Leo the Mountain Dog is dead.

This was not a good day in the Seaton household. Leo the Mountain Dog had to be put down this afternoon because despite huge doses of morphine he was crippled by agony due to arthritus and many other problems. He was ten and a half years old and had been a faithful companion to me on many epic ski tours . He looked after Andrea Florenece and Sophie all thier lives without eating any of them or thier freinds. Apart from the girls his passion in life was stealing cheese by braking into neighbours houses and of course pigs ears which he got as an extra special treat. We are all extremely upset.

Wendy Crabb back for some late season climbing

Wendy Crabb flew out to Chamonix for a few days and we climbd the Aiguille du Marbree 3500meters which is high up in the Valley Blanche on the Franc- Italian border.
The next day the weather was indifferent so we drove to Martigny [Switzerland] and we went rock climbing. Wendy took to this lke a "Duck to water."

Early Snow

A big dump of snow last Tuesday put a lot of the higher routes out of condition. Roger Brookes and Martin Read and I had to make some careful descisions about where we should go. In very cold conditins we climbed the Pt Lachanal as our "warm up" route. The next day we climbed the Aiguille de Entreves. On our third day we drove around to the Emosson day and climbed the Aiguille du Van. A beautiful rocky scramble giving some of the best views of MT Blanc in the range.
On our finl day and having let someone else cut the track we climbed Mt Blanc du Tacul 4200m.

Perfect weather and conditions

Peter Little and I enjoyed some very good climbing in the Chere Couloir on Mt Blanc du Tacul. This is a steep Ice climb of about five pitches. The ice was like cork and conditions were perfect. Then we climbed the Aiguille de Rochfort [4001 meters] by its famous ridge.

The North Face of the Eiger.

Charles Sherwood and I climbed the North Face of the Eiger in difficult and snowy conditions. We had two bivy's on the face and one on the summit. We descended by the south ridge. Four days climbing and no sleep but euphoria rules.

Three Countries in three seconds

Charles Sherwood and I climbed the arete Gallet on Mt Dolent 3820m. Yeterday afternoon we walked up to the Mt Dolent Bivy Hut. This morning we set off at 5.00am and reached the summit at 10.15am The top is the meeting point of three countries France Italy and Switzerland. We arrived back at the car at 3.oopm. For 24 hours we saw no one. A big day and very good day out.