Tree-ring series from living trees near the timberline or timbers buried in the surroundings are exceptionally valuable both for climate reconstruction and investigations of the consequences of climate change to ecosystems. This paper is a critical assessment of the past and potential contributions of dendroecology and dendroclimatology in mountain environments. Problems addressed are the spatial variability of both climate and tree sites, the temporal variability of ecological growth conditions and the reconstruction of signals other than high frequency ones. A synoptic approach appears to be the only way to take into account both the spatial and temporal variability of tree-growth, allowing for a better comparison of spatial climatological patterns with spatial growth patterns.