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

Final Fontainebleau

Well after three weeks at Font we are mentally and physically drained. There's so much climbing it's easy to be overwhelmed and we are finally throwing in the towel. There are tons of climbs that we would have loved to finish, but when you can barely raise your arms above your head it's just time to go. Supposedly it's going to rain tomorrow so we figure that's a good time to head East toward the Alps. We're planning to check out Switzerland and plan to be in Magic Wood (a very famous granite bouldering area) by the end of the weekend. Hopefully by then our muscles and minds will have rejuvenated themselves and our psych will be restored. The ferns are starting to change to brown, a good indication that autumn will be replaced by winter soon!

Since our last post a couple of great projects have gone down. Cassie finished the superb Marie Rose (6a). It's quite famous since it was the first 6a (done in 1946). It's pretty incredible that it was climbed so long ago because let me tell you it's not like most people just walk up this climb. During the 3 days we spent on it I saw one other person climb it out of at least a dozen people trying. The top part is the crux and many many people fell off that last move. Cassie had it dialed after the first day, but it took many tries for her to get past the crux. The hands and feet are both quite poor and require much technical footwork and balance to succeed.



La Marie Rose 6a

  
She also finished La Coquille (6c). It's a much steeper climb (overhanging) than Marie Rose, and has a huge move off a high foot to a small right hand. The move took much effort by both of us to succeed and we were both psyched on it. Really amazing climb and outstanding rock. Each move is unique and difficult.



La Coquille - the awkward and powerful start

 

La Coquille - the desperate crux throw


A few days ago I finished a project that I was psyched on called La Oblique (7a). It was the only 7a of the trip to Font and wow did it tax me. 7a appears to be a grade here that is quite difficult to break into. I tried probably about a dozen or so 7a climbs and this was the only one that felt doable to me. It's a sit start that goes to a dyno and a mantle finish. The slopers at the end are pretty terrible.


Matt's "Try Hard" face at the end of La Oblique



The fine grained sandstone



an orange circuit warmup at Franchard Isatis - Haute Plaines



Fontainebleau Part Deux

 Well we've been steadily chipping away at the areas here in Fontainebleau. It's incredible that we've climbed at a different area every day for the last 2 weeks and we still haven't made it to some major areas. We've been climbing 2 days on 1 day off, but after 10 days of that we've started feeling some aches and pains so we're backing off a bit.

Concept 7a



the castle and river 200 yards from our camp.

We moved camp from La Musardiere to Les Pres because Les Pres was half the price. It's also within walking distance of a great little town on a river that has a 900 year old castle! Plus there's a little bakery with great fresh baguettes and pastries.

Baguette

We've made it to the Bas Cuvier area where we climbed with some brits that were quite a lot of fun (both of their names were Tom) and had a great day. It's excellent to get more spotters and just the comraderie of bouldering is better with more people. We tried la Marie Rose, which has to be one of the most frustrating problems ever. Very balancy and technical (Cassie's style-she came close) and is rated a Font 6a (easy V3, yeah right!), it's incredible that it was climbed something like 60 years ago. We both gave up on it, but vowed to come back. I tried La Joker (7a) and got completely humbled. Cassie sent Le Trou Simon (6a) and we all tried to get on the send train but got spanked. After that I did a sweet double dyno that I can't even find in the book, but watched some other guys try it. It's an all points off dyno from an undercling to two slopers. Sick!!!

Double Dyno 6c?

We went to Francard Isatis and checked out the blue circuit as well as some red climbs. The rock was excellent and we had a good day. One really really good problem was Le Surplomb Statique (6a+) which was an incredible climb. Great movement and fun. According to the font grades it's only a hard V3!!!! Everything here feels much harder than the grades they give it.

Le Surplomb Statique (6a+)

Slopers anyone?

On Sunday we tried to go to Versailles. We had everything packed, woke up early and drove straight to the train station. We made it to the palace at about 11am, and were shocked to see that the line was like a mile long. I'm not kidding, we looked and thought we were seeing 3 separate lines and then realized it was one long twisting snake of a line. We opted to keep our tickets till December and go back just before we leave for the US. We figured we would have been waiting in line for at least two hours. I suppose that's what you get going to the most popular tourist attraction in the country. So, we walked around the Luxemberg gardens, checked out the Pantheon, walked through the Latin Quarter and went to the monument to the Bastille. We had a great day just walking around Paris. It's a city that is meant for walking and riding bikes. Everything is much more friendly than NYC or other US cities. it's a place that you can stroll for hours without getting bored.

 





  Yesterday we checked out Apremont. It was a cool area, though stuff was pretty high and with only one pad and spotter it was a bit stiff for us. The temps lately have been very hot for good bouldering at around 80 degrees and it isn't expected to cool off until next Tuesday (which was about when we were planning to leave). We'll see if that happens as we're hoping to start making projects out of the hard problems and see what we can send. 80 is way too hot, next Wednesday they're saying 63. That's much better.

the USA - in France...