In the summer I abandon Birmingham for a year in sunny Geneva. I want to keep climbing when I'm out there, but I don't really have any idea of what the climbing is like and guidebooks for that area (western Switzerland/eastern France) are hard to find in this country...so has anyone on here ever climbed in those parts? From what I can find, it is mostly sport, but sparsely protected so trad gear is needed anyway. Which brings me to my other question...

Obviously I can't keep using the club gear hundreds of miles away and it would be pretty cheeky to assume that I can just borrow other peoples out there (my lab has a climbing mailing list but not a club), so I'm probably going to start getting a rack together. Does anyone have any advice of what to get? I am thinking:

Rocks 1-10 (the old-style ones are good value as a set)
Some quickdraws (maybe 6? I've heard it's worth buying longer ones, so it's less likely you'll have to extend them)
Slings: maybe two 120 and two 240
Some screwgates
A couple of big hexes

but I am willing to be proved wrong!

Thanks

I'm not going to pretend to be an expert, because I haven't climbed there, but i don't think 6QDs sound like enough.
I assume the climbs in the alps are a lot longer than those in England (then again, I do put in a placement per meter on average)

Well once you get into the alps things are obviously pretty different again, I was talking more about lower level rock climbs here. 6 may still be too few though...

Some guidebooks you buy for sport routes out there has the number of draws required, so before you go, just check that out. I've used 8 before I think, but it depends where you go.

If your flying out with your gear you'll want to beat the scales with your weight limit.

Traveling out of Birmingham - use the side walls of the scales as friction to 'hold' your bag up.

Travelling out of Switzerland - its as easy as jamming your toe under the scales, they cant see you and i brought a 35kg+ bag through where there was a 28kg limit on EasyJet!

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"I'm not mad, I just see things differently"
No longer VP : But still Vaguely Philippino
FYI: Actions speak louder than wombats

I like it! maybe magnetise your gear too as to increase the frictional coefficient further - if said walls are metallic...
how cheap is it to buy gear out there?

I'll be driving out there when I move out, so weight restrictions aren't a worry. I don't know how much gear costs out there and I haven't been able to find any shops with decent websites. Everything else there costs a fortune though so I don't expect it to be cheap!

Ill have a look if i have any guilde books at home i can recomend,

Try summit post, its good for articals on what to do all round the world, Plus it has mountain routes as well as sport and trad routes, as you cant live in switzerland and not mountaineer.

http://www.summitpost.org/route/

I have a copy of a ice and mixed climbing guide to Switzerland somewhere i think, although it's not in English you can sort of work things out, like "Das Ulimate Testig Piece" means nice easy warm up...

Try in Redpoint, they certainly have a fair few foreign guides there..

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Girls like three things: Danger, Boners and R1oss' guns.

I think a few more QDs is always a good plan, but other than that your rack plan sounds quite good. They do tend to bolt a lot more across the sea.
As for buying gear there - if you don't have the weight limit, i definitely suggest buying it here. Switzerland is expensive for climbers! plus here you have so much choice and you know what and where to go

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Mountain sec .... once upon a time

I guess if you're driving down you could stop off on the way, depending on the exchange rate things can be cheaper, last summer in france gear was still 10-15% cheaper even though the exchange rate was pretty poor. Also the selection of gear in places like chamonix is amazing!! I still dream of snell sports and it's vast rooms of rock shoes, all different types and any size all on display so you can just try them on as you wish. And then there's Technique Extreme so cheap and amazing!

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Girls like three things: Danger, Boners and R1oss' guns.

Your not alone... Those stores was amazing! Technique Extreme - the primark of outdoor gear - cheap, but it'll do the job!

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"I'm not mad, I just see things differently"
No longer VP : But still Vaguely Philippino
FYI: Actions speak louder than wombats

Haha, amazing! You've got to get that on your committee t-shirt!

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Trousers

Good advice there Tom, I assume also that ED stands for "Eh, not particularly Difficile." I'll have a look in Redpoint, in Cotswold they've got a couple of alpine ones but none for rock.

Alice M: Rest assured I plan to mountaineer. It would basically be a crime not to. And thanks for pointing out summit post, I'd always thought it was more focussed on mountaineering. I'll have a look.

Alice J: Everything is expensive in Switzerland to get a beer you have to take out a mortgage.

Those shops in Chamonix sound awesome...why can't they have shops like that in Britain?!