Europe Summer Climbing Recommendations?

Hi all!

Buying our plane tickets now for this trip and hoping to rent a car for the whole ~6 weeks to give ourselves maximum flexibility.

What I forgot about (having not traveled in Europe for many years) is the insane cost of automatic-transmission rental cars (neither of us drive manual). Best I'm finding is like $3K US for 6 weeks rental on a wagon or bigger-sized automatic rental, even starting from off-airport locations in Milan.

Any recommendations for procuring an automatic-transmission car that can fit two folks, basic climbing and camping gear, etc., and won't break the bank?

Hi all!

Buying our plane tickets now for this trip and hoping to rent a car for the whole ~6 weeks to give ourselves maximum flexibility.

What I forgot about (having not traveled in Europe for many years) is the insane cost of automatic-transmission rental cars (neither of us drive manual). Best I'm finding is like $3K US for 6 weeks rental on a wagon or bigger-sized automatic rental, even starting from off-airport locations in Milan.

Any recommendations for procuring an automatic-transmission car that can fit two folks, basic climbing and camping gear, etc., and won't break the bank?

Jason Albino wrote:Hi all! Buying our plane tickets now for this trip and hoping to rent a car for the whole ~6 weeks to give ourselves maximum flexibility. What I forgot about (having not traveled in Europe for many years) is the insane cost of automatic-transmission rental cars (neither of us drive manual). Best I'm finding is like $3K US for 6 weeks rental on a wagon or bigger-sized automatic rental, even starting from off-airport locations in Milan. Any recommendations for procuring an automatic-transmission car that can fit two folks, basic climbing and camping gear, etc., and won't break the bank?

Small auto´s are about as popular in Europe as the tax man and cost roughly double the comparable manual to rent, a lot of the models don´t even offer auto as an option until you get up to larger diesels (at a considerable price) so not exactly hire-car material. Most small auto-box cars in Europe have DSG gearboxes which are expensive but get the required fuel consumption and performance.
Better and cheaper would be to quickly learn to drive a manual, the driving licences in Europe don´t diffferentiate between the two anyway.

Jason Albino wrote:Any recommendations for procuring an automatic-transmission car that can fit two folks, basic climbing and camping gear, etc., and won't break the bank?

What's available is going to depend on which airport you fly into. Might also want to check "off airport" options within range. So makes sense to not purchase your airline ticket until you see the combined cost of flight and car.

Some major rental car companies with lots of Americal tourist customers at a particular airport do have cars where the Auto price is not much more than the rental price of a comparable Manual from that major rental company. But the Auto option is simply not available for their less expensive models (and you might think that the Manual price from those majors is too high already).

One reason I have never owned an Automatic transmission car in USA is so that I'm always ready to rent a Manual in Europe.

but ...
If you can climb Trad, you can learn to drive a Manual transmission pretty quickly.
Problem in USA is finding a friend with one who will allow you to borrow to learn. Or maybe try to take some special lessons from a Driver Education school.

Ken

Brian in SLC wrote:Pulse the weather and see where's the best forecast, and, head that way.

Yes. Follow the sunshine, not a fixed itinerary.
. (glad to see someone mentioning Presles as a destination) .

Brian in SLC wrote:We flew into Milan

warning: Milan (MXP) might not be as popular with major carriers as it once was (perhaps because major flights to Italy are getting more focused toward Rome?).

So if you need to change your return date, you might find out that your options at Milan have become very expensive -- not only because of ticket-change penalties, but because there simply are no more Economy-class seats available in summer season on the limited Milan flight schedule.

(also I would guess that the likelihood of renting a non-high-price Automatic transmission car near MXP is pretty low).

Hello.

If you like Via ferratas and are onto a trip to Europe, you might be interested in recently published page Goferrata.com. Based on Klettersteig data, it provides complete overview of all known European tracks combined with user friendly interface that allows you to set filtering criteria such as lenght, difficulty or expected time scale and shows all matches on the map in real time. Click on specific result and get more detailed info about the track. No paid membership required. Completely free-of-charge project created by enthusiast. Maybe it could be a useful tool for improving you plans.

Hi all,

some tips from my 30 years experience of multipitches rock climbing in Western Europ (I live in Grenoble, close to Intl Lyon Aiport).

Transportation from crag to crag: easy and short enough by car. Max 1 day from Lyon to Austria, Dolomiti. Half a day for Swissland and west Italia.

Gear; 2*50 m - 12 QD - One BD rack 0.4 to 3 - some shoulder sling and that's all.

Best place for a summer period 3000 meter elevation range):
- in France, Chamonix of course. The west side of Aiguilles de Chamonis has a plenty of routes requiring no or easy icy approach (Michel Piola Guidebook is the reference).
- Backup plan in france if rainy in chamonix: massif des ecrins east side (jean michel cambon guide book - in french only.
- In swissland: Grimsel pass, furka pass, Nufenen pass area (dry approaches, max 2 hours) (schweiz plaisir west, east and south - ed.Filidor)
- Backup plan for swissland: Ticino close to italian border.
- Italia; East Dolomiti (sella, tofana, tre cime, ...) and Val di mello (2 BD cams rack!) - No ice, no snow
- Back up plan: Arco
- Guidebooks for italia: versante sud coll.
- Austria: Kaisergebirge and all the area between Innsbruck and salzburg including a piece of Germany (Adolf hitler vacation house in Berstesgaden!)
- Backup for Austria: Italia !!!

Place for tourism : Salzboug, the italian lakes, Venezia if you like crowd

To avoid: guide books from Rockfax coll. and for the period, Areas like Spain, Corsica, Sardenia, south Italia and France. Come back in fall !

Pierre

Have you looked at Picos de Europa in Spain? Up high so cool, nearby hut so short approaches. Also I can give you lots of beta if you decide to do some alpine stuff around Grindelwald Switzerland including the Eiger.

Picos de Europa, so attractive in guidebooks, so disappointing under the rain. And it's not only my experience. Locals says that the weather window is september ....

The Backup (very usefull) is west catalunya, but prepare to carry water in summer. Here the season start in October.

Thanks for the new replies - these are great!!

I think after lots of discussion, we've decided NOT to bring gear for overnight/alpine climbs - just too much extra stuff to bring given all the stuff we already have to pack for day climbs and living.

Spain sounds great, but I think we probably won't make it that far South for this particular trip.

We've settled on the rough itinerary below. If you live close to any of these spots and want to come climb or just chat with us, we'd love that! While on the road, you can reach me directly via email: jasonfalbino {at} gmail ^dot^ com.

- Thu 25 June: arrive/climb in Frankenjura
- Continue as weather/friends/climbing quality dictates through Switzerland (grimselpass, etc.), France (Chamonix etc.),, Italy (Arco, Dolomiti, etc.) though Sun 8 August

Not sure when we'll wind up being in each place exactly, but email me if you're interested in meeting up!

Jason,
We are a couple from Colorado and are traveling Europe until August/September. We sport climb single pitch routes and Ryan can lead up to a 5.10. We have all our gear with us and are looking for climbing partners.

We are now in Berlin and don't have any specific plans made but are open to anything.

Hit us up if you have anny suggestions or would like to meet up for some exploration.

Cheers!
Ry and Jen