Over the long Christmas weekend we took Aliya to Aeschiried and Springenboden to play in the snow. The photos can be found on my smugmug page.
As is the Swiss tradition, on Christmas Eve we had a big dinner at Isabel's parents house and opened presents. We also had a more typical American Christmas on Christmas day with just Isabel, Aliya and I. The photos can be found on my smugmug page.
We celebrated Thanksgiving dinner with Isabel's parents and her brother. The turkey was our best yet!, but unfortunately the pumpkin pie had some problems :-( Better luck next year... The photos can be found on my smugmug page.
Isabel, Aliya and I made an early winter trip to Schynige Platte with Herbie's family. The photos can be found on my smugmug page.
Stefan and I decided to make a hike to the top of Tierbergli peak, even though the first winter snow had fallen, and conditions were more like a mountain climb than a hike. Due to the ice and snow we had to wear crampons most of the way up and down. The photos can be found on my smugmug page.
For our second family holiday Isabel, Aliya and I decided to spend 5 nights in Davos, Switzerland. Isabel's parents also came with us which gave them a chance to spend time with Aliya, and Isabel and I a chance to have some "alone" time together. We had great weather and unseasonably warm temperatures which made our trips into the mountains very comfortable. With Aliya we did some easy hiking on "baby wagon" compatible trails and Davos is a mountain biking mecca so we didn't forget our bikes. Isabel even had a chance to do a ride with me. I was lucky enough to also get a couple of longer rides in. The photos can be found on my smugmug page.
With the arrival of Aliya, I haven't had too many climbing opportunities this summer, but luckily I was able to join Andrew and Patrick on their climb of the Allalinhorn via the Hohlaub ridge. The Hohlaub ridge is a very nice PD+ rated route. We were the only ones on the ridge that day which is rare for the Allalinhorn. Naturally there were other parties on the summit who had come by the easier "normal" route. It was a nice "taste" of the high mountains which will have to keep me going until next summer. The photos can be found on my smugmug page.
After work Boris, Rolf and I made a sunset hike to the Sigriswiler Rothorn. It took us about an hour and a half to reach the top and as Rolf promised there was a great 360 degree view. The photos can be found on my smugmug page.
Boris and I made a hike along the ridge connecting Mattenalp to the Stockhorn peak. Starting before sunrise, we were able to get a few nice photos from the this exposed ridge. The photos can be found on my smugmug page.
Isabel, Aliya and I spent a week vacationing in the Lucern region. We rented an apartment in Immensee on the Zuggersee, which turned out to be a great little village. We explored all the highlights in the region accessible with the baby wagon :-) Not the most adventurous holiday we've ever taken, but it was relaxing and I really enjoyed the time I could spend with Aliya. The photos can be found on my smugmug page.
Well Aliya is now 8 weeks old and we are starting to be able to spend days away from home. Here we are walking at Lauenensee which is in the mountains south of Gstaad. It's a perfect place for a walk with the baby wagon. The photos can be found on my smugmug page.
A little miracle happened on the 5th of May. My daughter "Aliya Claire Roberts" was born at 9.53 in the morning. Mother and daughter both made it through the experience healthy and happy. She comes in at a solid 3.5kg and 51cm. I have uploaded some photos of our beautiful little girl! The photos can be found on my smugmug page.
The Landvogtehore north face is an AD route just below the Gsuer peak between Adelboden and Diemtigtal. The sun didn't come out, but snow conditions were good and the 40 degree north face was a pleasure to ride :-) The photos can be found on my smugmug page.
We had a great day out climbing and skiing the Cheibehorn north face. We had perfect weather and good snow on this AD rated trip. The photos can be found on my smugmug page.
This weekend Chris and I made a great ski tour to the Tschipparaellehore peak. Blue skys and not another person on the mountain, combined with an excellent north face downhill run, made for one of the best trips of the season. The photos can be found on my smugmug page.
Chris and I decided to do a more challenging route this weekend and Drunengalm fit the bill. Drunengalm is the third peak in the Niesen chain and it turned out to be a little bit more of a challenge than we'd expected. Deep snow in some of the steeper parts gave us some interesting obstacles ;-) The photos can be found on my smugmug page.
Chris, Conny and I made a traverse of Abendberg, Pfaffen and Turnen peaks. All 3 are located in the Diemtigtal area and reach about 2000m elevation. Though not exceptionally high peaks, the tour was in any case a challenge as the traverse took us about 6 hours to complete. We were lucky to have mostly good weather as the forecasted storm didn't arrive until after we had completed the tour. The photos can be found on my smugmug page.
This weekend Chris, Boris and I made a quick trip up the Schatthorn. We enjoyed it as the weather was perfect and it was the first "warm" day since Fall. Located in the Lenk region, the Schatthore route is a fairly short (900m) non-technical tour that anybody can do. The photos can be found on my smugmug page.
Isabel and I decided to take a long weekend off and took a winter site seeing tour in southern Germany. We made lots of stops, but the main cities we visited were Heidelberg and Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It was a little too cold for site seeing, but we had plenty of fun and made lots of coffee stops to stay warm. On the plus side there weren't many other tourists, so it was possible to take some decent photos without crowds of tourists. The photos can be found on my smugmug page.
On the 9th of February 2009 Isabel and I were married. As Isabel is pregnant we decide to postpone the "big" celebration until 2010 so that she can enjoy it, but did celebrate the "civil" wedding with an Apéro for friends in Thun and a very nice dinner with our witnesses and Isabel's parents at the Bergblick restaurant in Aeschi. Photos from the wedding can be found on my smugmug page.
The Bundstock is one of the more popular ski mountains in the Bernese Oberland. The long 1600 meter technically easy climb to the top is a challenge, but the steep PD+ powder run into the valley is well worth the effort. A top notch snowboard mountain. Photos from the tour can be found on my smugmug page.
After 3 tries, I finally made it to the top of the Schwalmere (2777m). This well known ski mountain is in the Lauterbrunnen area and is a great, but long trip. Scenery wise this trip is hard to beat! Photos from the tour can be found on my smugmug page.
This year we celebrated New Years and my birthday at Isabel and my place. Boris, Andrea, Roland and Pascal plus their kids joined us. With two pregnant women the party didn't get too out of hand, but we had a good time in any case and I woke up with my traditional birthday hangover... Photos from the party can be found on my smugmug page.