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Paul Robinson Back In Switzerland

Narc

Fresh off a successful trip to South Africa, Paul Robinson is now in Europe en route to the bouldering paradise of Ticino, Switzerland.  Along the way he stopped at some of the smaller areas like Fionnay and Branson in the southwest corner of Switzerland where he quickly dispatched a number of hard boulders.


According to 27Crags his most notable ascents were repeats of  Le Lent Silence du Moleskine (V14 traverse, 2nd ascent) and Dave Graham's Permanent Midnight (V13) at Fionnay.  In Branson, Robinson was able to fire a repeat of the first V14 in the world, Radja, which was done by Fred Nicole (who else?) way back in 1996.

For more info on the bouldering in Switzerland check out this article I found using the Google machine which has a nice overview of some of the famous and not so famous bouldering areas one can find in Swizzy.

Legacy discussion

6 comments

  1. Mark

    Can someone remind me... was Ticino the area with the very upset locals after Dave Graham started coming through and climbing? I know I saw it in a Dosage, with Dave and Chris trying a hard campus cross through move off a wagon.

    Usually I'm pretty good with history, but I honestly am just drawing a blank.

  2. Narc

    From the article I linked to:

    "Sonlerto Overview: THIS AREA HAS AN ACCESS SITUATION AND CLIMBING IS PROHIBITED. Another historically important granite area, featuring the famous ‘Cart Project’ - a line which has been attempted by some of the world’s strongest climbers."

    There's also this article from Freakclimbing a few years ago where James Pearson passed along the following:

    "Please DO NOT climb at Sonlerto (Dosage 3 and 4) or Brione (village area). The locals and land owners are VERY angry to say the least and have threatened to spray the boulders with grease if people climb there!!! Talks are under way between local developers and residents to try and negotiate the allowance of climbing in the winter months but sadly, so far nothing has been agreed. These are great areas and there is a chance that access could be agreed but we all need to stay away until further notice. It would be a tragedy to loose these amazing blocs forever! Thanks for your help."

    Both of these articles are a couple of years old so I'm not sure where things stand as of today. You certainly don't see much online spray about those areas anymore.

    1. Mark

      Thanks. I should have went through the link, but I didn't, so I appreciate you doing that leg work. I might try to get ahold of Paul on word of what its like recently. I'll check back here and let you know if I find something.

  3. Alex

    I spent a few weeks in Ticino this spring and didn't see or hear about any access issues. I talked with several locals about Brione and they said that there haven't been any issues up there for a while. They did say you can't climb in the upper sector during the summer because the farmers need the grass for cows or sheep or something. But it's hot in the summer anyhow so no big deal.

  4. chris schulte

    Mark:
    Ticino is a canton, kinda like a county, or a state may be a better description.. It holds some of the best areas in Switz: Cresciano, Chironico, Brione, ect.. Some of the small towns that have great boulders are a little put out by the traffic- Sonlerto is a perfect example.. Dairy farmers and folks that say "transportation machine" instead of "car"..
    Respect 'em! and their way of life...
    But most of the climbing in Ticino is good to go.

  5. Narc

    Thanks for the updates guys.