Ive been basking in the sunshine drinking wine and champage and getting fat in NE France for 2 weeks and have no idea whats going on in the mountains. My climbing partner is flying in on Thursday and we are planning to head to Chamonix. Hows it looking in the alpine? I brought EVERYTHING with me but id like to send some of it home with my boyfriend. Whats going on out there? Have rock and ice gear. Should i keep the avy gear? Have a tent but if Alpine Euro Disney is open we shouldnt need it. Think I can send it home? Do I need my winter sleeping bag or will my summer bag and a bivy be enough?

If conditions are crap in the Alps, where isnt it crap? Would rather go rock climbing in the sunshine than ice climbing in a blizzard.

Man these french keyboards are a bitch. Can anyone tell me how to use the curly a button? the one the 'at' in email addresses?

Hi.
here some good information about the conditions around chamonix.
http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=305758

'at' = AltGr + 2 I think

-Kasper

Crap. Sounds like I need my skis and a guardian angel to keep the avalanches away. Bugger. Guess we will head south and see how things look in a week or so.

Anyone know where I might be able to find English guide books for the S of France and/or Spain?

see here Chamonix weather forecast :
http://www.chamonix.com/page.php?page=1 ... ix&ling=fr

see here review of conditions :

http://www.montagneinfo.net/

note that the best place to find a wide variety of climbing topos for France may be Chamonix : never seen as many mountain books ( and gear ! ) shops in a single street

there are some high cliffs one hour drive from Chamonix on the Italian side in Aosta where weather can be better than on Mont Blanc massif, but I do not remember the name : I will try to find it back

Pretty shitty conditions, but some routes are in good conditions. Think you might be able to do the Tour Rondo, cosmique ridge at midi, perhaps also around the Tour glaicer and the Argentier glaicer.
if you wanna do some Rock climbing the frison rouge at the brevant is a really nice climb. 2½-3 hours 6pitches, fantastic view over the mont blanc.

the guide books i think you can find in any of the bookstores in Cham.

another easy climb that can pretty much always be done in cham is the, petit aig. verte
how long are you planning to stay, it think you should give it a shot, the conditions might soon be really really good.

if any questions just send me a mail or PM.
Enjoy
Kasper

papyours wrote:There are some high cliffs one hour drive from Chamonix on the Italian side in Aosta where weather can be better than on Mont Blanc massif, but I do not remember the name : I will try to find it back

Is this what you had in mind?

brenta wrote:

papyours wrote:There are some high cliffs one hour drive from Chamonix on the Italian side in Aosta where weather can be better than on Mont Blanc massif, but I do not remember the name : I will try to find it back

Is this what you had in mind?

yes, this is what I mean ! ( even if I had no chance yet to go there ... ) thanks

Thx so much for the info. Im so torn now as to where to go. The plan changes ever couple of hours at this point. Thinking of heading to Les Ecrins now to give the snow higher up a few days to consolidate. Im not emotionally tied to any particular peaks and im not trophy hunting so as long as i can find somewhere with good weather and fun climbing I will be happy. That said, I do hope to get into the Alps at least part of the time. Ive come a long way and wont be able to come back for this long again for the foreseeable future. Still, cragging in the medaterrainian is still a lot better than a sharp stick in the eye.

Unfortunately today is my last day with Internet access so Im furiously collecting English beta. I have a guidebook for Les Ecrins on the way but nothing for Calanques. If you have anything I could use, please send it. julia at mountaingirl dot net. Also have no idea where we will stay... if we can camp... anything else we should know?

Does anyone know where i can buy propane for my Jetboil anywhere around here? (here is Laon today... picking up my climbing partner at the airport 2morro then back here to finish packing then heading south via Reims/Lyon). People look at me like I have antlers when I ask. Apparently backcountry camping hasnt really taken off in the Champagne region of France.

Just an idea :

if you want to go a little more south than Ecrins, you cn go to a village called ORPIERRE : it is a very nice place in Haute Provence .

There are a lot of multi and single pitches nice rock climbing there, some campings areas, nice landscapes and a climbing - outdoor shop where they have many topos of the area.

You can set your camp there if the weather is poor in the mountains and do rock climbing and if the weather improve you can drive north to Vercors, Devoluy or Ecrins.

Last year I went there after 1 week in July looking at the clouds in les Ecrins and it was much better there, on the last days we went back north and had the opportunity to make a summit in Ecrins as weather had improved.

Just a proposal !

see the link :

<http://www.camptocamp.org/sites/102061/fr>


Calanques are nice but the acces to the cliffs is not so easy and many cars are damaged on the parkings : take care !