It was time for a summer road trip and Ari and I rented a car and headed South to the expensive lands of the Swiss.
Thursday
We drove to Ticino where they’d accidentally left the heating on. We camped near the river not too far from Ponte Brolla in a camping ground I’ve stayed at a couple of times in the past. It was horrendously overpriced at just under 2 EUR/degree centigrade. After pitching the tent we headed down to the river to cool down from the 30 something degrees heat.
Friday
We thought we might beat the temperatures by going high. This didn’t work out exactly as planned but we did manage to get in a couple of pitches before bailing.
We drove into the hills. It was a little cooler than in the valley but still pretty warm. We found our way to the crag named Ove tornar desio by following the stone cairns up the dry stream bed and then taking a left through the trees. We’d both been there once before in 2019 by less extreme temperatures (during a more sensible autumn trip). We started an easy three pitch route. The climbing was typical of Ticino, with friction being the name of the game. I lead the first pitch and emerged out of the shade of the trees to a slab positioned perfectly to soak up maximum energy from the sun’s rays. It was almost too hot to touch and I was happy to reach the anchor bolts. Ari followed up and then climbed past into some shade and then beyond to next anchor. We called it quits once I arrived and abseiled back down to the ground before retreating to the river at the campsite in the valley below.
Saturday
We thought we’d be clever and try and leave a little earlier and pick a wall that would not catch the sun until the afternoon. Unfortunately we did neither and we spent just a couple of minutes at the crag before turning around again. We then decided to swim at the river but couldn’t find any shade so I went for a quick dip and then we drove up the road looking for a waterfall that we’d spotted on the map. It turned out to be a nice find. We walked into the forest from the road and came across a nice pool below a waterfall. It was perfect for swimming and we did this for a while before having a picnic lunch. Later we drove further up the valley to find another crag but failed. We did however find another river with icey cold water to cool us down a little. Finally we drove back to the same crag we’d visited in the morning. The sun had now left the rock and although the air temperature was still high the rock was cool enough to climb on. We did Onyx, an easy five pitch route. I lead the first two pitches in one, Ari the next pitch, and then I lead the last two in one. Only the very last pitch felt like real climbing. The rest felt more like hiking. Still it was quite nice. Ari abseiled first managing to get down to the side of the rock in one 60m rope length.
Sunday
We left Ticino in the morning and drove the busy road that runs along the side of Lake Maggiore. We were heading to the Aosta Valley in Italy but had planned a stop along the way at a ferrata that runs along the inside of a canyon. It was another 30+ degree day and I was happy to jump in the river at the start of the ferrata. The route was the Ferrata dell’Infernone. We followed the river upstream, sometimes walking, sometimes scrambling up sections with steel rope. We crossed on a wire bridge with a great view of a waterfall. After the first section we stopped at a refugio for a cold drink after being tricked by signage indicating that the ferrata route went past the refugio. It didn’t of course but they surely get some good business out of their cunning redirection of foot traffic.
We continued up the river stopping again with a couple of Italian women we’d been following for a swim in a cold pool with a waterfall at one side. Continuing again the canyon closed in a little and we had great views down into green water below us as we clipped and climbed our way along the side. After a third bridge we left the canyon and climbed out to the path that took us back to the village where we’d left the car.
We drove the remaining way to our apartment in the Aosta Valley arriving hot and sweaty in the early evening.
Monday
To avoid the worst of the heat we drove up into the hills to a regional park. It was a little cooler and we set off to do the Ferrata Covarey. It took us a while to find it as the signage was almost non-existent, just some faded signs near the car park mentioning the route. We found a track online though and navigated to the start. The ferrata was supposed to be easy with a couple of wooden ladders for something different but there were no wooden ladders to be seen. Instead there was a long ladder of sorts constructed from steel cable. This proved a little difficult to climb as it wobbled around a lot. The next sections proved much harder than I’d expected. They were all quite doable but not super easy. Unlike ferratas in Austria where the cable is taught and there are plenty of metal stakes for your feet we had to use the rock much more. There were also bolts in places with suspicious bits of cord and steel cable loops, which we decided after finishing must have been attachments for the wooden ladder.
We ate lunch on a perfect kept lawn in front of a tidy stone house, one of a handful surrounding a church inside the park and then went for a little stroll for a while.
Tuesday
I went for a run in the hills for an hour in the morning before the heat arrived. The route took me steeply up into the hills through the forest. I stopped at a small grassy alp with a view out to bigger mountains in the distance before heading back down by another track to form a loop.
In the afternoon we went canyoning with a commercial guide. We didn’t have our own canyoning gear with us or Craig to lead the way so it was pay a guide or nothing. Given that it was very hot again we decided a guide would be ok. We chose a canyon in the same area where we’d been yesterday, the Chalamy canyon. It begins from the river that flows out of the regional park where we’d done the ferrata. We had a short walk up the true right of the river before abseiling down 20 metres or so into the river. When I say abseiling, the guide lowered us down into the river. We were quite a big group at about 10 people, but it was just us and an extended family from the Netherlands. The canyon was quite enjoyable. The water was quite warm. We did a number of slides and jumps including a 10 metre one near the end of the canyon, which was quite exciting.
Wednesday
It rained so we didn’t do too much.
Thursday
We drove to Switzerland to Col du Pillon near Les Diabrelets where Leonie and I used to run the Humanitrail. I ran up to the SAC hut at the middle station of the gondola and Ari took the berg-bahn up. She transported my large pack full of climbing gear and our ferrata equipment plus a bit of food. The day was mostly gone by the time we were at the hut and so we just spent the evening talking to the friendly hut warden and checking out the view.
Friday
We went for a walk up to the very touristy Glacier3000 area and walked around on the slowly disappearing glacier for a bit. We then headed back down to the hut. The sun vanished on the way down and it became cloudy and grey. We geared up to do the ferrata that extends around the cliffs below the hut (Ferrata de la Tête aux Chamois). I’d seen the ferrata and the hut years ago with Leonie and had though it would be nice to stay there one day and do the ferrata. It was quite airy feeling as the cliff sits far above the valley and you feel quite exposed. Ari didn’t like the feeling too much and was keen to get it finished. I enjoyed it and got some nice pics along the way.
Saturday
It rained through the night and was still wet in the morning. We decided to try and walk down from the hut anyway and we took my big bag to the lift. The friendly staff took it off our hands and sent it down the mountain. We put our harnesses on for the first part of the descent which is a bit of a scramble with a steel rope for protection. We picked our way down and walked down the steep trail back to the gondola. I arrived first and checked out the via ferrata just below Col du Pillon (via ferrata de la Cascade du dar). The cliff looked like it was overhanging enough to keep the ferrata mostly dry. After another patch of rain came and passed we walked down and started the ferrata. I shoes were wet and muddy and they slid around on the metal stakes in the rock. It was good fun although even the A sections felt quite hard and we had to be very careful with foot placement.
We drove back to Lindau in the evening arriving just in time for takeaways at the Vina Haus restaurant across from the apartment.
