[creek]

Im going to swiss for the first time to Cresiano, Ticino and Chironico area's i was wondering if anyone one has any problem recommendations for a 5"10 6c-7b+ climber

this is my first post so sorry if its in the wrong section

[Richie Crouch]

Harry spotter and Vol au vent were good at cresc and I really liked dr med dent and chads bulge in chironico. All around 7a to 7bish. You should get on grotte des soupirs in cresc too, it has big holds and basic moves, you my surprise yourself.

[Nibile]

Cresciano:
Hannibal Lecter, Voci dalla Cantina (sharp), Ci Credo o Non Ci Credo (AKA Slopey Traverse in Stonelove), Strusciamento Lento (dabby but beautiful), La Pioche (7c but basic), just to name a few.
Chironico (snow permitting):
what Rich said, Autopilot, everything at Souvenir's roof, Number One, Serre Moi Fort stand, Kill Bill (one move).

[Oldmanmatt]

So I'm unexpectedly heading to Cresc on Sat. But I'm in Como, can't find a topo or a mat (bought Anasazis and chalk (don't tell the wife)).
Don't suppose anyone has a topo on PDF they could mail me?
Or know if I can buy one locally. I understand there is a shop for pad rental at the bunkhouse, true?
Anyone know if they would be open on a Saturday morning?
Anyone, perchance, going to be there (or near) on Saturday.
I've borrowed a car so fairly flexible.
Not really looking forward to a session with my imaginary friend Fred, cos he's a grumpy sod, aren't you Fred?

Fred?

Are you there?

[Nibile]

You can buy th guide at the restaurant/bar in Chironico. Otherwise i think at that awful place called ristorante degli amici in cresciano or maybe at la finca still in cresh. Oh no, wait, for sure they have it at the 1001 bloc hostel in Cresciano just at the bottom of the road that leads to the boulders.

[saltbeef]

the saturday we were there was dead busy and there were a lot of friendly italian/swiss peeps about. there was even a johnny brown type character eager to attempt to demo every problem we looked at (unlike the real thing at stanage this one wore a fetching neckerchief and i don't think actually got to the top of anything)

to Creek good problems up to 7b+ at cristianov are boulette (I'm sketching!), la pioche, harry spotter, at chironico - monolith, doctor med dent, vitruvian man, lemon tree, cliques a claques and tomahawk (just remember not to fall off and break your ankle on the verdant green pasture below)
and if you make it to magic - jaques the picked a pickled pepper piper is a good 7a+ that gets 7c, and in the 7b/7b+/c area - schnee brett, piranja, hohrenrausch, and fool fighter

[Oldmanmatt]

Thanks guys!
I shall mostly be watching the clock for the next two days.
Clear blue skies, cold and dry for weeks...
Forecast to stay the same.

[ghisino]

cresciano problems worth a try:
the weird balancey 6c+ on the back of dreamtime
mediomen
frocio multiplo (a classic, but not everyone's taste)
the wave-like slabby mantle 6bish just before "il letamaio"
la pioche
the right exit of jungle book
backgammon
harry spotter (a tad morpho)
jeux de mains (7c slabby weirdness)
mary poppins (slabby, hard, slightly highball in a small subsector with few boulders.)

if you go to brione everything is a must but molonk (7c) and black mirror (6b+ highball) stand out in the mid grades.

[Oldmanmatt]

Well...

I was late getting away.

Didn't leave till 2pm.

For future ref. The hostel no longer has a climbing shop, so nowhere to rent a pad. They do still have the topos for Cresci and Chiro, though.

No mat, fading sun and pretty shitty landings for matless bouldering. I opted to make a detailed exploration and plan of attack...

You see, I bagged the car for tomorrow! YYFY!

The carpark in the village was empty, except a white van with UK plates; emblazoned with the words "Operation Beastmaker".

A plan began to form.

I looked at "Dream Time", but that is just not a a solo  project without ten or twelve mats and six months to play.

I looked at "The Dagger". Nice, but the mat problem again.

I was dreaming...

There was another problem, that caught my eye.

It looked hard.

Should I spend my time, ticking off a few easier problems?

I'm hoping to make this a more regular thing, since I'll be visiting Como fairly often...

I walked back down to the car.

And met a man called Greg.

Greg is working the route which caught my eye.

Greg is living in the white van.

Greg has mats...

So tomorrow, early, I shall drive north.

I shall forsake all those interesting 6C's, 7A's and pipe dreams.

And with Greg, I shall lay siege to  Hannibal Lecter.
 
I'm going outside. I may be some time...

[Richie Crouch]

Good to hear you met Greg, he's a top geezer! Say hello from Crouch and Laura. 

Good luck on Hannibal Lector, I thought it looked pretty desperate but maybe climbable compared to the start of extreme ironing 

[Nibile]

Good luck on Hannibal Lector, I thought it looked pretty desperate

What? Desperate? What Do you mean?

[Oldmanmatt]

Greg says hi.

Well, actually he said "Do you know Richie" and I said I knew the name...

But I didn't see the post until I got back.

So Hannibal didn't happen.

What did happen was a Welsh invasion...

Olly and Alex from DMM (At least I think Alex worked at DMM) along with Jo(?) from Beacon; join us and proceeded to make me feel very old and weak.

Somewhere around the top of the long, steep, hot walk in I realised I had left my water bottle in the car (right about the time I stopped to fill it up at the spring).

Feeling a bit self conscious at blagging water from the others I decided to offer to fill Greg's bottle back at the spring. So after warming up I set off back down to the spring.

And ended up going all the way back to the car to get my bottle.

By the time I got back up I was what is technically known as Shagged (note capital) and sweating like a pig.

I arrived back to find the guys set up on La Grotte des Soupirs.

Excellent.

Alex was getting very close, Olly close behind with Greg.

Me?

Frankly, my first session on real rock since May last year (apart from an hour at Bone hill in October) was trashing the skin on my fingers. The power wouldn't come and my feet were refusing to stay where I put them. I was a long way short of making the moves.

Still, I was in cloud Cuckoo if I thought I was going to get back on the rock after nearly a year of pulling nothing but plastic and ground up a 7C+...

By the time we moved on to La Pioche, my arms were blown.

Trying to pull on to those little crimps and hold the toe hook against the smear..

Well, that was me finished. I was starting to get cramp in my forearms.


Three, two hour sessions a week on the wall; do not a day of bouldering make!


Frustrating and yet strangely satisfying day for me.

Olly came damn close on Pioche (there's a lad to watch, very strong). But avoiding the dab on the reach move defeated all comers today (and there were a few besides team UK).

I couldn't shake the cramp and could feel a finger going, so even moving over to play on a few 6C's with Jo; just wasn't going to work.

Bad day?

Nah!

Bloody brilliant.

What a place to fail on a problem!

And a couple of excellent problems to fail on!

Now I just need to find a damn roof to train on (with shitty smears and sharp as buggery jugs and spiky little crimps).