Chamonix Climbing Retreat

• No mountaineering or multi-pitch climbing experience is required, but some rock climbing experience is helpful. If you can climb a 5.9 in the gym without taking or falling, you'll likely have a good time in Chamonix.
• This course will not involve camping or heavy packs, but you should be ready to hike for multiple hours, multiple days in a row, on and off trail, as well as climb on snow, rock, and ice.  
• Climbers should feel capable of hiking with a 20lb backpack while ascending and descending up to 2,000’ of elevation in a day. 
• A climbing harness, rock shoes, helmet, mountaineering boots, crampons, ice axe and pack are required for this course. If you don’t want to buy them, all of these items are available for rent in Chamonix at a relatively low cost. We’re happy to help you with gear (just ask), and a complete equipment list can be found here.
• Must be 18 years of age or older.

The majority of women come to our clinics alone - somewhere around 95%.  If you are hesitating to join because you would be coming solo, please know that we expect a majority of our participants to be joining by themselves, seeking community. 

You do not need to be an experienced climber to attend but we recommend some climbing experience before signing up for a full week of climbing. We ask that everyone attending is able to top rope a 5.9 in a climbing gym without taking or falling. We are aware that climbing 5.9 in a climbing gym is much different than climbing a 5.9 outside, but having the ability to climb 5.9 in a climbing gym will set you up to have a great time in Chamonix. With multiple guides and options we can accommodate a wide range of abilities.

Probably. Lead climbing is certainly not a requirement for anybody on the trip, but we're happy to let you lead as long as you have prior experience as a leader and can pass a belay test similar to those found in most gyms (minus the falling).

Our main goal is to keep everyone safe, so on our first day out together we’ll just want to see that everyone is able to manage the rope, communicate, lead and belay safely before being cleared to do it throughout the week. If you don’t plan on leading, we’ll just want to go through a quick belay test to make sure you’re good to go belaying those who are.

For those aspiring to lead, we will try our best to coach you through the process  throughout the week with the aim of you learning to do so safely. 

We generally have a wide range of ages at our retreats. The average tends to fall anywhere between the ages of 26 to 45. But we have had quite a few women in their 60's join as well. It really is up to the attitude and physical ability of the participant.

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Because alpine climbing can only safely be done in small groups, this trip will be much smaller than some of our others. If the trip sells out, we will have 10 climbers and 5 guides. 

Our trips are also made up of 90% women. 

Men are perfectly welcome, but they tend to be outnumbered, making even these mixed gender trips a very woman-centric space. Our guide team will also predominantly be made up of women, though we promise Brian is also the best. 

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We aren't experts in this area as this is not the lived experience of our current instructor team. But we want you here and we are committed to making your experience a positive one. 

If you can: 

• Hike three miles over varied terrain while carrying a 15 lb backpack
• Do 20 squats 
• Have good balance 
• And maintain a positive attitude 

CLIMBING IS FOR YOU!

Currently the most limiting factor is the ability to fit into a harness. We have harnesses that can accommodate up to a 56inch waist. We are looking into getting a fleet of fully adjustable harnesses before next season starts. 

If you want to learn more from plus sized climbers I highly recommend looking into Climb Big. Climb Big is an organization with a mission to "Make climbing more accessible for fat folx."

We know you love your fur babies, but unfortunately we cannot allow pets on any of our group trips or clinics. 

Yes we have two types of payment options. Please visit our Payment Plan page for more information.

Good question. Let's start with the similarities. Both are world-class climbing destinations, and with very similar styles of rock and movement. They both cater to climbers of all abilities, and are both in staggeringly beautiful settings that are hard to compare. They're also both dreamy, and of course they're both in Greece.

The three main differences are probably in the feel of the towns, the food, and the ease of getting there.

Leonidio is gaining popularity as a climbing destination, but is still a small, relatively quiet village and really feels like an authentic experience of being in Greece. Most cafes and shops are filled with locals, and it's not uncommon to feel like you're getting a very undiluted taste of Greek life. Kalymnos, on the other hand (and more specifically the village of Massouri, where we'll be staying), is an international climber's hub that's been a thing for a long time. As a result, it feels a little more touristy, and as Massouri is mostly a climber's town, you won't likely find yourself the only visitor in any setting. You'll still get a taste of Greece in either and you'll still find plenty of climbers in both, they're just different.

The food is also a bit different in each place. Like a lot of countries in Europe, a lot of dishes are highly regional, so there are certainly some things you'll find in one and not the other. More importantly though, is the effect that tourism has had on shaping the food in each place. In Leonidio, the food tends to be pretty simple and very little of it isn't Greek. It's delicious too, with some of the best eggplant dishes we've ever had, as well as incredible local olives, oranges, cheeses, seafood and local produce. The bakery outside our hotel is also outstanding. What it doesn't have a lot of is fancy restaurants. The breakfasts are amazing and we'll plan on going out together for some really nice meals, some of which will be quite elegant, but a lot are pretty rustic in their charm. Kalymnos, once again, is a little more cosmopolitan in its food offerings. The seafood and Greek food are still incredible, the local Kalymnian Mermezeli salad is to die for, and the locals are magicians when it comes to octopus and squid. Upscale dining options abound there though, and as a result food and drink prices can also vary a lot more in than in Leonidio. That's why we've decided only to include welcome and farewell dinners in Kalymnos, and to let you decide whether you'd like to dine on a budget the rest of the time or go big and splurge.

Lastly, there's the matter of getting there. Leonidio is, we have to admit, a lot easier. On the Leonidio retreat all you have to do is get yourself to the hotel in Athens and after that you won't have to plan a thing. Kalymnos is a little different. Since there are so many options for how to get there (see the FAQ on the Kalymnos page for details), we're going to let you make that choice for yourself. You get yourself to the island and we'll see you there; the rest is up to you. That means that if you're working with a shorter time window, Leonidio is probably a better fit since lining up flights to Athens is easy, but trying to nail the flight and ferry sequence to Kalymnos with no room for error is probably not the vacation anybody needs.

And because nobody is going to be able to resist asking which is better, the answer is neither - they're both incredible!