New Video from Val di Mello, biking and highlining..

Check out the 2nd episode of our tour of Europe : Val di Mello

On the road again, Switzerland, Bavaria, and Zillertal, Austria.

Wine tasting in Swiss and friendly meetings... followed by Bavarian breakfast and family reunion for Raf, and finally some climbing and biking in Zillertal....

Chamonix 28 September 2012

In Chamonix we parked the bus under the cable car to the Aiguille du Midi. We were welcomed to this big parking lot by our new neighbors, a young couple from the North of France living in a big semi truck rebuilt to be their home as they traveled to work seasons. We were invited inside for some drinks and some puffs which turned into a little party when some of their friends joined the living area of their truck.We had a fun evening and the next morning as we pushed our bikes up the hill, they pulled out a four wheeler from their trunk and drove off to the center of Chamonix ;) what else can you pull out of there?!

We also rode to town but using our legs as an engine and set off to find a guidebook for climbing!! We were told to go climb in Barberine near the Swiss boarder for some nice climbing and while searching for the topo, Raffi saw a potential highline spot in a guide and wanted to go check it out.We made pictures of the topo and We went climbing in Barberine on a technical vertical wall which was sufficient to challenge us. We headed off to the Aiguilles Rouges Natural Park in Argentiere to spend the night and go search for this highline spot.

We decide to push the bikes up the path that goes through the reserve of the Aiguilles Rouges for a little run, little did we know that we would hike up, down, push, carry, climb, downhill and end up in Chamonix City drinking a 10euros pint that evening!! We pushed and carried the bikes up the trail and started traversing over in direction of chamonix, we were now on the trail to the Lac Blanc; a very nice hike up to some lakes around 2000metres high with view on the Mont Blanc chain that will take your breath away more than the hike itself! Turns out we had traversed over the towers we were looking for to set up a highline so we parked the bikes and started hiking down to find The spot... The Aiguillettes d'Argentiere were there perfectly standing and waiting to be highlinked and walked accross... We will come back the next day for rigging but now back to the bikes for some downhill! Once we had traversed all the way to the top of La Flegere above Chamonix we could get our minds into proper downhill gear because a proper downhill track was waiting to lead us all the way down to Chamonix. :=) About a 20min ride down to reach the town, awesome single track through the woods with some north shores making the ride an exciting way back down, rewarding so much pushing and carrying. We got to the bottom completely destroyed, our fingers could barely hold the handle bar and our legs were shaky, what a day!! A couple of pints sound like they will fill the gap but surprise! beers in Chamonix will make a bigger gap in your budget..Raffi freaked out when we paid 6 euros for each beer.. welcome to Chamonix :)

The rigging was a long process being that I am pretty clueless to this new sport therefore a little helpless but will get better with time and practice..

The down rigging however was quite a soaking experience: while Raffi was walking the line it starting drizzling and by the time he had gotten to the end of it, it was pouring... so happy down rigging!!!

Amazing line, some nice pictures, so worth it for sure and we can now laugh about the stress and tension the weather put us through..;)

Off to Switzerland for some wine tasting...

Annecy, France 26-28 September 2012

Annecy turned out to be a pit stop. I wanted to visit my friends before going off to travel with the bus. I have a couple adresses I can call home in Annecy and one of them is in Pringy with Muriel and Stephane. We stayed there the first night and Raffi got motivated to start working on the bus. Muriel found some mattresses she wasn't using and they fit perfectly in the sleeping area: we now have a proper bed (nicer then the 4cm thin foam covering the wooden boards making the bed...) Merci Muriel!!
Off to my second home to Florine, my good friend since high school who is now back in her home town after studying for the past few years in the wine country, it's nice to have her back in the mountains for a visit after not seeing each other for 6 months. It's a long time but for us it's like we were hanging out yesterday, good friends all the way!
Annecy is a nice town when you are on the lake side and in the old town walking through the little streets or strolling along the river going through the old town where many cafes and restaurants are. My favorite thing to do when I get to Annecy after being away from France is to make a first stop in a chosen bakery for a good croissant and a pain au chocolat and then I head to . La Brasserie St Maurice, the restaurant owned by Muriel and Stephane and enjoy a coffee with my freshly baked goods.. mmmmmm... trop bon!!!
Today, no croissant but a girls reunion in memory of the good times during high school where we would always meet Florine Anais and I at a small coffee in the old town where we would spend hours, talking over the weekend'S party, gossiping about the boys we fancied, listening to Anais's endless stories and to the songs she wrote, creating our futures; Florine in her pink pick up truck pimpin' it throughout ski resorts world wide, Anais becoming a famous Reggae Dancehall Sista to all the Jah Rastafaries of La Clusaz! And I would be wondering around the world making my dreams come true...
So here we are almost 10 years later; Florine is now a wine pro taster driving an Audi A4 or something like a nice Audi, Anais is living in Paris but remains attached to Clusaz ciy and its neighborhoods, and I wonder around in my new home on weels and when my dreams don't come true, well... I find new ones...!

