Mt Everest (8850 metres), Nepal

In March 2006, Paul and Fiona left Melbourne to undertake our biggest climb yet...Mt Everest.  We decided to do an unguided trip and used IMG to provide the logistics, and then hired a personal Sherpa each.  We had a lovely trek into basecamp with our friends Chris and Bridget joining us for this section (which actually resulted in them getting engaged in Gorek Shep - the town just before basecamp).  Once at basecamp, we took our first foray into the icefall and tested our skills on the first...

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Mont Blanc (4807 metres), France

In September 2005, we successfully summitted Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in western Europe.  Although the climb itself was relatively short, waiting for clear weather in Chamonix took some time.  After we arrived, we sat through 5 days of solid rain - which meant solid snow up higher.  By the time the weather cleared, an enormous amount of snow had fallen and we were concerned about the increased risk of avalanches, so.... 

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The Matterhorn (4478 metres), Switzerland

In August 2005, Paul and friend Marc Weisner climbed The Matterhorn.  (Due to work commitments, Fiona was unable to take the extra time off work and so joined Paul in Europe later to climb Mont Blanc.)  For this trip, they decided to use guides as they had heard that finding the route was difficult (and climbing off the route could potentially end in problems).  After spending some days hiking and climbing nearby to acclimatise, they hiked into Hörnli Hut to spend the night.  Next morning, they...

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Khan Tengri (7010 metres), Kazakhstan

In August 2004, Fiona and Paul climbed Khan Tengri - the most difficult climb they have done (for more reasons than one).  We elected to climb on the north side - which is much more technically challenging, but is fairly safe from...

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Mount Kilimanjaro (5895 metres), Tanzania

In April 2002, we summitted Mount Kilimanjaro - Africa's highest mountain.  Initially we were planning to climb up one of the ice routes and began our trek up from the West side, however on seeing the state of the ice, we decided to traverse around...

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Mount Aconcagua (6962 metres), Argentina

The first big mountain we climbed was in January 1998 when we climbed Mount Aconcagua - famed for being the world's highest mountain outside of the Himalayas.  Leaving from the Argentinian town of Mendoza, we caught a bus to...

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Nepal - January 1996

In January 1996, we visited Nepal, planning to climb Mount Parcharmo - around 6000 metres in the Rowaling region.  As students, we travelled in the university holidays - as it turned out, this was not the best time to plan a climb in Nepal!

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New Zealand

In January 1994, Paul headed off to New Zealand for his first taste of mountaineering.  Having signed up to do a mountaineering skills course designed for people with rock climbing background, he met the team in Mount Cook.  Six days were spent practising self arrests, crevasse rescue, placing ice and snow anchors, and a host of other skills necessary for safe mountaineering.  After the course Paul then went on and climbed several peaks in the New Zealand Southern Alps.