France
The Chamonix valley has a large stock of bolted multipitch routes away from the glaciers: gneiss slabs and walls in the Aiguilles Rouges (Brévent, Chéserys), low crags above the valley floor (Rocher des Mottets) and the steep slabs of Barberine near the Swiss border at Vallorcine. Base yourself anywhere between Chamonix and Vallorcine; the valley has a railway (Mont-Blanc Express) and summer buses, and Geneva is the nearest airport. The valley crags are climbable from about April or May to October, while the Brévent depends on the cable car's summer season. The Chéserys and the Brévent lie in or beside the Aiguilles Rouges nature reserve.
Where and when
Climate figures for Chamonix valley are not available yet
4 routes
France · Chamonix valley
The great classic of the Aiguilles Rouges: six varied pitches of gneiss, ten minutes downhill from the Brévent cable car and finishing at its top station, with Mont Blanc opposite. The crux is a short, physical corner crack and the last pitch is a long, clean corner. It is extremely popular.
6a+6 pitches200 m
France · Chamonix valley
Nineteen very short pitches of easy slab above Les Bois, never harder than 4b and bolted like a climbing school. It is the standard first multipitch of the Chamonix valley, long enough to feel like a real outing and finishing at a mountain café with a view of the Mer de Glace.
4b19 pitches260 m
France · Chamonix valley
A short, friendly slab route on the sunny gneiss of the Chéserys, facing the Mont Blanc range. Five pitches with one vertical step of 4c, chain belays and an abseil descent make it a standard introduction to multipitch climbing.
4c5 pitches150 m
France · Chamonix valley
A direct line up the big south-facing slabs of Barberine: three pitches of friction slab to warm up, then steeper, technical walls on small holds. The two top pitches are graded 6b+ and 6c+ if you step round the bolts and 7a if you climb straight up them; 6c is obligatory.
7a7 pitches230 m
Local words
France