Rob Maloney, of London fame, and his climbing friend Steve Stolarick from Michigan, joined Mark for 4 days of climbing in and around the Mont Blanc area.

Our first climb was a traverse of the Aiguille d'Entreves. The route had a wee bit of new snow from previous storms, but the day was beautiful.

We traversed the peak in a counter clockwise sense. Roll your mouse over the image to see the route.

The route was a bit busy on our day of ascent, but all parties moved along at a reasonable pace, and, for the most part, traffic was not a problem.

Back at Point Helbronner, Steve points out some of the hazards of the sport.

The weather forecast for our second day was cold and snowy in the mountains. But in Italy's Val d'Aosta, just south of the Mont Blanc massif, and owing to the rain-shadow effect of the Alps, the sun was out. We climbed Dr Jimmy.

On day three we climbed the Arete des Cosmiques.

With the new snow of the previous day, we enjoyed lots of rock climbing in crampons.

The last few meters of the route.

For our last day, we chose the Traverse of the Clocher-Clochetons. This route is a wild ride up one tower, down to the next, back up and so forth. While some of the towers traversed are hidden in this photo, roll your mouse over to get a sense of the route.

The final 10 meters of the Clocher de Plampra.

The big crack is pretty polished, but easier climbing can be found just to its right.

The second tower, the Petit Clocher, is much more easily ascended.

Between the first and second "Clochetons" we had to arrange a "tyrolean traverse" effectuated by throwing a loop of rope over a spike on the far side of a gap, and sliding across. Steve appears to be having a good time.

The next little pitch is a bit harder, though.

We climbed two more towers, one sporting a very difficult and slippery squeeze chimney before easily returning back to the start at the base of the Clocher. We arrived just in time to see another party lower off.

Our last view of the Chamonix Aiguilles as we hike back down to the lift at Plampra.