Some of the greatest icefalls in the world are in the Alpine arc from France through Switzerland, Austria,  Italy and Slovenia.

Versante Sud have now produced a modern English language guide to the wealth of steep cold playgrounds out there. As well as the usual photo-topos and text descriptions/directions the guide features profiles of some of the major pioneers such as Beat Kammerlander and  Patrick Gabarrou. Liberally scattered throughout the book are colour photos illustrating some of the routes, unlike Scotland clear bright cold weather seems the norm here.