Choosing an area

• Aspect
  Each area has its own aspect. In summer, climbers prefer higher and/or shady crags in order to climb in the cool, whereas sunnier areas are popular earlier or later in the year.
• Rock type
  Savoie and Haute Savoie offer climbers an extremely wide range of rock types and climbing styles, from the world famous Chamonix granite of the Mont-Blanc Range to the limestones and dolomites of the Pre-Alps and the Vanoise. Other less common rock types include compact quartzite, shiny schist, rough gneiss and the beautiful conglomerate of the Beaufortain. .
• Climbing areas and guidebooks
  Savoie Mont Blanc has hundreds of climbing areas, covering a vast range of climbing styles and types of routes, from boulders to big walls. These areas are described in detail in the many guidebooks to the different regions of Savoie Mont Blanc.

A selection of guidebooks

- Escalade autour du lac du Bourget - Philippe Mussato

- Escalade en Maurienne - Patrick Col

- Falaises et via ferrata de Tarentaise - Philippe Deslandes/James Merel

- 28 falaises autour d'Annecy - Robert Durieux
- Calcaire à pleine main - mountain routes in the Chablais - Laurent Desuzinge and Wahil Saïd
- La Haute-Savoie - Wilfried Colonna and Claude Gardien
- Vallée de Chamonix: From Le Fayet to Vallorcine, including Chamonix - François Burnier and Dominique Potard

For more information: www.ffme.fr/ the official website of the French Mountaineering and Rock-climbing Federation.

Updated on March 2009