Bunny and Bill...

After two weeks in Magic wood we travelled over the long and windy Spugen Pass to Val di Mello. (Perhaps our tigers were in Italy?!).  My parents were taking a 3 week holiday and undertook the long drive to Val di Mello.  We met them in Val Masino and stayed in a lovely camping spot by the river with great views of the dramatic mountains.  The weather was very warm, so we mostly relaxed and spent lots of time with my parents.  I was still excited by my new camera and took lots of pictures.

My parents spent lots of time relaxing in the campsite and walking in the beautiful valleys.

Bill (Claire's Birthday Marmot) had a holiday romance with Bunny (Mum's favourite cuddly toy!).  Things started slow with a coffee and book club, but it wasn't long before they took the next step... They spent the whole day watching the clouds and eventually held paws...!

It was lovely to spend a few weeks with Mum and Dad, and sad to move on.

Where has my tiger gone...

After leaving the Saint Gottardo pass we made the short journey to Magic Wood.  Magic Wood is descibed as a boulderers paradise... We thought the bouldering was world class and the concentration of great problems is fantastic, however, 'paradise' is maybe going a little far...  Unfortunately Magic Wood is very popular and the impact on the wood has been great.  The erosion and damage to tree roots and other flora is obvious.  Whilst it wont devastate the forest, it is still a great shame, consequently we've tried to lessen our impact as much as possible.

We spent about two weeks here with our travelling companions Paul and Kay.  It was a very social time and we met lots more great people.  We spent quite alot of time with two Germans guys - Matthew and Maurits.  They were lots of fun and played lots of great and funny music on the guitar. We spent many evenings drinking beer, laughing and listening to them strumming away!

The climbing in the Wood is generally quite obvious and very powerful. The climbing generally involves less technique, but is still lots of fun and challenging.  Both our bodies took a beating in the first week.  The powerful climbing certainly pushed our bodies and made us ache all over.

I'm (Jason) feeling pretty much recovered from my broken toe and hurt wrist, but was not that fit when we arrived.  I seemed to manage the moves on lots of problems, but had poor endurance.  I had many heart-breaking falls from the end of quite a few problems.  I sent various 7A-7B's but haven't yet finished anything harder.  Where has my tiger gone...?!

Claire has climbed some cool problems, with some ascents of 6B's and a 6C.  She came close on some 7A's, but unfortunately hurt her finger on one very crimpy problem. She has been resting for quite a few weeks, and is hoping it will recover soon.