Early planning for climbing near Chamonix in late june 2016.

I am an American, 49, planning to be near Chamonix and Geneva for a week or so. Planning to do some sport and trad climbing, if I can find a partner. Dates flexible. I climb 5.10 to 5.12 sport, can lead 5.9 trad. I speak French, am well versed in climbing etiquette, and I am happy to climb with anyone, no matter age or gender. I am not fixed on Chamonix or St. Gervais area, but I'll be near there anyway to visit family and friends. Lac Annecy or other spots are just as good. Anyone?

Will you have a car?

I hove no idea. I'm not sure what the arrangements will be, where I'm staying, or anything else yet. Sorry for the lack of details, just putting out feelers for the general time frame to see who's around...

The reason I ask is because if you have a car, it's much more likely that you'll be compatible with my climbing, and it's a reasonable guess that I'll be around the northern French Alps next June.

Also makes it much easier to connect with local French partners (since you have the advantage of speaking French).

If you don't have a car, then likely it makes sense to climb mainly around Chamonix.

My approach is to be based within less than two hour's driving range of Chamonix, but only go there when things are very favorable. There's also lots of fun non-climbing things to do in the northern French Alps. And if the weather is iffy in Cham, nice to be able to escape easily quickly to someplace else.

Hanging around Cham is a great idea, but a different mindset -- somehow I don't seem to connect with climbers who are based there.

Ken

Ken
Thanks for the info. I imagine I will have some way to get around. This is not my first trip to France or Switzerland, but my first time climbing there. A few others that I know based themselves in St. Gervais area and had a ball climbing the local crags, up to some multi pitch stuff that was great. Any input on good locations would be more than welcome. I'm sort of lost when it comes to locations. I know the area as a tourist visitor, but not a climber. I climb in Kentucky US, and a few other areas, like West Virginia. Everything from overhanging pockets to long cracks. Love it all.
This is all part of some silly dream about climbing in Europe, and since I have family and friends in France, I speak the language, and all that, it seems like a good spot to get into European climbing. I was in Chamonix last June, and hung around a few friends for a day or two, and loved it. They told me it would be a great place to be a climber, so I started reading about it, got a few guide books from Climb Europe about the region close to Cham, and that's my starting point. We all gotta start someplace... I'm gonna have to really depend on a local or a well versed visitor to find good rock and such. I will have my own gear to a point, but I'm gonna be there about 4 or 5 days total to climb, and I won't have a full trad rack. Just sport items. But I do love trad, and if I can mooch off someone for trad gear, I would love it.
Keep in touch over the coming months, and if you have any beta that might make it easier to hook up to climb, I'm in. Do you mind if I ask about your climbing experience in the area? What's your preference? Where are the sweet spots? I'd like to get the most actual climbing pitches in while I'm there, and minimize bull shit, as you can imagine.

-Dan

dmcnulty wrote:I do love trad

Then I suggest you make it a lifetime goal to lead on granite in the Mont Blanc massif - (not just Chamonix, there's also some great granite on the Italy side of MB). But sounds like that's not going to happen on this trip.

dmcnulty wrote:I will have my own gear to a point, but I'm gonna be there about 4 or 5 days total to climb, and I won't have a full trad rack. Just sport items.

There's some highly-regarded multi-pitch limestone within an hours drive from St Gervais: notably in the Aravis chain. Warning: bolted does not equal "sport". Lots of French climbers bring say five favorite Trad pieces on most multi-pitch bolted routes. Unless climbing well below your following limit. Also many (most) multi-pitch routes in France are setup for 50m or 60m rappels, and French climbers tend to climb multi-pitch with double ropes.

My climbing so far in France:
roberts-1.com/c/c/fr

Finding French partners:
www.camptocamp.org
Sort of like MountainProject for France (and Europe), but more fully collaborative (even I sometimes modify French-language route descriptions), and set up as fully multi-lingual (so I can post routes in English).
Just set up an ID and post to the French-speaking forums.

Ken

You're very kind. Thanks for all the info. I will proceed with camptocamp.org and we'll see what happens. Thanks again, and we'll be in touch as the summer approaches.
-Dan