France
Regions:
- 01- Paris and surroundings (Bleau) (190)
- 03- Bourgogne (Burgondy) (3)
- 04- Massif des Vosges (50)
- 05- Massif du Jura and Bugey (116)
- 06- Alps and Forealps of Savoy (except Mont Blanc) (7)
- 07- Alps : Chamonix and Mont Blanc area ALPINE CLIMBS (93)
- 07- Alps : Chamonix and Mont Blanc area SPORT CLIMBS and BOULDERING (103)
- 08- Alps and Forealps of Dauphiné (112)
About France:
France is a country located in Western Europe. It is twice as big as Colorado, a little bit smaller than Texas. France has common borders with Belgium and Luxembourg (North) with Germany, Switzerland and Italy (East) and Spain and Andorra (Southwest). France has also long shores on the West (Atlantic Ocean) and South (Mediterranean Sea). The Alps as well as the Pyrénées are some young and high mountains with famous areas for the alpinists : the Mont-Blanc area in Savoy (Northeast of the French Alps) or Les Ecrins in Dauphiné (Southwest of the French Alps). Rockclimbing can be done almost everywhere on these young mountains. The Massif Central is a very old magmatic massif (ie granite!) in the Southcenter of France, with many volcanic domes (andesite, basalt...), providing some nice climbing areas. Sedimentary areas close to those mountains have undergone major tectonic moves, thus an erection. And who says erection says climbing too! Examples are : the Massif du Jura where the limestone plateaux are often carved by rivers ; the Provence (south of the Alps) with Les Calanques which undergo a strong eolian erosion, or Le Verdon by example ; the long and tall Massif du Vercors being the left border of the Dauphiné (famous areas like Presles), or the prestigious Céüse in Dauphiné as well... The Vosges (and its German counterpart the Black Forest) are in Northeastern France, over Alsace and the Rhine River, providing major climbing on a red sandstone. Other areas globally considered as flat have some major climbing areas : Fontainebleau, South of Paris, for bouldering on sandstone boulders left by a now disappeared sea and shaped by rain and wind ; or the area near Angoulême (Southwest of France, see maps below) where Fred Rouhling opened extreme routes on limestone cliffs created by river stream. France is divided in administrative Régions which are divided in Départements. I decided anyway to organise the crags by bigger geographical areas. You will see that some areas provide a big number of crags while some others provide less climbing places though they are bigger. Here are 2 maps of France, figuring the major areas I created, shown on a geographic map, and an administrative map showing the main cities :
Grades (cotations) are different here than in the USA as you may already know it. Not to mention than boulders are graded with the same scale than higher routes, but for a same grade, the difficulty varies.
When I thought about it, I wrote the type of climbing (bouldering, trad...) next to the area, if it is not sport climbing!
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Forum Discussions (3 posts)
Subject | Author | Replies | Last Post | |
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France climbing trip | heelhookrc | 5 | Apr 06 2014, 3:13 PM |
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Verdon in July | dreday3000 | 1 | May 30 2012, 6:21 PM |
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The Best General Guide to Europe | elwood54 | 3 | Jan 20 2008, 8:35 PM |