Swiss welcome

So after a few hours driving we were deposited in the valley of Ticino. The weird thing about Swiss motorway driving is you spend so much time in long tunnels you lose all conception of where you really are and the incredible scenery you are flying past. You can enter a tunnel and it is pouring with rain and come out the other side 10mins later to bright sunshine. 

Anyway we came out of one of these such tunnels and Ticino was before us. After some personal admin finding accommodation etc it was out to Chironico to boulder, one of the main climbing areas in the valley. 

Now for 2 months id been pulling in the main on subtle sandstone slopers, occasionally an edge but i avoided the sharp ones. The picture attached sums up what granite pulling is about, edges, edges and more sharp edges. The climbing is aggressive, hence why a lot of strong indoor guys do well out here i guess. With humidity high this adjustment in climbing style proved tough for me to carry out...everything just felt damn hard. I tried a few hardish things, scraped my way up a few 7a's but generally it was really feeling like hard work. With screaming tips i started to daydream of swimming in the cool blue water of the Italian lakes. 

Thankfully Magic Wood our final stop is a lot higher so typically the air is cooler and conditions better. With that in mind we decided to bag it and head off to the lakes. However Chironico had one final nail in the coffin to offer...as we were packing up a family of goats made their past us. The big one (see below the picture does not do it justice) decided to stand on the bouldering mat. Before i could react it then decided to wet itself on the mat in what can only be described as a mini Niagara falls. Mid-way through relieving itself i did try and push it off but it just pushed me back and kept going. In the end the beast got bored and moved on leaving us with a stinking and stained mat in the car for the hot journey down to Italy.