Rafi had no luck with Annecy, no english speakers, no slacklining, no climbing ( there is a lot of climbing for sure but we had no time on this pit stop), no vegan spreads... Sorry Raffi, but let's go to Chamonix now.

Val di Mello 18-26 September 2012

The drive from Lago di Garda to Val di Mello was longer than we expected after looking at the map. We are realising that the van is heavy and slow up mountain roads...We are definitely not traveling light: slackline and highline gear, full rack of trad gear, a descent rack of quickdraws, clothes for all weather conditions and skiing (you never know, turkey does have ski resorts..) , the schnaps box, enough food to survive beyond the apocalypse, .... oh and I forget to mention bags and bags of wool for our new brand of handmade crochet hats called EWOOLUTION!!!

So we arrive at night in Val di Mello and park near the big bolted boulder on the main road, it looks quite impressive even in the dark..

First day will be sport climbing,getting comfortable on the granite, actually it will be sport/trad for our warm up.. A perfect 6b+ crack on the top of the route which you need to use natural protection on.
We were climbing without a guide book and ended up getting on some routes that were a little too technical for our first day and Raffa lost a big piece of skin that day! oops! Welcome to Val di Mello :)

Raffi was trying on his craft clothes and has a green outfit of long underwear, I said : you look like a super hero! A few days later he came up with the idea to make a video of a super hero : The Craft Man! He made up a funny scenario and we shot the scenes around the area we were camping and on the highline... we will see how the editing goes on the first video we make and also the end result! eager to get some time to make it!

We made a multi pitch called Luna Nascente, 9 pitches , 6b, almost 400 meters. Was really cool but scary! At the end it wasn't obvious where to go for the last anchor and I ran it out for a while but as Raffi says: "If you're in doubt, Run it out!"

We went bouldering in Val Masino and spotted a Sauna at the top of the road we Needed to try according to Raffi, was a great idea because the place was so nice and we were almost the whole time alone! Sauna is definitely a nice way to get warm and clean when traveling around in a bus with no shower!!! ;)










And Molly tried to play with the one and only crag goat...

Lago di Garda, Italy 15-17 September 2012

Lago di Garda offers such a variety of activities in an ideal setting, perfect places to stay with the bus and the best pizza of course!
We were in this area together last June and just had to come back and climb here for a few days.










Raffi bolted and walked "Antistar" on Monte Colodri last time we were here, a 45M highline around 400Meters above the town of Arco, mythic climbing spot.
The area is full of bikers, climbers, boulderers, base jumpers... you can do it all there..
We are only passing by this time but we will return!








Off to Val di Mello for some bouldering!

Dolomites, Italy 9-14 September 2012

Our first destination is Dolomites in Italy for the first highline meeting in Monte Piana organised by the A team (Armin, Aldo, Ale). We head out of Graz with our own team made of Fritz, Thom, Igor, Johanes, David And MOlly!
We spend the night close to Misurina still in Austria and the next day we hiked up from Misurina base parking to Monte Piana plateau. A jeep was shuttling people up and down to the hut near the base camp area so we handed them off our heavy load and walked up the mountain.
The place is amazing, the plateau offers a 360° view of mountains and the place has a strong historical memory being a battle field during WWI.
The A Team has done a lot of work here rigging all sorts of lines short ones to really long ones, it's a festival for all levels!
The base camp has a grill and Nico is there grilling polenta and cheese mmmmm let me get a taste of that..
We go check out the lines and Raffi walks his 1st on sight 50meters! feeling good, he walks 3 more lines that day.

It was my turn to try the next day, I practised on the base camp slackline to stand up and after about an hour or so we headed to a short highline to get a feel for the no ground exposure! I wasn't able to stand and take the fall but was enough for me to spend some time on the line and hang in the leash, learn to get back up...It's a whole new feeling for me to be sitting above so much air on a slackline!
The weather was turning and there was now a big tent set up at base where everyone could meet, sit around, eat, drink, play...
Both Raf and I are crocheting hats and have been selling our handmade goods and thought this event would be a good occasion to expose our stuff and join our brand as one: Ewoolution is born..
Weather went from sunny and warm, to rain, then snow! We woke up to 10cm on the 3rd day to our big surprise and the place took a whole new feeling to it and a cold one for sure! Everyone gathered under the tent at base sharing food, stories, playing games,and Ewoolution stayed productive and made customized hats.
Good weather was to come soon but it was also waiting for us in Lago di Garda, our next destination. Here we come Arco, see you next year maybe Monte Piana!

Check out the 1st episode of our travels in Monte Piana