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hcKz
Dec 18, 2010, 10:00 PM
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Hi guys,
On Summer, me and a couple of Friends are going for a 1 month climbing trip (August) throughout Europe, and one of the destinations we're focusing on is the Alps. Therefore, we're now doing our preps, and gathering some info on some climbing spots around. We're at a 6c/7a level, and what we're looking for some routes on this grade basis located on nice sorrounding environments (breathtaking landscapes).
Nice high altitude routes (not necessarily long, but located on high places) are also something we enjoy.
Can you give us some help/knowledge on this subject ?
Thank you in Advance.
Take care
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epoch
Moderator
Dec 18, 2010, 10:14 PM
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Moved from Trip Reports to Euro Freaks.
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theguy
Dec 19, 2010, 3:40 AM
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August will be hot, so think altitude, 2-3k meter.
Check out Jumpingrock's blog for a euro road trip a little earlier in the season, and this post for some good Swiss areas.
There's also some great high alpine granite climbs in Val dell'Orco, but multi-hour approaches with big altitude gain, climbs start around 3k meters.
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qwert
Dec 25, 2010, 4:59 PM
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Well, "the alps", and even just the French, swiss and italian parts are still spanning quite a sizeable chunk of the whole continent, so you might want to specifiy a bit more on where you want/ can go.
Also, you say you climb at the 6c/7a level.
But what?
sport?
Trad?
single pitch?
Multi pitch?
You can find routes for all 4 of the listed disciplines throughout the alps, with some areas more focused on one aspect or the other.
qwert
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hcKz
Dec 25, 2010, 10:24 PM
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Thank you for the response.
Concerning the Climbing type: Sport, single and/or multi pitch.
Concerning the Location: Since its a car trip, we have considerable flexibility, so we're searching for the best places so we can trim the locations to the essencial afterwards.
Take care,
Hugo
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qwert
Dec 26, 2010, 11:47 AM
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hcKz wrote: Concerning the Climbing type: Sport, single and/or multi pitch.
So the mentioned val del orco, or stuff like val di mello, or chamonix, or the dolomites (which are all among the "best" destinations in the alps are rather hard to recommend, since they all are mostly alpine or trad. But on the other hand, in all of those areas you will also find some "alpine sport climbing" (bolted multipitch climbs), but to what percentage depends.
Also you have to be carefull what "well protected" in the guidebook means in reality. Especially in the dolomites routes often have dozends of pytons per pitch, but those might be placed by the first ascensionist, somewhere around WWII.
And even if you find a 100% bolted sport route, at a certain length you still have to factor in "alpine dangers", i.e. summer thunderstorms, dangerous descnets, long rappels and so on, so you gotta ask yourself how you can handle those aspects!
And just to throw out some names:
Val di maggia (spelling?) in the Tessin/Ticino province of switzerland. Lots of world class sport climbing and bouldering, as well as some really nice multipitch sport (and some trad too). Often quite crowded at the best/ easy to reach spots, but nice anyways.
Switzerland in general: They invented "plaisir" climbing, which means you have "big" multipitch routes with sport protection, so all through switzerland you can find quite a bunch of long sport routes.
Northern alps/ southern germany/ Allgäu/ forealps/ ...
The northern "end" of the alps. Often not as high as the stuff more central to the alps, and lots of sport crags, as well as many many options for all kinds of multipitch. Just be carefull that you dont accidentally get into something like the vertical grass routes on the höfats or some other horror trips.
And of course about 100000000000 destinations more ...
In reply to: Concerning the Location: Since its a car trip, we have considerable flexibility, so we're searching for the best places so we can trim the locations to the essencial afterwards.
Also the roads in the alps (apart from the main roads like the Gotthard and the Brenner) are often quite small, winding up and down many passes, and crossing many villages, so you will take quite some time to travel significant distances.
qwert
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nzjimmy
Jan 6, 2011, 12:34 AM
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Sport climbing is everywhere in Europe...
http://www.climb-europe.com/areas.htm
I'd recommend you pick a place where you like the food and the wine and climb somewhere near there :-)
Some countries are also quite a bit cheaper (just generally eating, drinking, sleeping and getting around).
Personally, I've climbed near Grenoble, Chamonix, Nice and Strasbourg in France, near Barcelona and Valencia in Spain, Kotecnik in Slovenia, random spots in Switzerland and near Vienna (current base) in Austria... all of which have fantastic sport climbing possibilities abound.
I've very rarely been anywhere in Europe that doesn't have climbing - although some places are more famous than others (e.g. Arco).
Cheers,
Jimmy
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sbaclimber
Jan 6, 2011, 1:17 PM
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...except Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria. 
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satch
Jan 19, 2011, 3:27 AM
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Check out my alpine rock trip report to Chamonix. Good temps that time of year, great routes in your grade, food and wine in the huts and spectacular views from the belays.
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hcKz
Jan 19, 2011, 9:08 AM
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Cheers.
Is this the post ?
http://www.rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2336674;#2336674
Take care
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satch
Jan 19, 2011, 5:27 PM
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That's it. Let me know if you go. We are going around the end of June.
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mountainsheep
Apr 28, 2011, 5:04 PM
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There's plent of long sport routes in the aiguille rouge in the Chamonix valley with good access to most by cable car etc.
Me and a friend will be out in Cham for the first two weeks of august and we're going to be in the Aig. Rouge between mountain routes.
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