The weather in Salzkammergut was looking terrible which was a problem for Ari and I because we’d been planning to go there. Instead we changed our plans last minute and drove South to Ticino in Switzerland, where we’d been a year earlier.
Day 1 via Ferrata San Salvadore
We drove South out of the torrential rain we’d been having in Lindau and into the sunshine in Ticino. It was a moderate temperature, not too hot, not too cold. After unloading at our accommodation halfway between Lugano and Locarno we made a late decision to drive to Lugano to do the via Ferrara that I’d done once before in 2017(?) while mum was visiting. Unfortunately that trip never made it to the blog due to a ransomware attack that encrypted the blog entry!
We didn’t arrive in Lugano until around 7pm and we decided to take the cable car to the middle station to speed things up. The guy selling us the tickets gave us an extra special friendly price and for just 5CHF per person we were heading up the hill. From the middle station it was a 45 minute-ish walk to the start up a small track.
The description for the klettersteig had hard sounding words but it wasn’t so difficult. It was quite windy as we started up the rock clipping into the steel cable as it ascended steeply. The sun vanished behind a cloud and it seemed like it would imminently be getting dark. We clipped and climbed our way up the rock. Near the top the sun dipped back out below the cloud before sinking into more grey mirk on the horizon.
From the top of the Ferrata we joined the main track and walked up to the summit. It was dusk now and we were alone at the top. We took photos of the lakes below us and walked up to the viewpoint on the roof of the small church. Mum and I had also been here in 2017. The moon was out and there was still colour in the sky.
We walked back down with our headlamps casting a weak red light until it became too dark and we switched on the brighter white LEDs. It felt like a long way back down and as we reached the middle station we could hear loud explosions. A little bit further down and we were standing with a group of other people watching a huge firework show over the lake. It was quite impressive and went on for at least 20 minutes, maybe half an hour.
We continued down and after a small navigational blunder that saw us needlessly climb back up a series of steps we found our way back to the car. We cruised back to our apartment arriving around midnight. A very nice evening.
Day 2 – Evening climbing
We’d intended to do a multi pitch climb in Ponte Brolla but unsurprisingly parking was an issue. It was very hot and there were people spread along the river banks. Instead we drove to the waterfall that we’d visited last year and hung out there for a bit. As the afternoon turned to evening we drove back to one of the climbing areas where we’d been last year. It was another late start and after parking at 6pm we lugged our climbing gear over the bridge and out to the crag.
We started up a climb before abandoning it and leaving a quick draw hanging in the rock. Instead we tried an easier route to the left. It was four pitches and the climbing was the typical featureless slabs you find in the area. Ari lead the first pitch, and then the second, and then the third. My head wasn’t in it and I lead the last very easy pitch to the top.
I followed Ari up the slabby grippy pitches. Some people watched us from the old stone apartments amongst the trees in the field below. By the time I lead my pitch it was dusk and I hunted around for abseil rings at the top of the climb discovering, in the process, that it was possible to walk off the back to a steep hiking trail that descended through a deep person-sized groove between the cliffs we’d climbed and the taller ones ascending further up the mountain.
We decided to walk off rather than faffing around with abseiling in the dark. I belayed Ari up and she belayed me across, probably unnecessarily, to the hiking track. With our headlamps on, we picked our way back down the track to the base of the cliff. After rescuing the remaining quick draw we walked back to the car in the light of a big moon with our climbing gear clinking on our harnesses.
Day 3 – climbing in the hills
We had another late start and drove up into the hills to a climbing area where we’d been last year. It had been far too hot last year and we’d bailed after just a couple of pitches. This year it was looking promising. It was hot but not extreme. The same place where we’d parked last year was free again and Ari expertly maneuvered the large rental car into the small space on the side of the road.
We started up the track next to the dry river, this year marked by a single climbing shoe at the bottom. Further on, the track was marked with cairns (presumably they’d run out of shoes) and after what seemed like too long the name of the climbing area was painted on a large rock in front of us. We crossed the dry river and a few minutes later arrived below a series of slabby faces with chestnut trees at the bottom. We sat amongst the trees and ate while deciding which climb to do.
