Kathy spent a few days climbing near Chamonix during his visit to the area with his wife Linda.

Larry on the North Ridge of the Petit Flambeau.

Our first day was a bit uncertain, as heavy thunderstorms were forecast for sometime in the afternoon. So we headed up to the Aiguille du Midi to see what looked good. The ridge descent from the cable car station is shown here: for those familiar with this feature you'll notice it looks quite a lot different than normal. The long heatwave that was just ending as Larry finished his trip, had greatly eroded the snow and left the ridge in grey and icy condition. We therefore continued on to Point Helbronner for easier access to the glacier.

Mont Blanc and the East Faces of Mont Blanc du Tacul and Mont Maudit.

The new top station at Point Helbronner has a "Maxwell Smart" ambience about it. Very space age.

The snow was very sloppy and bridges over crevasses not to be trusted, but we ultimately found our way safely onto the North Ridge of the Petit Flambeau. Larry following up the exposed ridge crest.

On top of the Petit Flambeau.

On the way back, thunderstorms are gathering, but we made it back down to the valley with a comfortable time margin.

We felt like we were ducking in under the wire however.

Day 2 we headed up to the Aiguilles Rouges, fog and other impediments turned it into a hiking day above Lac Blanc.

Always a beautiful place.

On our last day we enjoyed some purely technical climbing at the Gaillands, enjoying the sunshine (a bit too hot!) and the pleasant holiday ambience.

Mont Blanc in the background, you couldn't ask for a nicer cliff to play around on. It was great as always spending time with Larry and Linda. A la prochaine fois!