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Crag & Route Beta

Area	Location	Sub Location	Crag	Links
International	(General)	(General)	(General)

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Via Ferrata in Chamonix 17-Feb-2011 At 4:02:06 PM Andrew_M

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I lived in France for a couple of years and did a few via ferratas with my wife. They're not bad as far as they go. Nothing like half as much fun as "real" climbing, but you can do them by yourself.

I don't think that there are any actual VFs readily accessable from the village though - you'd need a car. Could be wrong. However there is a good via-ferrata style trip that goes down to the mer de glace and up onto a balcony on the other side. It's normally used as access up the valley but can be done as trip in itself. You'd need crampons at least and in late march it could be dangerous with solo glacier travel. see photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10957060@N03/sets/72157601546006402/with/1173174106/

You shouldn't need either crampons or rope for standard VF. Whatever you do don't just use a cow's tail with dynamic rope as the falls can be well over FF2.

re camping: Camping Mer de Glace is full of climbers and a great place to meet up with random folks. BUT most of the camping grounds in France are only open for about 4-6 months a year - over high summer. Highly unlikely that you'll find any official camp ground open in March, particularly in Chamonix - though check out their websites to make sure.