September 18, 2006
Fasten Your Seatbelts and Prepare for Takeoff
I just realized today that in two weeks it will be winter for Luci and I. And I don’t mean the pseudo-winter that we had this summer up at Boccalatte (lasciamo perdere, eh) but real true astronomical winter. No,...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 07:32 AM |
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August 18, 2006
Snow and Boredom
The weather improved slightly at the beginning of last week. Enough to increase our lunch counts but, since the climbing conditions were still affected by the previous weeks snow, overnight guests were still only a trickle. Because of the...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 12:17 AM |
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August 05, 2006
Snow
The past two weeks have been complete contrasts. This time last week we were preparing for the onslaught of climbers that were to make our first full-house of the season. We ultimately had all our beds full and one...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 10:52 PM |
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July 24, 2006
Busy season
Sorry, but I don’t have any good pictures this week. We are coming up on our busiest time of year and between painting the building and taking care of guests I just haven’t been able to get away from work....Read this update
Posted by Luke at 02:40 AM |
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July 17, 2006
Painting
I don’t have too much to write this week. I have spent the whole week painting the façade and metal storm doors. The façade went pretty quickly but the storm doors dragged out until yesterday. There was a lot...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 04:25 AM |
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July 10, 2006
4th of July
Happy 4th of July. This week has been considerably slower than last. We had only one zero count night though. Compared to last year when we had 11 zero counts up to this time, we are still doing well....Read this update
Posted by Luke at 12:51 AM |
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July 02, 2006
Alpine Circus Club
Happy birthday Mom! Despite a string of intense thunderstorms, we have had a steady flow of guests here at Boccalatte. Last night we had our busiest night of the season so far: 16 guests. Two came down unannounced from...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 10:05 PM |
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June 25, 2006
Opening 2006
As of last Wednesday, Rifugio Boccalatte is officially open for the climbing season on the Grandes Jorasses. Luci made a convincing argument to open by helicopter. We came up to Valle d’Aosta on Monday and stayed with our friend...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 08:46 PM |
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September 09, 2005
Closing Boccalatte
The end of the season has come and gone. The last two weeks at the hut were incredibly slow. The weather was touch and go and the nice periods never lasted long enough to solidify the conditions on the...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 07:46 AM |
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August 15, 2005
Feragosnow
Buon Feragosto! Today, on the big European holiday of the Assumption, when most Italians try their best to splayed out in the sun on the beach, we woke to 20cm of snow here at the hut. We have had...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 10:12 PM |
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August 13, 2005
Busy Summer
This has easily been our most busy season so far here at Boccalatte. Every summer we have a few more guests than the year before, but this year we have already exceeded our total from all of last year...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 11:47 PM |
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July 09, 2005
Open for Business
It doesn’t quite seem like a month since I posted last. To catch up quickly: the bike trip with Andy was fun but kind of rushed. The weather was not great, in fact, who am I kidding: it was...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 06:28 AM |
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June 07, 2005
In Valle
I am sitting at my friend Gio’s house in Courmayeur. Luci is in Egypt with her parents on the Sinai celebrating their birthday (they were both born on the 31st of May). I can’t deal with resort culture so I...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 10:16 PM |
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August 29, 2004
Last dispach from Boccalatte
This is going to be my last entry from the hut for the season. The snow continued throughout the week, most of which will likely remain on the ridge for the winter. Day before yesterday we received about a...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 05:23 AM |
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August 23, 2004
10 Days
Slow, slow. Our numbers have dropped off drastically since our last airlift. This was somewhat foreseen but was helped along by bad weather. Our numbers would have been steadily good if the weather reports had been correct. We have...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 01:55 AM |
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August 12, 2004
Airlift
Airlift day again. The work has been so steady since our last flight that we decided to take advantage of today’s flight. Because business tends to drop off after the August 15th holiday (Ascension) the bulk of the load...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 11:26 PM |
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August 07, 2004
Amy and Eric Leave
Finally feeling better. I have been struggling with this stomach virus/cold all week. We are bracing ourselves for another busy weekend. Thursday is filling up again already. Last Saturday went really smoothly. The overbooking worked itself out in the...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 01:44 AM |
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August 01, 2004
Antarcticans Abound
I know I have posted a lot of moonrise photos but they just seem to get better and better. Tomorrow, Saturday, is the full moon and there is a good chance that it will be a full house as...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 07:08 AM |
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July 21, 2004
Busy Saturday
The weekend was busy as expected here at Rifugio Boccalatte. Saturday brought us an interesting mix of local climbing heroes from both the French and Italian sides of the range. For a while we were over-booked and were offering...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 07:23 AM |
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July 16, 2004
Summer snowboarding
Finally the sun is shining. Yesterday a well-known Chamonix guide, Christophe Profit, along with two friends summited on via the Classic Route and said the conditions were great. They were the first in ten days to summit. Good news...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 12:03 AM |
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July 13, 2004
Still Snowing
Today is a week of bad weather. Despite the cancellations on Saturday night we had two unexpected guests, a dentist and a veterinarian from the Bologna area. Needless to say they didn’t make it very far up the Grandes...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 05:14 AM |
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July 10, 2004
Life Among the Clouds
Bad weather has forced us indoors for the past 5 days. Monday started OK and all of our 4th of July party made it out before the bad weather struck. Mid-morning we received a cell-phone call from a climbing...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 12:07 AM |
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July 05, 2004
4th of July on the Grandes Jorasses
The 4th was great up here. It fell on the peak of the summer sporting season. There was the second stage of the tour de France, Wimbledon, French Formula 1 GP, Brazilian Moto GP, and the final game of...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 08:52 PM |
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July 02, 2004
At Boccalatte
We had our opening flight yesterday. We flew up two Helo bags worth of supplies; among which was a small grill. I set it up immediately and we hadd grilled sausages, zucchini, and red pepper. The 4th of July...Read this update
Posted by Luke at 09:39 PM |
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