Chamonix and Magic Wood

After leaving Fontainebleau we headed to Chamonix to check out the French alps and see Mt Blanc (a famous mountain). We left on a thursday because rain was predicted and rain it did. We drove through the rain and ended up camping in the rain for about 4 days. Much time was spent in the car watching movies, drinking wine, discovering that our tent leaked, and heading into Chamonix for the free wifi. The weather was quite cold with temps near freezing at night. It snowed for a bit at camp, and a lot in the mountains. Once in a while the clouds would part and allow us to see the peaks and they were quite spectacular. By Tuesday the weather had improved considerably and we were able to hike on a few trails and enjoy the views. Many cable cars exist in the area and most people pay the 50 euro price to get higher onto the mountains and then hike from there. Being on a tight budget means we chose not to do those more expensive trips. We would have loved going to the top of the Aguille du Midi which was a spectacular view from camp and is pictured above.

waiting out the rain. very exciting stuff.

free internet at the tourism office

the wonderful french bakeries. this one was in Chamonix

another rest day activity - laundry...

We left Chamonix after about 5 days of exploration and headed to the Matterhorn (a famous Swiss peak) only to realize that there was a steep charge to take a train into Zermatt and that you can't see the mountain until you get to Zermatt. Being a huge tourist draw has caused the town to ban cars and force tourists to take a train or hike. The hike would have been okay but we didn't give ourselves enough time to do it and so we left without seeing it.
We decided to move on to Interlaken Switzerland to see other peaks that were supposed to be some of the best in the alps, but were thwarted again by army officers who had closed the only road because of huge amounts of rain. We chose to head instead to the east to Magic Woods and start bouldering again. this path took us through Northern Italy for a few miles, and wow was that some of the craziest mountain driving we've ever done. This was on a local road since the main highways all have steep tolls here which we've been avoiding. It's slower to get around and takes us through a lot of small villages, but we have the time and mostly have been enjoying the experience. The Italians have quite narrow mountain roads (on the sides of sheer cliffs) with drivers that love driving in the center of the lanes and only get out of your way in time to avoid head on collisions. It was probably the most intense driving I've ever done and we were happy to find a campsite in Locarno Switzerland. The site was crazy expensive at 36 francs (basically 40 dollars) and even charged another franc for a 5 minute shower! Needless to say we wasted no time leaving there in the morning to finish our drive to Magic Woods.We drove through the day and crossed San Barandino Pass. The height of the pass is about 2000 meters (6000 feet) and we were not totally surprised to see a bit of snow at the top. This made us a bit nervous because we knew we had to go back over the pass to get back to Italy and the coast.

the crazy Swiss switchbacks on the way up San Berandino Pass 

Magic Woods campground

hiking across the river to the climbs at Magic Woods.

We got to Magic Woods that afternoon and arrived to find the rocks wet from rain so we didn't climb that day, but got setup in camp. The next few days we spent exploring the woods, finding boulders, and climbing. We didn't have a guidebook and instead had a printout with an overview map. The map has boulders depicted as drawings and numbers marking the climbs. This made it quite difficult to get oriented, and it was even harder given that the boulders are located on a steep hillside covered in wet moss and mud, hiking around was strenuous and we ditched our gear to explore as quickly as possible. We weren't terribly impressed with the first two areas we found though we did find climbs we wanted to try and did a few small climbs. The following day a lot more people arrived at camp and we met our new friends Seamus and Hannah. They are from New Zealand and were living in Britain for the last couple of years. They've done a ton of traveling and we were eager to hear their stories and pic their brains about it. We spent the next few days completely exploring the forest and climbing together. The landings at Magic Woods leave a lot to be desired so having extra spotters and a huge pad helped immensely with our confidence. Plus Hannah and Seamus are great to hang out with.

lunch in Magic Woods with New Zealand friends - Hannah and Seamus

a fun warmup

a great 6b. We both did this climb and loved it. one of the best in the woods.

We did our hardest climbs those days with Cassie sending multiple 6c's and I got a couple of 7a's and even a supposed 7b (V7) called James Bong (though that grade is a subject of much debate on the internet). We found that we weren't as psyched on Magic Woods as we had expected. The climbs there are more intense undertakings than we had thought and required a good bit of courage and many pads to protect. Cassie and I are pretty much wimps when it comes to falls and we spent a good deal of time complaining about the landings and wishing we could find more problems that suited us. That being said, the friction there was the best I've even seen. The grains of the stone and the 40 degree temps allowed us to stick onto slopers with ease. It was some of the best granite climbing we've done. It made Squamish and Little Cottonwood seem very slick in comparison. There are tons of 8a and harder climbs which are immense and inspiring but are much harder than we can do, and so for us, don't contribute to the quality of the place.

Cassie on a crimpy 7a

a crazy hard 6c arete. didn't finish this one. 

With snow predicted for Wednesday we decided to leave Magic Woods ahead of schedule. We opted to head to two bordering areas many European climbers had talked about. Located in southern Switzerland, Cresciano and Chironico are famous bordering areas that we had never heard of before we got here. They have an added benefit of being located at an elevation of 300m instead of Magic Woods which is at 1200m. The weather here is warmer and drier than Magic Woods. We spent our first day exploring both areas and just spent our first full day on the stones at Cresciano. It was excellent. We'll plan on doing another blog post recaping our time here in the next few days.

There are a ton more pictures that we didn't put into this post. Click here to get to them
Chamonix-Magic Wood Pictures