Routes in Chamonix area

Too popular.

Well bolted pitches up 3 Gneiss gendarmes finishing towards the top of the Col du Brévent ridgeline.

P1 - 5c. Face and crack climbing lead to a good ledge.

P2 - 5a. Follow the bolts to the next ledge.

P3 - 5a. Fun pitch ending in some great stemming between two gendarmes. Long slings handy. 10m rap to the start of the next pitch.

P4 - 5a. Climb the crack. A short traverse left then back right leads to the start of P6.

P5 - There are 2 options, trend left 5c or climb the steep face at 6b (crux)

P6 - Short traverse followed by 20m abseil. Walk up approximately 100m to the right gendarme (a round red marker highlights the start of the pitch 7)

P7- 5b. Straight forward face climbing.

P8- 5a. Long slings handy to reduce rope drag. From the top, it's a 2nd class scramble down to the left gendarme.

P9 - 5b. Walk off the backside.

Ice couloir, narrow and up to 80 degrees. Very popular all year round. Belays for rappel down route if you turn around at top of couloir.

Best accessed from Aiguille du Midi ca. 1h over glacier. Need to have skills for glacier travel.

Climbing the ridge S to N involves some 4 climbing and 2 rappels along the ridge. Very scenic. Some loose rocks in places.

Dièdre-cheminée à droite du grand toit.

Walk across several kilometers of crevasses on the Geant Glacier to reach Col d'Entrève. Then climb and follow the ridge to the summit. Traverse to the northern summit, then scramble down the northeast ridge. Descend for a while then, angling left reconnect with the traces leading to Col d'Entrèves. Use ice screws to protect a long steep traverse. Turn right to return to Rifugio Torino.

Départ à gauche du toit oblique pour terminer par un dièdre lisse à droite.

The normal way up Mt Blanc and used in descent for most cases. Normal starting point is Les Houches where you take the cable car and then train to Nid d'Aigle 2372m. There is a couloir below refuge Gouter that is exposed to stonefall, caution. From refuge Gouter 3817m follow rigde to Dome du Goûter then ridge to summit.

A true Envers classic. There are sections significantly harder than 6a+. Anchors are equipped and bolts on thin slabs or hard runout sections.

Climb the right side of the face up into the big dihedral up top.

The 6a R of L'Eperon Claret

Départ commun avec Sans nom 3 ensuite partir à gauche pour terminer dans un petit mur.

Éviter un petit toit oblique par la droite pour rejoindre un vague pilier.

L2 engagée.

The 5c R of the 6a R of L'Eperon Claret. Make some interesting slab moves up a short face to an anchor on the big ledge. 5c straight over the bolts, easier if climbed from the right.

As usual for the area there are bolts in the slabs while the cracks are clean.

Alpine sport route in unbelievable location and aspect. Incredible climbing! Steep, athletic and demanding with substantial run outs on most pitches. Rock is solid. Not suitable in high winds as exposed. Can be done on a 70m but better with twin ropes if you have to eject. Exposed! Finishes below the Gondola. Don't miss the last cable car down... 3 hour walk out!

A long and classic way to ascend Mt Blanc. Route is technically easy but a long glacial outing exposed to Serac fall which makes chosing good conditions and timing important. From Col du Midi some 600m up to Mt Blanc du Tacul. Then descending to Col Maudit 4029 and from here som 300m to pass around Mont Maudit and then finally 500m from here to summit.

1. Descend the Aiguille du Midi slope and a ~30 minute approach will bring you to the base of the traverse.

2. Climb the 40 degree snow slope between the southeast and middle summits.

3. Easy scrambling with some exposure will bring you to the central summit. Downclimb on the south side for about 3m to reach a bolted abseil on an exposed ledge.

4. A 30m abseil (bring a long enough rope!) down the north face will land you on an exposed and stunning snow ridge linking the central and main summits. Follow this to the foot of the rock buttress and the crux pitch.

5. 4a. The crux is easier than it looks but there may be some loose rock and requires care. Take a small rack to climb this section. Can be done in 1-2 pitches.

6. At the top, follow the snow slope easily to reach the main summit.

7. Descent: Easy descend down the snow ridge before turning eastwards and walking down to rejoin the approach path back to the Midi.

All the belays are equipped with two bolts. If you climb to top of first tower it is possible to abseil down the route. If you continue the easy pitches to summit you need to abseil / down climb south face (bring approach kit).

Best route I did at this crag. Can't remember the exact bolt count but I took a dozen draws and used most of them.

