Learning the Ropes in Chamonix: Rock Climbing Basics

As my alpine refresher course was a one-in-all course we started out by rock climbing at some of the many crags down in the valley floor. In the beginning I was not really very excited about this feature of the course. After all, I thought I’ve travelled to Chamonix to climb some really big mountains with steep snow, serac-laden glaciers and all this stuff. However, crag climbing turned out to be not only a good workout in fresh air but it was also extremely relaxing. As our chosen crag for the first day were the well-known (and sometimes a little bit crowded) Les Gaillands we were able to enjoy the amazing view up to the Aiguille du Midi and the Mont Blanc with all its secondary mountains for the whole day. Since during the first day we did only top-roping my initial fears of having attacks of vertigo evaporated almost instantly.

For the second lesson in rock climbing we went to the Servoz crag, located in a side valley some kilometres away from the busy Chamonix. This crag is especially suited for the lazy climber since it is right beside the street. And there is even a nice bistro just vis-á-vis the crag. This day was our real ‘initiation’ as rock climbers because each of us took the ’sharp end of the rope’ for the first time of this course. Climbing as a leader was of course somewhat more adrenaline-producing but it was extremely rewarding. Again a real fun day in splendid weather conditions.

The Servoz Crag right beside the street in a side valley near Chamonix