Routes in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

Too popular.

Good line with homogenous difficulties on mostly big holds. Probably the hardest part are the first metres.

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.

First follow the thin crack, then sustained on horizontal ledges to a hard technical crux at about half height. After that easy going on huge flakes.

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.

Enjoyable well-bolted slab climb.

Easy up the ramp, then with some technical and reachy moves through the upper vertical part. Quite polished and despite the low grade not really a good beginners / kids route.

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.

Hardest route of the sector. Difficult bouldery passage in the middle to gain the higher good holds. Find the hidden mono!

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.

Route starts on the big slab just above the Soreiller hut (5 min). Climb the slab over LHS and reach a big culoir gradually turns into a chimney and then a vertical tunnel.

4 pitch route through tunnel, up flake then arete

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.

Short route on juggy polished rock, with some powerful and less juggy moves in the middle.

A éviter. Première longueur patinée et quasi-intégralement protégée par des broches bis 1 (à proscrire). Very polished and non-standard protection, for experience climbers.