Rock climbing around Chamonix

Chamonix is a world-class area for mountaineering and rock climbing that is famous all over the world, and includes Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Western Europe at 4,810m. The mountaineering routes at Chamonix are known for their excellent, sheer walls of granite soaring for almost 4000 feet. This type of mountaineering often involves mixed climbing and/or moving over glaciers. It usually takes more than a day to complete these routes requiring on overnight stay in a hut or bivving at the bottom of the route.

However there are many pure rock routes in the Chamonix valley (particularly on the Aiguilles Rouges side) that can be completed in a single day, along with many sports routes and bouldering areas.

Sports climbing around Chamonix

Running from Le Fayet all the way to Switzerland are a series of valley crags offering good sports climbing. These are free of snow from May onwards and give a good mixture of single and multi-pitch sports routes across a wide range of grades. The type of rock is a mixture between granular gneiss and granite. These crags are at various altitudes from a few hundred metres to over 2000m giving plenty of choice depending on how hot it is.

There is a guidebook covering all the sports routes in the Chamonix valley called "Crag Climbs in Chamonix" and it covers 27 separate sports crags in this area. Buy this guidebook from our shop.

Crag climbs in Chamonix guidebook

Les Blocs de Chamonix guidebook

Bouldering around Chamonix

There are also some excellent bouldering areas in the Chamonix valley including some circuits (Fontainebleau style) and countless isolated problems. The bouldering around Chamonix offers different types of rock from; rough high mountain limestone at Le Col de la Colombiere; granite at Les Bossons and Le Lavancher; and gneiss at the excellent Medonnet area. These bouldering areas are at a variety of altitudes and some are sheltered in trees, which means it is possible to boulder whatever the temperature as long as it is dry and free of snow.

There is a guidebook that covers many of the bouldering areas around Chamonix called “Les Blocs de la region de Chamonix”, which details over 800 problems across a wide range of grades. Buy this guidebook from our shop.