Alpine holiday from Thursday 30th June 2011 to Saturday 16th July, firstly in the Berner Oberland with Gabriel and Tim, then in the Mont Blanc massif and the Saastal with Neil.
Each thumbnail image below is a link to its own picture page, and each picture page has a link to the next one.
Fafleralp to Hollandia hut, Friday 1st July We walked from the Fafleralp Hotel at the end of the road in the Lötschental to the Hollandia hut at the Lötschenlücke, the pass at head of the valley.
View down the valley near the start of the walk.
(Lötschental) Breithorn.
(Lauterbrunnen) Breithorn.
Mittaghorn, Saturday 2nd We climbed Mittaghorn (3897 m) by the normal route via Anujoch, returned to the hut, and walked down the Grosser Aletschfirn to the Konkordia hut.
Tim and the Aletschhorn.
Gabriel and the Mittaghorn.
Aletschhorn seen from Anujoch.
Summit of Mittaghorn and Jungfrau.
Gabriel on the summit, view along the W ridge.
Tim on the summit, view towards Konkordiaplatz.
Jungfrau and Rottalhorn in front, Mönch behind.
Aletschhorn.
View towards Konkordiaplatz from the Grosser Aletschfirn; Gross Grünhorn and Grünegghorn L, Finsteraarhorn L of centre, Grüneggfirn straight ahead, Fiescher Gabelhorn R.
Sunday 3rd Exploration of the route up the Grünegghorn.
Lunch at the highest point we reached.
Grünegghorn, Monday 4th We climbed Grünegghorn (3860 m) by its normal route from the Konkordia hut.
Gross Grünhorn and Grünegghorn SW ridge and summit from the foresummit.
Aletschhorn and Konkordiaplatz.
Mönch at the head of the Ewigschneefäld, with Eiger E face behind on the R.
Konkordia hut to Hollandia hut, Tuesday 5th
Grosser Aletschgletscher.
Aletschhorn and Grosser Aletschfirn.
Jungfrau at the head of the Jungfraufirn.
On the terrace of the Hollandia hut, with the wall of Sattelhorn behind.
View NE towards Konkordiaplatz from the Hollandia hut.
View SW down the Lötschental from the Hollandia hut.
Hollandia hut to Fafleralp, Wednesday 6th We climbed Äbeni Flue (3962 m) in the morning of Wednesday 6th by the normal route, but I didn't take the camera. We descended to Fafleralp and stayed there for a couple of nights.
View back towards the Hollandia hut and the Lötschenlücke.
Views at Hotel Fafleralp.
Argentière to Refuge du Couvercle, Sunday 10th Neil and I took the Montenvers train to the Mer de Glace.
Glacier d'Argentière in its deep trench up which it has retreated.
Mont Blanc and Glacier des Bossons seen from Chamonix station.
Aiguille Verte, Monday 11th We attempted to climb the Aiguille Verte by the Moine ridge but turned back 200 m below the summit owing to poor snow conditions.
Mont Blanc and Mer de Glace from Aiguille Verte.
Aiguille du Moine, Tuesday 12th We climbed the Aiguille du Moine (3412 m) by the S ridge.
Les Droites, les Courtes and Pointe Isabelle.
Talèfre glacier bay: les Droites, les Courtes, Pointe Isabelle, frontier ridge to Aiguille de Talèfre.
N face of the Grandes Jorasses, Dôme de Rochefort, Aiguille de Rochefort, Dent du Géant.
Weissmies, Friday 15th We climbed the Weissmies (4017 m) by the S ridge.
Views of Portjengrat and the S ridge of the Weissmies.
Dri Horlini at middle distance on the L, Monte Moro, Strahlhorn, Rimpfischhorn (wall at the extreme R) behind on the R.
Alphubel, Täschhorn, Dom, Lenzspitze, Nadelhorn.
View down the S ridge of the Weissmies.
Neil.
Portjengrat.
Final section of the ridge.
Descent of the Almagellertal, with Alphubel and Täschhorn seen through the cloud.
Descent of the Almagellertal, with Täschhorn, Dom, Lenzspitze and Nadelhorn seen through the cloud.