Alpine Mountain Guides are adventure specialists. We provide guiding and instruction in alpine mountaineering, climbing and skiing throughout the European Alps (and beyond). Based in Chamonix and ...
The 2026 alpine ski touring season has generally been good. We’ve had higher than normal snow levels though often with wind or high temperatures. Earlier buried weak layers had to be managed carefully and always borne in mind. That all said I don’t think I’ve ever been as relaxed as I have been this season....
I have spent 2 months (November/December) in the Southern hemisphere working as a Lead Mountain Guide on helicopter operations from a large vessel. The highlights were visiting the northernmost Emperor Penguin colony – Snow Hill Island a number of times. I also got to visit an area I hadn’t seen for 25 years (Adelaide Island)...
Summer 2025 has been a mix of alpinism in France, Italy and Switzerland as well as Expedition work in East Greenland. The summer started very warm and I mostly climbed rocky type objectives with Kevin. We climbed in Chamonix, over in the Valais and had a good trip to the Crete Seche refuge. With the...
For the latter part of May I have participated in a 15 day exploratory ski mountaineering expedition to an area called Schweizerland, East Greenland. This area is incredibly difficult to get to with complex logistics. We flew in (and out) on a EC 155 helicopter in 2 rotations. We had 2 Basecamps, moving between them...
The following are voyage details and climbs acheived in the Spring/Summer season (April/May/June 2025) on Nilak, my Ovni 32 aluminium sailing yacht. April 25 We launched Nilak in Argyll mid April, the only drama being the fwd/reverse morse cables being incorrectly fitted meaning I went backwards at a rate of knots before I worked it...
The following is a list of routes/itinearies skied and climbed throughout the 2025 winter season. December/January was spent in Antarctica (see previous posts). February 3 days ice climbing in Valsaverenche/Valnotey, Italy (Ice Park, Valmiana and Thoule). Rock climbing in the Alicante region of Spain 6 day ski tour in the Thabor/Cerces region of France, staying...
I have spent the latter part of January 2025 on the Antarctic Peninsula, guiding guests on a two vessel/helicopter operation. I worked again with familiar DAP pilots (the two Marcellos) who were superb. We took every oportunity to fly and we skied a lot as well as ice climb and ski toured. The snow was...
During December 2024 I represented Consulting Antarctica on a bespoke heliski expedition to the Antarctic Peninsula. The trip was based from the icebreaker MV Argus and we had two helicopters, a 355 and a Bolko 105 supplied by DAP. I have previously worked heli operations from multiple vessels in the Antarctic, both privately and...
August was spent trying to sail and climb in the Hebridean Islands of Scotland (I keep Nilak, my aluminium yacht there). In short, it has been one of the wettest and windiest for decades and it was generally disapointing. Towards the end of the trip, along with Dan Philps, I got to Rona where we...
The 2024 summer alpine season has started much like the preceeding winter, unstable with lots of precipitation. Conditions when the weather is fine are very good, particularly on the classic snow routes. June I convened the British Mountain Guide Aspirant L3 Training alongside the Ecole Nationale de Ski et Alpinisme in Chamonix. The BMG has...
