Barberine
This extensive granite crag is at the top of the Chamonix Valley, just over the Col des Montets – it’s actually in Switzerland (by a couple of hundred metres), though […]
Category Archives: French Alps
Le Fayet, Grande Falaise
We’d been working towards a rest day, to coincide with the forecast monsoon which was supposed to hit today. This was downgraded to an overnight downpour, and even that failed […]
Chamonix Valley cragging – La Joux and Les Gaillands
After the lengthy approach to Les Cheserys yesterday, we opted for roadside today, so checked out La Joux. Accessed from the station of the same name, it’s a very pleasant […]
L’Aiguillette d’Argentiere and Les Cheserys
No, NOT The Aiguille d’Argentiere, but this diminutive and shapely near namesake gives a fun micro summit in absolutely fabulous surroundings. The Aiguillette can be found about an hour’s pleasant […]
Servoz
With the weather perking up around Chamonix, and bizarrely looking better than the usual fleshpots of Provence, we decided to take advantage and spend a few days enjoying an out-of-season […]
Climbing around Le Grand Massif
Based around Samoens for a couple of days, we decided to explore the wealth of climbing in the hinterlands around Mt Blanc. There are three guidebooks-worth of cragging accessible within […]
Aiguilles Rouges, Chamonix Mt Blanc
The happy coincidence of a forecasted weather window in Cham overlapping with Dave being resident in Samoens opened up the possibility of an unexpected hit of high altitude cragging – […]
La Bérarde, Les Oisans
The magical Veneon Valley runs roughly eastward from Bourg d”Oisans to dead-end at the tiny village of La Bérarde, passing the start point for the refuge du Soreiller approach at […]
Aiguille Dibona
The Oisans region lies between the Vercours and the Ecrins and is home to some magnificent peaks. One of these: The Aiguille Dibona, must rank as one of the most […]
Presles, sector Daladom
Presles is undoubtedly the Queen of Vercours climbing – a 7km wide crag of grey and orange limestone around 300m high and offering hundreds of routes of around 8 to […]
L’Albenc and into the Vercours
The Isere Valley marks the northern border of the Vercours national park and the river has sliced the end of this high plateau leaving towering limestone cliffs impressively lining its […]
Ablon – un petit peu de cragging
The Grand Beaux Temps were forecast to end in storms in the Val d’Arve and up into chamonix, and my toes weren’t fit for any more multipitch madness, so a […]
La Balme – Vieux de la montage.
More like deux Vieux de la montagne – a very appropriate name. … l certainly felt like an old man of the mountains after this one. La Balme is almost […]
Vertiges de l’oubli – Les Vuardes
Back to the limestone, and another of the mega adventure crags of the Val d’Arve – Les Vuardes is on the opposite side of the valley to Maladiere, and similarly […]
La Piège
After the fun of Guy Anne, we only had time for a short route before heading back down the hill. The thought of missing the last train down from Montenvers […]
Guy Anne, Chamonix
amonixOur main objective for the week was the route Guy Anne, a 12 pitch TD+ with almost every pitch 6a or 6a+. It takes the skyline of the most prominent […]
Refuge d’Envers
With Grande Beaux Temps forecast for a few days, we decided to head up to the Refuge d’Envers for a couple of days. Our plans for an early start were […]
A mini Alpine adventure
Just arrived in the Chamonix valley for a week’s Alpine hit. Dodgy weather when we arrived on Tuesday, but an on time flight and speedy car pickup left us with […]
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