Suggested long rock routes in Europe in the summer
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I'm planning a trip to Europe for next summer in July and/or August and I'm looking for suggestions and beta for everything from routes to beta on travel, huts, camping, car rentals, and whatever else may be useful. |
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There's lots of worthwhile accessible long routes in the European Alps, so that's a good kind of goal for Europe. How to choose? I don't know. First pick a region or language area. |
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Piz Badile is a great call!! That whole region is endless. Also really good Alpine style multipitches off Furka pass in Switzerland. Switzerland in general is a solid call, you wont be disapointed, you have every style of climbing you could want and you never have to travel far to get from one to the other, and there are guide books with some english descriptions. If you like bouldering you could also easily hit up Chironico and Magic Wood. Kenr seems to have some great ideas outside of Switzerland, I would not spend more that 2 days in Paris in my opinion, but Font is close by though and it is rad!! Rent a car, Camp and huts, you're stoked! |
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Both Ken and josh suggestions are great. some add |
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As far as Fontainebleau goes I have heard (this is not my own experience, I've never climbed there) that the polish on the easier routes is pretty unbelievable. You might want to research that further before you go. |
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Wow, lots of great info so quickly. Thanks a bunch. |
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If you weren't already considering the dolomites, you may want to after reading this eveningsends.com/climbing/a… |
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pierref wrote:3 hours drive from dolomiti, and large possibilities of shopping for womens.This phrase could be read several ways... |
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There is a long-running thread on ukbouldering Fairly Long, Moderately Hard and Mostly Free which has an excellent range of suggestions that fit the selection criteria. |
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pierref wrote:Skip Paris and take the risk to be killed by your wifeNo need to skip Paris. Compared with western USA + Canada, Europe is small. You can drive from Chamonix to Paris in an evening (after climbing). Like four years ago in July, a friend Yan-Eric did a full days work on Friday in Paris. Rode the train out to the mountains where I met him Friday evening. Drove to trailhead in the NW Ecrins, slept by the car. On Saturday, climbed a 5.10 route on the Aig Orientale de Soreiller (near Aiguille Dibona but higher). Descended to our car, drove to another trailhead, hiked up to hut and slept there. Sunday climbed Pilier Cheze route on Tete Sud de Replat. Ran the trail down to the car, drove to the Grenoble train station, and Yan-Eric was back in Paris by 9pm Sunday eve. At work on Monday morning. Similarly there's no need to find climbing objectives to do "along the way". Europe is small: just drive all the way to the climbing you really want. Like in the last month I drove from the French Alps to the (western) Dolomites in one shot. A week-and-half later drove all the way back in one shot. Of course making a stop "along the way" for tourism is different. pierref wrote:I think there is no english written pure rock climbing book for EcrinsI own an older English-language guidebook published by the British Mountaineering Council Not sure it makes sense to have a "pure" rock climbing guide for an alpine area like the Ecrins, but this book surely includes all the classic rock routes (and not just the easier ones). And it seems pretty accurate and helpful for the few climbs I've done (though of course glacier approach conditions are changing). The Ecrins are not "wilderness-like" by western USA standards - (consider the huts, and the well-maintained asphalt road in to La Berarde). And I think there's a higher percentage of bad rock there than Chamonix Mont Blanc. Also the Ecrins granite has fewer fun cracks than Mont Blanc granite. So you have to know where the good rock is: In addition to the places I mentioned previously, there is the S face of Rateau in NW Ecrins / Oisans. In the E Ecrins / Pelvoux area there is Aiguille de Sialouze (classic "easy" alpine rock sequence is to traverse the Aig Sia to the Rfg Pelvoux then climb Arete Sud of Petit Pelvoux (second as good rock, but a good trad adventure climb). There's other harder modern rock climbs on Sialouze. Nearby is lots of mid-altitude slabby granite around Ailefroide. Lots of Euro + UK climbers love it. I think the big attraction is pleasant summer camping, with (non-long) multi-pitch climbs just a short walk from the tent. The whole Durance river valley around there (by the city of Briancon) has a wide variety of interesting rock types (but longest is about ten pitches, in the Cerces) -- and often gets more sunshine than Chamonix. Ken |
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JCM wrote:If you weren't already considering the dolomites, you may want to after reading this eveningsends.com/climbing/a…Sounds like the guys who wrote that article haven't climbed in Europe much outside the Dolomites. What they claim is special about the Dolomites is true for lots of climbing regions in Europe. One thing the Dolomites have is: Lots of bad rock. The rock is called "dolomite", but it's pretty much like limestone: soft and breakable. Have to be choosy. And even if you choose a route more sound, holds can still break (as an American visitor a couple of years ago sadly discovered). Especially in early season after months of freeze-thaw. Corollary is that many of the less-difficult routes with sound rock have lots of polish. ? Possible response plan ? Climb harder. Learn to read German or Italian. Find new routes on the web or in modern non-English guidebooks. Avoid climbing under other parties. Avoid late July + August crowded. . (and don't count on being able to descend with a single rope like in that article). Ken P.S. I note that just a couple of hours north from the Dolomites, the Zillertal area in Austria is getting known for climbing on granite. Europe is overflowing with thirty lifetimes of interesting climbing on limestone/dolomite. That's why sport climbing was invented in Europe: bolts are what work for protection on soft rock. Many of the longer routes being mentioned in this thread (but not the S face of Marmolada) are granite. |
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JCM wrote: This phrase could be read several ways...not sure it was a mistake of mine.I'm french, like the former IMF president |
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Ok, so if I have this right, shopping for Swiss women is expensive? |
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Hans wrote:Ok, so if I have this right, shopping for Swiss women is expensive? And though loose in Italy, the prices are reasonable? ;-) Did I go too far? Sometimes my friends say I go too far.No, you didn't go too far. You went right to the edge of propriety. |
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Verdon is supposed to be good. |