The Envers des Aiguilles is the legendary granite climbing area of the Alps - if you like climbing exceptional granite, bathed in sun and with a stunning alpine view, you\'ll enjoy the Envers. The rock is almost universally good quality, with loose blocks on ledges being the only real objective danger. Many of the routes can be approached without stepping onto a glacier (other than the walking up the Mer de Glace on the approach to the hut) so climbing here is generally quite low stress by alpinism standards. Most of the pitches follow strong features so route finding is mainly quite intuitive, but the sheer size of the faces mean that a 30m pitch can look tiny on our photo-topos.
Virtually every route has bolted belays, equipped for abseil, so you need only carry one small day pack between two climbers and you can leave your mountain boots and other heavy kit at the foot of the routes. There are also bolts on the blanker sections so, although the majority of pitches are protected with trad gear (every route in this chapter requires a trad rack), there shouldn\'t be any big run-outs.
The area is served by an excellent hut - the Refuge de l\'Envers des Aiguilles - which even has its own sport crag, directly below the hut itself. It can be difficult to locate and differentiate the routes on the crag so ask the guardian for an up-to-date topo.
It is worth noting that the routes described here are only a sample of what is available and that there are routes on places like the South Face of the Fou that are major faces with some superb routes. The faces covered in this section also have many additional lines. If you want to explore the area further, then Michel Piola\'s excellent comprehensive \'Envers des Aiguilles\' guidebook is well worth buying.