Johannes Badrutt founded the Kulm hotel in St Moritz in 1855*. His hotel was always full for the summer months. Frustratingly, Badrutt knew that there were equally good times of the year to visit St Moritz. Namely, the winter. He was having a hard time persuading his English clients who had only experience of British …
Author Archives: markseaton
A Day in the Life of a Mountain Guide
As normal, yesterday in our house there was no need for an alarm clock because my youngest daughter Florence arrived at our bedroom door at 5.30 am telling everyone rather proudly that she had slept well and therefore everyone in the house should get up and play. I pressed the kettle to make some tea. …
A Winter’s Work for a Mountain Guide
As the new winter approaches I thought I would tell you where my work as a Mountain Guide took me last skiing season. Last winter kicked off with a ski touring trip to one of my favourite places in the whole of the Alps: the Grand Saint Bernard Monastery. It is completely cut off in …
A Summer in the Life of a Mountain Guide
The summer alpine mountaineering season sees the arrival of new clients and the return of long-standing ones: Keswick’s Peter Little and I have been mountaineering together for ten years. In this time we have climbed most of the Alps big alpine peaks such as Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn. In recent years we have switched …
The highest B&B in Europe: The Margherita Hut
It would be fair to say that all mountain huts are to be found in spectacular positions. Spending a night in the high mountains watching the sun set and then awaking to the alpine glow of dawn is one of mountaineering’s great pleasures. In my view the most spectacular mountain hut is the “Margherita.” It …
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The Tallest Climbing Wall in the World
Two years ago four Swiss High Mountain Guides had the brilliant idea of creating the world’s tallest climbing wall right up the middle of the Emosson Dam. The Dam is situated about ten miles from Chamonix. It is part of a huge Franco-Swiss hydroelectric scheme. There are many things that are amazing about this project. …
Mont Blanc by Accident
In past editions of Fishers Update I have attempted to describe the most fulfilling climb I have undertaken during the previous summer. As I write this the summer is only half way through, but I feel sure that the climb I am about to describe will not be beaten. Peter Little who has been with …
My First Mountaineering Boots
There are certain events in your life that you never forget. I remember the first pair of boots I was bought. I was six years old and my family were staying in Borrowdale. I remember being taken into the George Fisher shop. It was like Aladdin’s cave piled high with all sorts of equipment. We …
Blind Mont Blanc
At 9am. (local time) on the 25th June 1996 Don Planner became the 1st blind man to climb Mont Blanc via the Gouter Route. The chain of events which lead to my involvement in Don Planner’s achievement was a bizarre one. One day last year Don stepped onto a Zebra crossing only to be hit …
Crossing An Alpine Pass On Ski
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1894 This piece recounts the first ski tour done in the Alps. “An entrepreneurial Swiss saddle maker is credited with bringing skis to Davos and publicising their use through Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Tobias Branger first saw skis in 1889 at a trade fair in Paris. …