Help!! What should I climb in Switzerland!?!?!

I will be going to Switzerland for two weeks in September and I need help choosing what to climb! I am trying to make this last minute trip to see my brother an awesome one. I am finding it hard to sort through the gargantuan amount of climbing in Switzerland and I would really appreciate recommendations and any other pertinent beta.

I will be bringing a standard double rack, draws and my 60meter. We are looking to do moderate multipitchs, nothing too alpine(no snow or ice climbing), and maybe explore some interesting mountain towns.

I appreciate any pertinent info you can send my way! Thanks Everybody!

Eiger direct. Go get 'em bro. Root'n for ya.

What I remember:

How mobile are you? If you don't have a car it's a pain in the rear.

Guidebooks: You can buy 'em, but can you use 'em? Not just the language, but also be prepared to change your standards for what an approach is like. Very different from US guidebooks, even getting to the parking lot.

Ticino is amazing. The bouldering, splitter alpine granite, and wild slab routes are what I remember. We slept in the car a couple nights, and it's a haul from Geneve.

Mostly we climbed in the Valle. Besides the many hidden "roadside crags" lower down: The Sphinx is a great alpine wall (with cool history) you could do but I can't find it with the google (might want some gear and not sure about retreat but it's only 3 pitches or so). We also climbed the Miroire d'Argentine which was super fun, long day though. Check the topo there for Zygofolis which is what we did.

Oh, on the German side we enjoyed some flesh tearingly fresh limestone at the Gastlosen

PS - I think you need two ropes to retreat from most of these alpine adventures sport climbs.

Ahh Eiger direct of course!

Thanks for the info Dankasaurous! We will have a car and can read Swiss German. Thanks for the heads up on the rope we had a similar thought and decided that if we need one we will pick one up there to leave with my brother.

Come september, you'll probably find that weather is going to dictate where you can climb. It may be variable and you may find that alpine terrain is no longer very suitable... Plus there are a ton of microclimates and geographic variations in weather that may force you to one region or another. If it's wet overall this means you'll probably be hitting up various klettergärten (crags) near where you're based out of trying to catch dry spells, or you may also find yourself headed south (ticino, ponte brolla is lots of fun). If can climb alpine, you will find incredible multipitch mostly-sport routes almost in almost any part of the country. Overall I'd highly recommend the bergell (bregaglia), which unfortunately is pretty far removed. Near zurich there is lots of good semi-alpine stuff near the walensee such as the mattstock/churfirsten and brüggler.

The most comprehensive guidebooks I'm familiar with are the various plaisir ones, which are divided into geographic regions. There is also a selection one (basically a greatest hits) that has routes all over the country - the few I've done have not disappointed me and it is also a good way to get an overview if you browse it at a store. But I wouldn't recommend buying too many guidebooks, they cost around 50 sfr each and the exchange rate is not kind...

You'll also find that swiss german is a dialect that is not (typically) written - normal german will do just fine.

First of all, I haven't done that much climbing in Switzerland since I've only been climbing for about 2 years and have now been in the US for one year. I have not done any alpine routes in Switzerland at all, but I am an outdoor person and can assure you that the majority of trails in the alps are very well maintained (for example signs giving you directions on how long you'll have to walk to a certain point) and much less wild than here (I live in California, can't speak for any other part of the country).

You said you'll want to bring 2 full racks. I would definitely consider where you will be climbing and then decide on what to bring. From what I can tell (I have done quite some research on alpine climbing in Switzerland), a lot of alpine routes in Switzerland are fairly well bolted compared to American standards (e.g. bolted cracks which could be protected with gear, bolted belays on a lot of alpine climbs, etc.), so maybe one set of cams plus 2 sets of nuts could do the trick as well(?).
Generally, there are a lot of sportclimbs (single- as well as multipitch) and depending on what you want to do you only need to bring some draws.

I am from the Northwest (Basel), there you will mostly find sport climbing on limestone. The Jura ridge (N-S in the western/French speaking part of the country) also has nice sportclimbing on limestone, single- as well as multipitch. These are the only places I've climbed so far in Switzerland.
Arête des Sommêtres is a casual solo which ascends a canyon (you can rope up for some sections if you like but it's mainly 3rd and 4th class with the occasional 5.easy section) high above the Doubs river which forms the Border of Switzerland and France. Along the crest are several sport crags.
map of the arête des sommêtres and surrounding area

I did a 5 day camping/climbing trip with some Swiss friends around 8 years ago. Jacques, a photographer and web designer, has put together a great web site with photo-illustrated descriptions of climbs around the country.
To access the multi-pitch section choose "multi-pitch" from the "activity" drop down menu:
rockandmusic.com/index.php?…
With your double rack you'll probably be looking for granite splitters, but if you feel like clipping bolts on 5 pitches of gently overhanging limestone with spectacular views you may want to try this:
rockandmusic.com/index.php?…
The rap off was a bit exciting with the overhang. You may consider a longer walk-off if you're not comfortable with advanced rappelling techniques.
- Dave

Die MURDEWAND!

This is awesome! thanks for all the info and recommendations!! Can't wait to get out there!

If you haven't left yet...

Nearly all multipitches are bolted for double 50m rope rappels. A single rack of gear is more than enough for the sort of climbing you've described, but a single rope is not enough.

Get the "Plaisir' guide book for east, west, or south, wherever you are planning to spend most of your time.

One idea (out of 10,000): Bergsee .