International School of Mountaineering Leysan Switzerland – July 1998

I met John Lee while working for Andersen Consulting, now Accenture, on assignment in Paris working for Carrefour. I was on a three-year expat package working to implement a global financial system for Carrefour’s 500+ stores in 25 countries. John and I were talking on one of our many daily coffee breaks, a tradition in French corporate culture, and discovered we share a passion and interest in mountaineering.

I had hiked quite a bit in Boy Scouts and college and attempted Glacier Peak back home in Washington in 1995. I learned then that there is something called mountain shape, which I clearly lacked at that time. I lived in Paris, and John lived in London, but was in Paris weekly. Over the nascent course of our friendship, we planned to take a mountaineering course, and given our proximity to the Alps, it was our goal to climb as often as possible. John was good at research and found a mountaineering in Leysan, Switzerland, the International School of Mountaineering or ISM, founded by famous climber John Harlin and Royal Robbins. The school is infamous for serving as the base for the making of the Eiger Sanction movie, and Clint Eastwood took the introductory climbing course here.

The basic alpine mountaineering course was a week-long and took us to the Trient Glacier, Cabane du Trient, and eventually the summit of Pinge de la Le, my first true mountain summit.

Realize that this was 1998. Digital cameras were still under development, and phones consisted of small Nokia units with no screens, as we know today. My photos are from a Minolta APS film camera, and I love the vintage look and colorization.

I recall the course having a basic rock climbing component, glacier travel, ice climbing, and crevasse rescue curriculum. On this trip, John and I met Richard Mansfield and Marc Charleton, a Britt and a Scott who would later lead us on many future trips in the Alps.

This course was taken 26 years ago. My memory is aging, and I have little in the way of documentation other than these photos. In addition to our guides, I recall two younger Germans from Cologne and an Italian who had climbed in the Andes. This was a really fun group of men to spend a week in the Alps learning basic mountaineering.

We set off from the trailhead and climbed through wooded forests above the tree line to the Cabane du Trient alpine hut. The climbing huts in Europe are quite nice—well stocked with on-site chefs who prepare meals, bunks, and bathrooms.

We began the week with some rock climbing instruction and practice on some moderate routes. We learned climbing techniques, rope work, repelling (or abseiling, as the British call it), belay skills, and how to climb as a group, cleaning the route as we ascended.

Over the week, we took several routes to glaciers to practice glacier travel, how to walk in and use crampons and ice axes for travel and arresting, and even practiced crevasse rescue.

It was now time for our proper climb and summit.

Thus began my career in mountaineering. Since this trip and class in 1998, I have 207 summits on 122 peaks, 632,000 feet of gain, and 1900 miles for summits.

I reunited with John last month, July 2024. We are 26 years older, and now I need to get him back in the mountains after a long absence. The Matterhorn awaits!