Posts by Alon Vainer

Sep’ 10 , 11:15 a.m.-Titanium Tower, Las Condes, Santiago de Chile  We are lifting off from a helipad atop a downtown Santiago skyscraper, the city shrinking beneath us as the helicopter angled east toward the Andes. Within twenty minutes, we were standing on a ridge, skis on, staring at untouched powder and jagged peaks stretching…

This trip was originally planned — for the third time — to climb the Matterhorn and the Eiger, two iconic giants of the Alps. But as the saying goes, â€œMan plans and God laughs.†Life had other ideas, and instead of those classic peaks, we embarked on a “Plan B†that turned out to be beyond all expectations.The reason -bad…

April 1, 11:00 a.m.I can’t stop smiling.The guys around me can’t stop smiling either.We’re standing at 11,638 feet. Wide  skis under our boots.The peaks surrounding us rise like the Alps—jagged, white, breathtaking. The snow is perfect: four inches of light, untouched powder.  Blue bird day. Not cold .Not windy. But unlike the Alps, there are…

Earlier this summer I have injured my knee, which meant that I had to cancel my big mountain climbing trip.Luckily, with time I regained full function and was ready for some big climbs.So, I contacted Albi and planned to come a few days early, before the big group arrival.The plan was to climb in Austria , the…

78.56760° N, 12.40540° E We are on the deck of the 80 ft Kamak boat, in a fjord on the North Western coast of Svalbard. We are waiting for the dinghy to take 4 of us and drop us to the shore, for the second ski tour of the day. We had our life vest…

Engelberg valley –Central Switzerland  It’s dark. With the skis strapped on our backs, we are walking on an icy road . There are some lights , but they seem so far away .No idea for how much longer we have to continue.My Garmin watch shows 1,082 m altitude. We just just skied , climbed , rappelled…

2023 was for me “Annus Mirabilisâ€. I got to travel 3 times to East Asia – India/Kashmir, Thailand/Cambodia, and Nepal. I travelled as far south as Torres del Paine at the tip of South America and as far north as the Selkirk Mountains in Canada, went on 3 climbing trips all over the Alps, and…

There are the Dolomites and then there are the Brenta Dolomites. This group is located in the southwest of the central part of the Dolomites. They are called so because of the Dolomite rock, which is fossilized coral reef. It’s similar to limestone, but has also magnesium beside Calcite(calcium, cabnon and oxygen). In contrast the…

As it is well known , things don’t always go as planned . In fact, there is a saying that man plans and God laughs. My wish was to climb the Matterhorn. It’s located between Italy and Switzerland, with the village of Zermatt on the Swiss side and Cervinia on the Italian side. I have…