Chironico

So with a grand total of 4 days climbing in Magic Woods before we looked at the weather report which was full of rain, we set off to Chironico also in Switzerland. This place usually stays a bit cooler than everywhere else as it’s higher. We were wrong! It was boiling usually getting to about 35’ in the day. The climbing became frustrating because of the heat and our skin was feeling the consequences.

We got some good things done and it was nice to be back there but we had to leave with projects still to complete as we couldn’t help thinking we could be doing better else-where. Next was to try Gotthard and Susten Pass in higher ground, hopefully with cooler temperatures. We arrived to rain. Our luck felt like it was starting to run out. However we sat tight for a day and we were given most of a day to climb with only brief showers. The scenery of the susten pass boulders is amazing if you’re lucky enough to get a clear day.

While walking up the valley, you’re surrounded by friendly sheep, a massive waterfall in the corner, a random very old farmer who looked like he should be at home looking after himself instead of his sheep and some beavers. In the one day we had, we both managed another 8a. This is Simon’s first so he was rather content with himself. Luckily it suited both our styles and it was dispatched with-in a couple of hours. Sadly we didn’t get given another chance to return to the valley, so we uped and off again.

We decided to change the scenery and a border change. Italy this time. We picked a place we had never heard of before and were going to give it a chance. We read some reviews on the internet and set off. We arrived at the field that the boulders were in, just off the main road into a small village. I let out a deep sigh. It was rubbish! In fact so insignificant I can’t even remember the name and we’ve deleted the topo off the laptop. Four or five boulders in a field with lines crammed into them so in the topo looked like there were loads of problems to do. We looked around. The quality was even worse closer up. We got straight back in the van and left. Spirits running low we headed for France. Annot. Sandstone bouldering, up and coming area and from the reviews this place couldn’t be bad! Have a guess… Scattered sandstone boulders in the trees. I was getting excited and couldn’t wait to get out the van and finally climb something.

Ok a little hot but I didn’t care. We threw the under the first boulder we found, crammed our shoes on and pulled on. Well, tried. The sandstone wasn’t hard packed. It fell off as you touched it. The reviews mentioned it being a bit unclean but not this loose! I was starting to doubt whether we’ll ever climb again this year! It was nice to attempt to boulder and we managed to top out on some of the boulders but the rock was unsafely poor. Heads hanging low yet again we vacated. Verdon here we come.

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