We left magic wood with the threat of a snowstorm and just barely made it back over the 2000m san bernadino pass before the snow hit. We were very happy to make it safely down to the valley below where we rejoined our friends from New Zealand for some excellent granite bouldering at Cresciano and Chironico. Both areas are located in southern Switzerland in the Ticino region where Italian is the main language.
We stayed at the La Finca campground which was walking distance to the Cresciano boulders. We thought it was going to be an easy 5 minute walk to the boulders, but our orientation shifted when we asked for directions and were directed way, way up the hillside. We all had thought the boulders were down in the valley along the river. We walked up (and up) the very narrow winding road (cursing the other climbers who had driven up and were obviously free camping although there were signs explicitly saying not to and we had read that the access agreement with the village was a little tenuous due to this) through the old village of Cresciano into a chestnut forest filled with granite and/or gneiss boulders. We had photographed an Italian and a German guidebook which was some help but also quite confusing as we tried to decide if the hand drawn block stating "flugen mit unterkling" was the climb we were looking at or not. We climbed two days at each area and were able to find many great problems and know that there were many more areas we didn't even get to. The scene at each was beautiful, walking through old villages with views of the valley below and the alps above. Although we could have stayed longer, a few days of rain were predicted so we parted ways and headed for Finale Ligure Italy. Hannah and Seamus began making their way back to England
We arrived in Finale which looks like it has some great climbing and is one of the few areas with a free (although disgusting) campsite, but decided not to stay or climb since more bad weather was coming and we didn't have a guidebook. We drove along the Mediterranean coast which was quite beautiful and made it to Nice France where we camped. Heavy rain was predicted for the night. The receptionist told us it was only the 12th day of rain they had all year, but we thought it rained enough for at least a week. We decided to save our time to relax on the beach for when it was sunny, so we made our way through the Verdon Gorge (in a ridiculously heavy rainstorm) to Buoux where we are now.
Buoux is a famous climbing area, one of the first hard sport climbing areas in France. It's a beautiful sandstone/limestone cliff with amazing pockets. Yesterday I climbed at the Styx wall which is where Lynn Hill (an ultra-famous US climber) almost died when she fell into the trees from the top after forgetting to fully tie into the rope. We checked knots and harnesses a few extra times before getting on. The routes were quite amazing, but after a few months of only bouldering, my endurance and head were not quite up to the length of the routes or the distance between the bolts. But we can certainly see why Buoux was and still is such a famous climbing area. We'll probably stay here until Wednesday when we will make our way to Alberracin, Spain for what looks like amazing sandstone bouldering.
For now we are really enjoying the town of Apt which we walk to from the campsite. It has amazing chocolate and candy shops, bakeries, cheese shops, butchers, and a great Saturday market. Most of the shops are in a walking-only area with is great for people watching and window shopping. Today we are planning to go to a chocolate festival at an abbey in a nearby village. We are hoping for some free samples!
We have a lot of new climbing, town, and food pics, but will have to wait to post those until we have access to a computer again.
We stayed at the La Finca campground which was walking distance to the Cresciano boulders. We thought it was going to be an easy 5 minute walk to the boulders, but our orientation shifted when we asked for directions and were directed way, way up the hillside. We all had thought the boulders were down in the valley along the river. We walked up (and up) the very narrow winding road (cursing the other climbers who had driven up and were obviously free camping although there were signs explicitly saying not to and we had read that the access agreement with the village was a little tenuous due to this) through the old village of Cresciano into a chestnut forest filled with granite and/or gneiss boulders. We had photographed an Italian and a German guidebook which was some help but also quite confusing as we tried to decide if the hand drawn block stating "flugen mit unterkling" was the climb we were looking at or not. We climbed two days at each area and were able to find many great problems and know that there were many more areas we didn't even get to. The scene at each was beautiful, walking through old villages with views of the valley below and the alps above. Although we could have stayed longer, a few days of rain were predicted so we parted ways and headed for Finale Ligure Italy. Hannah and Seamus began making their way back to England
We arrived in Finale which looks like it has some great climbing and is one of the few areas with a free (although disgusting) campsite, but decided not to stay or climb since more bad weather was coming and we didn't have a guidebook. We drove along the Mediterranean coast which was quite beautiful and made it to Nice France where we camped. Heavy rain was predicted for the night. The receptionist told us it was only the 12th day of rain they had all year, but we thought it rained enough for at least a week. We decided to save our time to relax on the beach for when it was sunny, so we made our way through the Verdon Gorge (in a ridiculously heavy rainstorm) to Buoux where we are now.
Buoux is a famous climbing area, one of the first hard sport climbing areas in France. It's a beautiful sandstone/limestone cliff with amazing pockets. Yesterday I climbed at the Styx wall which is where Lynn Hill (an ultra-famous US climber) almost died when she fell into the trees from the top after forgetting to fully tie into the rope. We checked knots and harnesses a few extra times before getting on. The routes were quite amazing, but after a few months of only bouldering, my endurance and head were not quite up to the length of the routes or the distance between the bolts. But we can certainly see why Buoux was and still is such a famous climbing area. We'll probably stay here until Wednesday when we will make our way to Alberracin, Spain for what looks like amazing sandstone bouldering. For now we are really enjoying the town of Apt which we walk to from the campsite. It has amazing chocolate and candy shops, bakeries, cheese shops, butchers, and a great Saturday market. Most of the shops are in a walking-only area with is great for people watching and window shopping. Today we are planning to go to a chocolate festival at an abbey in a nearby village. We are hoping for some free samples!
We have a lot of new climbing, town, and food pics, but will have to wait to post those until we have access to a computer again.
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