UKC

Going to get the train over next summer/hire a car and go to the Aiguilles Rouges.

Where's the best base for a group of walker/mountaineers/climbers that want to do relatively easy  routes (PD/AD mixed; IV-V+; 6a on bolts kind of thing) and like the idea of the cable car doing some of the donkey work in the mornings?  Also, best guidebook for those kind of routes?

Too big and scary (and melty and loose) these days to go to Cham and the MB massif on the other side

Thanks!

The Aiguilles Rouges go all the way (on the Cham side) from Les Houches to Finhaut, so you actually have a lot of choice. And it is max an hour from Les Houches to the Emosson dam, so the travel times are not huge.

I'd be tempted to stay somewhere between Les Praz (at the bottom of the Flegere lift) and Le Buet. You will be at the heart of the Aiguilles Rouges, with easy lift access at Flegere. You will also be well placed for the Le Tour lifts to access the Albert Premiere hut and Aiguille du Tour area on the other side. The trains are excellent so you don't need a car (although Emosson is a bit harder to reach as you have to then use a train+bus to get up to the dam).

Guidebooks is very dependent on what you want to do. The Cham valley guide has very limited Aiguilles Rouges stuff. Piola is excellent (but 2 vols so pricier) but it does cover all the routes and areas - and there are a lot of them. Rockfax is surprisingly good, but is a whole area guide so has an awful lot of high mountain stuff that you want to avoid, so your route choice will be limited. If forced to chose,  I would go with Piola as you will be spoiled for choice and can pick and chose whether you want solitude or busier classics.

Hope you have a brilliant time!

The SE ridge of the index is always a good shout, the whole route is covered in pegs and easy climbing but with some fantastic views and a slightly more complex descent. Crochues traverse is pretty similar too 

Further away from the lifts the quieter it gets. We had every route on the east side of the range to ourselves last time we were there.

Piola book is good.

Arete Sud, Aiguille de la Perseverance is lovely.  Ignore the grade in the log book section which says it is TD, it is AD with a 4C crux.  Abseil off the top to the col with the Aiguille de la Chamois and then climb up that at a similar if not slightly easier grade to a lovely summit.  Scramble back down the west side.  

You can access it from the Col de Montets or the Index, probably similar.  The hike to the bottom of the A d l P is a bit steep and scree like but apart from that it is a fantastic day out.

The Chapelle de la Gliere os a fabulous route, from the Index lift. Great rock and great situations.

Barbeg

Thanks for great info everyone 

Roughly what dates are you considering (i.e. are you sure the uplift will be operating)?

July next year

ah, plenty of lifts.

Don't give up on the MB side entirely. You could take the train from Cham to Montenvers and do the Fretes de Charmoz ridge. PD on v solid rock. Bit harder and more interesting than Aiguilles Crochues traverse. Amazing views - Mer de Glace/Leschaux, Dru/Aiguille Verte etc. Probably have it to yourselves. 

The station for Montenvers is next to the Chamonix mainline station , or park nearby at Les Planards. 

Topo on Camptocamp and good info on UKC. 

Camptocamp can be an excellent "guidebook". And Schweiz West Plaisir has reasonable coverage of the bits of France you can get to easily from Switzerland, including the high crags around Cham.