The trip to Ticino had conveniently been arranged by friends from our section of the Deutsche Alpenverein. Everything from food and beverages to climbing was already organized, all we had to bring was lunch, climbing and camping gear and a good mood. Shortly after 5 am on Maundy Thursday we were stuffing loads of backpacks and German style camping essentials into Thomas’ beer-packed car, all soon to be reloaded in Karlsruhe where we’d meet up with the others.

This morning I learned about the Gotthard tunnel. Crossing 16,5 km of the Swiss alps, with the south exit located directly in northern Ticino, it is the third longest road tunnel in the world. It is notorious for causing endless traffic jams, thus we set out to avoid the 5 kilometers of jam that had already formed. Our route was not the shortest, but for sure a more scenic one.
Eventually, though, we did arrive to the camping. It is beautifully situated in a green valley with hill tops in every direction. The contrast between palm trees on the valley floor and white mountains in the distant attracts not only climbers, but also numerous bikers and hikers. Although in Switzerland, one has a feeling of Mediterranean nature and culture, in particular since everyone speaks Italian.

With the tents put up in German style, there was just enough time for some climbing. There’s just a river separating the camping and the closest climbing area, today the water reaching only little more than knee height. I went first. It was easy with shoes (mine needed a bath anyway) and I was over in a minute. However, the idea of crossing was not as tempting for everyone, perhaps they were rightly cautious for piranhas in these unknown waters. Thus the brave three who fought Poseidon hadn’t gained any time, since we had to wait while our rope partners took the long walk for a dry passage.

This afternoon I and Markus managed only two climbs. On the other hand, they were both around 150 meters long and consisted of pure slab climbing, to which we were not accustomed. There are two things about slab climbing that one needs to get used to. First, one has to trust in the friction between the soles of the shoes and the rock, since there are often very few holds on a pure slab. Secondly, if one falls, it hurts. Luckily the routes in this area are rather well equipped with bolts, so at least it’s generally not dangerous.

To our relief the first multipitch climbs had gone quite well. This was necessary for our spirit, having already teamed up with Bene and Ben to do a very long route the following day. We had chosen “Sperone Quarzo”: with 350 m over 11 pitches in manageable grades a very popular one-day project. Similar to the routes we climbed before, this one is well equipped with bolts and offers mainly slab climbing (the first 7 pitches), with only a couple of physically demanding overhanging sections.
Nontheless, it was not quite that easy for me this time. Already on the first lead pitch I had to back off from the harder of the two alternative starts, and from then on I had Markus lead all the pitches from the easier start. Sometimes the mind just doesn’t agree with the will, and although I was disappointed, there was no time to dwell on it now. After all, we had a long way to go.

During the climb, there were a few factors contributing to the overall feeling of stress. Firstly, as time passed, more and more climbers entered the popular route from both alternative starts, meaning essentially that one must keep moving. A “coffee break” would cause a traffic jam along the complete route. Secondly, we tried out our new double ropes for the first time, doing of course the mandatory beginners mistakes. Add to that hurting toes and tired Achilles’ tendons, and the seriosity of the harder parts of the climb, and you might understand that were both happy when we finally made it up! After climbing continuosly for 6 hours, with little time for drinking water and even less for eating, we reached the sun-drenched summit where Bene and Ben, who started before us, were waiting with chocolate and cameras. The space was shared with several other climbers, but that didn’t matter, we had fought our way up there and were proud of ourselves.
It was not a hard decision to spend the rest of the afternoon by the camping pool with a well deserved beer.

From long to short, from exposed and nearly alpine to safe sport climbing. The next day we stayed at crags only 10-30 m high, starting with slab climbing until light drizzle wiped away the last bit of friction. In moist conditions, steeper is better, thus we joined our group for steep top-rope climbing conveniently served on a silver plate. Although much too rough on the finger skin, it was a great day out with nice climbing and good company.

In fact it was so much fun that we continued the steep climbing on Sunday in another area in Ponte Brolla. To our surprise we managed not only lead climbs of an unexpected difficulty, but also a couple of strenuous routes on top-rope that the two top climbers of the group were kind enough to put up for us. I won’t lie, it was not a clean climb up on that hardest one, and I got quite exhausted by trying to haul myself up on it, but it was a beautiful line, a nice experience. After a giant BBQ feast in the evening the energy was fully regained and I realized as usual during climbing trips that life just couldn’t be better.

And already it was Monday morning, with only a few yet nice hours of climbing across the river before we must hit the road. The route back was even more astounding. We followed the scenic rails of the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn, passing through narrow tunnels along the mountain sides, over high passes and bridges crossing the void formed by deep, green valleys. Once in a while we got a glimpse of red trains, puffing on just like the Märklin miniatures from childhood. We passed by the source of the river Rhein as well as the huge Contra Dam in Verzasca, Ticino, where the brave can follow in the footsteps of James Bond in a staggering 220 m bungy-jump.

All in all, it was a great trip and we’d go again anytime. There is so much to do in Ticino, and the nature is amazing. But not this year, perhaps. It’s enough with the long tours already planned in the Mont Blanc region this summer. Don’t worry, we will wear our helmets.