Starting up a climb on the left, Ari lead the first pitch, a 5a. It was all ok and I climbed up to meet her at the anchor at a large flat spot perfect for belaying from. I lead the following pitch, a 4c. It wasn’t really too difficult, just that the spacing between bolts was quite large and it was all friction climbing so for most of the pitch I had nothing real to hold on to. I belayed Ari up to my much less luxurious anchor and then she lead the following 5b.
The sun made an exit and the climb was in shadow, which was nice. The rock remained warm and the valley down to the lake was still in the sun. We decided to bail rather than doing the last 5a pitch and set up to abseil. In two rope lengths we were back down on the ground. We packed up and headed back.
Day 4 – Tre Signori ferrata
Another suitably late start and we were waiting for a gondola up into the hills. After a false start where we’d realised we’d (meaning me) bought tickets for the wrong time we found ourselves in a small six person cabin heading up above the forest into the hills. The plan for the day was to do a via ferrata. The tre Signori ferrata.
From the gondola station we walked further up into the hills through a forest of fir trees. We’d somehow forgotten to pack our feratta gloves so were going to use our supermarket bags as make shift gloves if the metal rope became too hard on our hands. It was hot again and the rock and cable were warm but still ok to touch. No supermarket bags required!
The ferrata was in good condition and someone had been extra excited about adding metal rungs as much of the ascent was on these creating a long ladder snaking up the rock. The ferrata split in two half way up and we took the easier route for no particular reason other than we’d been enjoying the chilled ascent.
We came to a funky bit along a thin knife-like ridge. Actually, it was not really along, rather it was up and the ridge was turned on its side and the rope went up one side of the knife’s blade. At the top of this section we descended to a saddle and then climbed steeply up again to the top of the route where the harder route also ended. We checked out the swing bridge at the top and then began walking back down.
It was a very nice evening and a little cooler now. We dawdled back through the fir tree forest and took the lift back down into the valley.
Day 5 – Climbing again
Another typically late start and we drove over to a nearby crag just 10 minutes from our apartment towards Bellinzona. The crag was a sport climbing spot with the typical slabs of very few features. The first climb we did was actually two pitches and we climbed it multi-pitch style. The second climb was the same and this took us to the second tier of the crag where we climbed another single pitch before descending down by hand line to another area. Ari did one more climb and then we were done for the day.
Day 6 -Verzsasca valley
I went for a short jog in the morning up into the hills near our apartment. It was a hot day and I sweated like crazy. In the late afternoon we drove up into the Verzsasca valley and sat by the river for a few hours.
Day 7 – Lugano boat trip
We drove to Lugano and took a boat to Gardria. I had done the same thing with mum some years ago and had good memories of it. We spent a couple of hours there swimming and lazing before walking back to Lugano along the coastal track. We drove to Italy near Lago di Lecco in the evening.
Day 8 – Climbing in Italy
It was a scorching day by the time we got out of our apartment nearing midday. The plan was a bit vague and we drove towards a climbing area hoping somehow that it would still be cool enough to go climbing. Of course it wasn’t. It was instead hot enough to be unpleasant. We grumpily decided to go for a short walk instead opting to head up towards the climbing area anyway.
We discovered that some of the crag was still in shade and found a couple of guys climbing there. We hatched a plan to go for lunch at the small restaurant we’d walked past on the side of the track and then try out the rock again. I picked up the climbing gear while Ari hung around waiting for a table and after a pretty tasty risotto and dessert we headed back towards the Civante crag.
It was still very hot but things seemed to be improving. The rock turned out to be excellent. It was much more interesting than the slab climbing in Ticino. There were real holds! We climbed five different climbs and at some point the rock was completely in the shade and it became very enjoyable.
From the top of the climbs we could see down to a lake below us, not lake Como but a smaller lake. Ari climbed one last climb as the light was fading from the sky and then we headed back down to the car and drove back along the messy Italian roads to our apartment.
Day 9 – Back to Lindau
The following day we drove back to Lindau stopping along the way at the castle on the way up San Bernardino pass.