Cool route. Excellent warm up for this wall. 60 m rope will work for p1, but barely.

From Rockfax:

6 - 8 hours.

One of the most popular routes in the valley. The scrambling is excellent throughout and the rock quality is consistently good until the initial part of the descent, but this is low-angled and brief. Other than the pegs on the first pitch and bolts on the abseil, the route is unequipped so you'll need a rack, albeit a fairly small one.

Approach:

From the top of the Index chairlift, descend towards Lac Blanc for 50m then take the jeep track on the left which takes you up towards the Grande Floria and Aiguillette de la Floria. Just after the path branches off to the Grande Floria, the jeep track crests a small col and begins to descend rightwards. When it does this, cut off left and pass under the Aiguillette de la Floria and then climb up to the top of the Floria drag lift. 20m past the drag lift take a path off left, across the scree slope and under the foot of Pointe Gaspard before climbing the gully above, on the left initially, following a grassy path. Continue up the path to the col. The final rocky step to the col is up a left-slanting crack which may feel a bit tricky if wet, so you may be glad of a rope on this section. From the col, go east over 50m of easy ground, along a vague ledge system up and rightwards, underneath the Crochues west ridge to reach the foot of the chimney which marks the start of the route - around 1 hour from the chairlift.

1. 4a. Climb the deep-cut chimney (4a, 35m) passing a couple of pegs on the way to a ledge with plenty of good spikes for belays. There are some loose rocks around the belay spikes, so be careful not to knock anything down.

2. Go up and rightwards (passing to the right of the big boulder on the skyline) and follow easy, grassy terrain to the crest of the Crochues west ridge. You should join the ridge near the bolt belay at the end of routes 2 and 3, although you can join it just about anywhere. Follow the ridge easily for 70m (you can walk below it on the left if it is busy or wet) until the ridge drops away steeply and you are faced with a short descent down to a tower.

3. 3b. Descend towards the tower on the north side of the ridge for 5m, before coming around to the south side of the tower and making an easy but exposed traverse across the south face. A 10m abseil back onto the north side allows you to pass the next, smaller tower on its north side, before climbing a short wall and slab (3b) to regain the ridge crest. The slab section can be bypassed on the south side of the ridge by following a grassy path.

4. Continue easily along the crest with interest until the summit. From the summit descend 30m back down the ascent route before turning east and following the ridge easily to the (marginally higher) north summit.

Descent:

From the north summit, descend to Lac Blanc by scrambling down the Crochues North Ridge for 100m to where the ridge widens out and becomes less solid. Drop off the ridge rightwards and descend a scree/snow slope eastwards towards Lac Blanc. This slope is often snowy well into the summer season but it is the ideal angle for glissading so you can normally get away without crampons. If you leave the crampons behind and realise you need them for the descent, it is possible to carry on along the Crochues north ridge towards the Col du Dards. Shortly before reaching this the ridge drops steeply away and from here, make a 20m abseil east to reach the scree/snow slope where the angle is much lower. Continue down to Lac Blanc and either return to the Index chairlift (45 minutes from Lac Blanc) on an undulating path or descend down to the Flégère cable car (90 minutes).

Entrée en matière la plus douce pour les voies de plusieurs longueurs. Voie équipée sur broches scellées (espacement montagne). Tous les relais sont chaînés et équipés pour les rappels. 7 à 8 dégaines max par longueurs. Voie très fréquentée en été.

Start at the fantastic crack. Bring a cam Nr. 4. There is an easier version for the first pitch, if you start further to the right via the slab.

A classic slab climb with some tricky route finding. A few bolts guiding the way over the slabs, otherwise small cams and nuts. Depending on season you may need crampons and axe for approach & descent.

A classic varied climb with cracks, corners and chimneys on sound solid rock.

A superb intro to alpine climbing. Short pitches and varied climbing, cracks, face, slab and chimneys. 2 rappels and one tyrolean traverse. Lots of rope-work training.

First route to the left of La diagonale

An excellent route with varied climbing. Rock is mostly excellent, however pitch 3 and 4 have some loose rock. The last pitch is the crux and ended on a small summit. The belays are bolted and there are numerous pitons through out the climb. A standard rack will get you up.

1)5c 2)6b

Climb slab to the ledge, then crawl into an extended, often awkward corner/chimney system. At the top of the corner are two bolts with tat which can seve as a belay. At the top of the big block on your left you will find yourself looking up a beautiful short corner to finish the line. Alternatively you can climb the arête to your right which is slightly harder. One rap if rope is an 80. Two raps if shorter.