Austria & Switzerland late April climbing?

So I'll be traveling through Austria and Switzerland between 4/21-5/03 and since this will be my first time in the region, I'd love to get in some climbing in if possible. Not sure if late april might be too early/cold. Any recommendations for a solo traveler?

Since I won't have any of my gear with me this trip (just my shoes), I'm looking into hiring a guide or joining a group with one, but I'm curious if there are any towns and hostels that would be perfect for someone looking to get connected with some climbing.

Sorry for the newb-ness of this message, I've never climbed outside the US before, so any advice/wisdom would be appreciated!

How about a slight clue of what kind of climbing you're looking for? Bouldering, Ice, Sport single-pitch, Alpine Rock, Via Ferrata, Alpine Mixed snow-ice rock?

Maybe also what Difficulty level?

You're right, that would be more helpful to know, sorry!
I'm looking to do some sport single or multi-pitch preferably. But also would like to try via ferrata, as I've never done that before. Basically whatever's possible this time of year.

As far as difficulty goes, I'd be comfortable leading 9's or 10-10a (YDS) if it's sport. But can probably follow up to 10c-d if on top rope.

Might be kinda early for most rock venues.

See average temps in Switzerland:

currentresults.com/Weather/…

You might find the sunny location at a mid elevation crag fairly doable though. Very site specific I'd think.

Most spots I'm familiar with are up in higher elevation locations. Grimsel, Furka, etc. Probably still be snowed under or have significant snow on any approaches. The Jura area might be an option.

Austria is a fairly high, mountainous country as well. Maybe some sunny crag near Kufstein, Innsbruck, or Imst.

More popular venues nearby would be Finale Ligure and maybe Arco in Italy. Near enough, but, much lower and warmer with less winter hanging on. Also, much higher chance of running into like minded folk.

Arco should be great early May. We may actually head there May 1st-3rd if the weather is nice - shoot me a message if you are interested in joining. We'll drive there from Munich via Innsbruck.
Sunny crags in Ötztal (Engelswand) or Martinswand near Innsbruck (there is also a via-ferrata) are other options. Maybe also post in the bergsteigen.com forum or on climbers-paradise.com to find partners.

There will be plenty of non-high-altitude sport climbing pleasantly climbable by late April. France I know will have an overwhelming amount of accessable sport crags then (might be too hot for some S-facing walls down south).

Switzerland could try the Rhone valley (SW corner, like around Martigny + Sion), or Ticino (South Central: Italian language). Austria I've heard good things about the "ClimbersParadise" mentioned above, specifically in the region around Imst. (Martinswand is S facing low-alt and amazingly polished).

5.10a is the minimum for having lots of good routes available at most Euro sport crags. So I'd suggest you choose an area to focus on, and purchase a local guidebook (perhaps not English-language) which will have lots of easier routes which might not make it into a select book (or the web?).

But I'm forgetting: You're going to hire a guide? So really I guess all you need is to figure out which area you're going to find the guide-person.
If you want to climb like 5.10c, consider that many European guides get most of their work on (non-sport-climb) routes and stuff much easier, so they don't keep up their finger strength for 5.10c. So it might not be easy for a guide service to find a guide at that level on the day you want.

Via Ferrata: I think this is a fun way to climb solo. I've done lots of VF routes in various countries of Europe.
The France region near SW Switz has several fun (and strenuous) S-facing non-high-altitude VF routes. Austria has some good non-high (though my favorites there tend to be higher alt). Switz tends to be high-alt, so maybe not much yet snow-free.

Key thing is to be able rent a VF kit (assuming you don't plan to be in Europe often enough to make it worth purchasing one: there are hundreds of VF routes in Austria alone).

Ken

If you are in Vienna, check out the Flakturm. It is a really unique climbing experience to mix things up a bit. A WWII antiaircraft tower was converted into an aquarium on the inside and has a climbing wall on the outside.

You get a great view of the city.
waymarking.com/waymarks/WM7…

Thank you all for all info/advice! I figured that a lot of the Swiss/Austrian alps will still have quite a bit of snow. I'll definitely look into Italy though!

As far as the guide stuff goes, I thought that might be a good option since I'll going solo. Really, I'd be fine to climb whatever would allow me the most options. But I'll keep looking into it and doing more research.

For sports climbing, end of april should be fine. Conditions on south facing crags in the valleys are already good enough for climbing, so in late april it will be no problem at all.

If you want to do multi pitch, the time is not ideal but if you don't mind crossing some snow fields on the approach you can get still climb on the south facing walls (e.q. Martins Wall, Wilder Kaiser).

A good source of information for climbing in austria is this site:
www.bergsteigen.com/