Monday, August 2, 2010

I don't want a large Farva, I want a liter of beer

We left the B+B at Voralp and headed for Austria. On the way there we passed through the tiny country of Liechtenstein. Click here for some interesting facts including some tips for money laundering. We had no guidebook for Burs but we didn't need one. This crag is totally plush. They have painted name plates with name, grade, and cute picture at the base of the routes as well as a kiosk with a full topo at the crag. Nice. It's also carpeted. Yes, the crag is carpeted. They carried a bunch of quality persian rugs up there and laid em out. Due to the severely overhanging nature of the routes we were able to camp on the rugs and stay out of the rain. A really ideal set up. Oh, we also found out when we got there that this was the same crag that the video of Beat was shot at. Interestingly though, the rock he is climbing in the video is not at all like the conglomerate in the canyon just upstream where we climbed despite the fact that they are a few hundred meters apart.



Here's a picture of Elissa tidying up the house. We climbed two days at Burs and I really liked it. Elissa not so much. She doesn't like the pockets, they hurt her sausage fingers. With only two days to climb we didn't project anything. Just onsighting. I was able to onsight 4 7c's which for me is really exciting. After two days of pocket pulling we were ready for a rest day and a new crag. The sky was blue so we headed back to Switzerland. We ended up in Interlaken which is home to the famous trio of the Monch, Jugfrau, and Eiger.


Interlaken and the surrounding area is a major tourist destination. Tons of people and kind of a headache despite the amazing surroundings. We got a guidebook and decided to camp and then hit up a crag called Lehn the next morning. We went to one campground and they wanted to charge us 46 dollars to camp on the ground. You have to be kidding me? No way. So we went to another one. Same deal. That is just crazy to ask for 50 bucks to camp on the ground for one night, even if it is right at the base of the crag we wanted to climb at. So we hopped back in the car and drove, starving, through a driving rain storm for about 2 hours. We burned about 10 dollars in gas then finally found a campground that was only 30 dollars. We pitched the tent in the rain, scarfed back some dinner, and passed out, unshowered, to the sound of fireworks that were blasting off in celebration of their stupid national holiday. The next day we drove back to Lehn, about 10 dollars in gas, right past the 50 dollar campground to the crag. Elissa fails to see the logic in why this was the right thing to do. Oh, young, naive Elissa. You have much to learn about the ways of the world.


Lehn was a very cool crag. We warmed up on a sweet 7a and then boom! with a single clap of thunder the climbing portion of our trip was over. That's it. Our last climbing day. We got rained out. So we came back to the campground, fired off some internet and a liter of beer and tomorrow we head to Geneva. Done. We fly out early morning the day after tomorrow. Geneva to Amsterdam for a little drug rave then 8 hours of discomfort before we land in the paradise of Detroit, America. Smooth sailing from there. Supposedly we have someone picking us up at the airport in Baltimore but I'm not even sure about that. Aunt Sandy is pretty flighty. You know how those Keene girls are.

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