WOW! What a great trip.

As a young Chef living in Chamonix, I had
always admired the magnificent and awe inspiring presence of Mount
Blanc, but I never thought I would one day climb it. Since recognizing
my passion for climbing, I knew that I had to go back to the place I
once called home and appreciate it from my new outlook. While planning
my return to Mount Blanc I set my sights on also summating The Eiger and The Matterhorn. After connecting with Chamex I found out that
attempting all three climbs is also known as "The Trilogy".
Despite my lofty expectations, I can only describe the entire trip as
fantastic. I owe this success to my private guide of 14 days,
Sebastien Montaz. His extensive knowledge of the region, invaluable
experience, and constant optimism enabled me to conquer all I had set
out to.
After arriving in Chamonix, the original plan was to go over some of
the skills I would eventually need to climb Mt. Everest, and then set
out to Mt. Blanc. However, after ice climbing and a bit of glacier

training, Sebastien said the weather would be changing in the next
week. It became clear that if we were going to climb the Eiger and the
Matterhorn we would need to leave first thing in the morning.
We first went to Grindelwald. A train took us up to the highest point it could on the Eiger, and we spent the remainder of the afternoon
climbing to the hut. Although it snowed all night, conditions improved
and we were able to climb the following morning. We were the only two
people to summit the Eiger that day.
That same afternoon we traveled to Zermat and set out to conquer the
Matterhorn. After a tram from the base we hiked to the first hut and
enjoyed a great meal. We organized all of our gear and went to sleep
for a few hours, but woke up to marginal weather. During breakfast the
general consensus among the roughly fifty other climbers was skeptical
at best regarding the conditions. An idealist in his own right,
Sebastien took a look outside and decided we would leave immediately.
At that point most of the guides followed suit and began shuffling
around trying to get their clients up and out. We were the first team on the mountain. Halfway up the few climbers planned to
go any further. We were among the six who summated the Matterhorn that
day.
We returned to Chamonix to relax and regroup. On one of the off days we climbed the Arete des Cosmiques. It was a great climb. The
following day, we took the tramway du Mont Blanc from Le Fayet to the base of Mt. Blanc. We climbed up to the hut and prepared ourselves for the climb. Again, many of the guides were pessimistic about the conditions. Sebastien and I were the first out of the hut and on our way to the top of the mountain. Despite occasional spurts of snow, the only difficult element was wind gusts of 50 and 60 miles per hour. At the summit the sun was shining making for an optimal experience.
Our final plan had been to rock climb in Italy on the opposite side
of Mt. Blanc, but the weather forecast was rain. Sebastien made the
executive decision to embark on yet another awesome adventure – we

were to go ice climbing in a cave. After an hour trek, we
rappelled down and actually climbed the ice inside of the cave.
Sebastien explained to me that long ago the ice was actually cut into blocks and dragged out by horse and carriage to be used at the fish market in Annecy. Stories like that and many more were just perks of climbing with such a knowledgeable guide. Looking back now, I realize that I would have never been able to summit all three of the mountains if
it were not for Sebastien's passion, guide skills, and familiarity of
the region.
Overall, the trip was truly a life changing experience and I cannot wait to climb with Sebastien in the future.