Vertical Frontiers Ltd

14/10/2024

An adventurous couple of days based out of the Moiry hut “winter room”. Climbing ice on the glacier and then the Pigne la lé the second day.

We had the whole mountain to ourselves, which was a pretty amazing introduction to mountaineering for the Canadian lads. And my culinary skills at the hut made the other occupants jealous, so it must’ve been alright 🍽️

04/10/2024

As the summer season is finishing (although we’re climbing right through the autumn) we’re reflecting on the summer season and planning 2025.

We had plenty of trips on a variety of routes and styles including the Trois Monts, Gouter route, Grand Mulet and single push ascents from Les Houches.

Some teams were unlucky with the weather, and others fortunate to catch a good window. That’s always the gamble with the higher peaks, and we enjoyed some good “plan B” climbing anyway 🙂

Next year we have trips scheduled for June, July and September. Plus some single push ascents in June for those endurance machines out there.

27/09/2024

Quality shots from Boris and Marek from an overnight trip to the Cosmiques refuge next to the Aiguille du Midi. Just before the recent storm.

Acclimatation and equipment check ✅

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25/09/2024

A nice day hiking and scrambling Pointe Percée via the Sallanches chimneys, with the ever on-form Catrin.

Quite snowy and icy on the shady side. And a bit breezy on the summit, but a great bit of mid alpine cardio before the expected storm this evening.

24/09/2024

Last week’s acclimatisation trip to the Grand Paradiso.

A steep learning curve for our team. Alpine starts, glacier travel and actually having the crucial equipment in the rucksack rather than back at the hut 🙄

Final lap of the season for this peak, which was quiet and in great condition. The Rifugio Chabod was as friendly as ever.

21/09/2024

Fantastic weather and good conditions on Mont Blanc yesterday.

A long day without the Gouter hut being open. No easily bought coffees or cokes on the descent. But a very successful trip with us with all 7 guests reaching the summit.

Thanks to Tim, Lori and Dave for the excellent guiding and great to be working with on this trip.

11/09/2024

Photos from last weeks mountaineering course in Chamonix.

Constant weather dodging and rebooking of huts, but it all came good in the end. Lots of peaks climbed mid and high mountain.

Thanks to Gareth for guiding and the photos 👏

29/08/2024

Some photos from recent alpine training courses.

Alpine ropework on the excellent Frètes de Charmoz.
Wandering around the glacier and practicing crevasse rescue near the Aiguille du Midi.
Steep ropework on the Chamonix valley crags.

Nice being in instructor mode again and passing on some hard won knowledge :)

25/08/2024

Classic Chamonix climbing.
Still as polished as when I last guided it.

NE ridge of l’M. good old fashioned granite climbing 👍

24/08/2024

Escaping the August crowds on some esoteric Aiguille Rouge climbs 👌

16/08/2024

A few scenic shots from our M***a Rosa trip recently by talented aspirant guide and photographer

Many early starts and some clouds = moody mountain photos 👌

05/08/2024

Balance drills on Swiss ridges.

Some very narrow and exposed snow arêtes. Good crampon skills required 🫣

02/08/2024

Tip toeing across Swiss mountains this week.
Today the magnificent Lyskamm, an endless ridge in perfect condition.

Some nice photos in here from
Team guiding with Dave.

01/08/2024

Climbing and scrambling in the Aiguille Rouge yesterday.

10 pitches of nice climbing in the sun, and finished before the thunderstorm.

28/07/2024

I enjoyed a good few runs on Dartmoor whilst back in Devon, the highlight of which was the “Dartmoor 600’s” - a 30km circuit of the peaks over 600m on the north moor.

I had sort of forgotten how wet, boggy and remote parts of the north moor are. Miles of tussocks, feet sucking bog and slippy river wading. And I only saw one other group the whole time.

Back home in Chamonix now and running on the trails. Much easier to run here, despite the altitude and gradients!

26/07/2024

Back to my roots this family holiday, with some canoeing on the Exeter canal.

I can’t remember the first time I sat in a canoe, but I do remember the first time I was in charge of a group on the canal as a newly qualified instructor. I’ve spent a large part of my life floating (and swimming) in the canal and the Exe, which obviously influenced my instructional and guiding career. Good role models!

Nice to see familiar faces at Haven Banks and AS Watersports too.

Our trip this time was a success. And the girls only cried once, when I pretended to fall out the back (mucking about on the water now hard-wired I think).

21/07/2024

Another fun day at the last weekend. Fun trails, totally amazing scenery and some good competition this year.

I did the 55km again, 6th overall and 1st V1.
I was a little slower than last year… and therefore slightly frustrated with myself. Which I know is ridiculous, but I’m using it as good training motivation now.

Also a new experience getting interviewed before and after for the live tv race coverage. Fame at last 😆

14/07/2024

Heavy rain and thunderstorms stopped our Mont Blanc team this week unfortunately. An unluckily timed day of really bad weather.

Still a good week had by all, with an ascent of the Grand Paradiso, climbs around the Torino refuge and a traverse of the Crouches in the Aiguille Rouge.

It seems to be a recurring theme this summer, short little windows of good weather in-between the downpours. Fingers crossed for some consistent high pressure soon.



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09/07/2024

Our July Mont Blanc trip getting acclimatised around the Torino refuge.

Tomorrow the Grand Paradiso before three days on Mont Blanc at the end of the week. 🤞

We have a final place on our five day trip in September, DM us for more info.

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08/07/2024

07/07/2024

Another chamonix turbo-classic with : the Frendo spur.

We enjoyed a luxury bivouac followed by a 2.30am alarm and then some pressure to reach and climb the snow arete before things got too soft in the forecasted heat of the afternoon.

I vaguely remembered parts of the route having guided it once before and climbed it as an aspirant guide with .m. Such good climbing, and solid rock where it matters.

We reached the midi arete bang on schedule at 11am, around 7 hours after leaving the bivi. A top effort from Ashley and a quality north face tick ✔️

20/06/2024

Photos from a recent alpine intro course.
Climbing from the SkyWay lift and Aiguille du Midi.

Great to have some of our regular ski guests come and try some summer alpinism for the first time. Also good training for some future ski mountaineering too 💪

17/06/2024

Another round of acclimatisation and training complete.
Up the Grand Paradiso from the valley on Sunday, making use of totally fantastic conditions and good weather.
We then spent a night in the Torino hut before a mornings peak bagging and technique training.

The weather looks pretty tricky for our planned Mont Blanc in a day, but we’ve moved our summit day forward and are going to give it a good go in the morning.

Fingers crossed the forecasters have over estimated the wind speed!

14/06/2024

Church to church on Mont Blanc yesterday.
Up the Gouter route from Les Houches with an on-form Dan and in perfect conditions.

We left the village at 3am and were at the summit a little over 8 hours later. The descent took a similar amount of time, with a lot care required down the steep section from the Gouter to Tete Rousse refuge.

We carried full mountaineering kit but went as lightweight as possible. My bag still weighed over 7kg without the rope and axe, although by the summit I was wearing everything and the sack was mostly empty!

From Les Houches it was a 34km round trip, 4127m height gain and we were 15.5hrs.

An absolute pleasure guiding Dan this past week, and great to be a part of a long term project that’s come to fruition.

10/06/2024

Up and down the Grand Paradiso from the valley today. A nice little dress rehearsal for a planned valley to summit on the Blanc later in the week.

What with random tunnel delays and a bike race in the Aosta valley, it felt like more driving than climbing at times. But we did find some quality Italian coffee and cake :)

Really good conditions on the hill at the moment, although some seriously soggy snow that hadn’t refrozen. Knee deep out of the track 😬