When to go

Main climbing months:

• May - June (early summer)
• September (fall)

I went in July, it was way too hot, some days it was 20 degrees. Not good if you want to project as the holds just get greasy from sweat and you lose skin real fast in hot weather.

The climbing

As expected of granite, the holds tend to be geometric, sharp, and crimpy (except along the river as I mentioned above). This means that splits and cuts are common. Bring a skin file to smoothen any small cracks on your skin before it gets worse. Bring skin salves to help regrow the cracks when resting at night (I can’t recommend Rhino Skin Repair and Split enough). 

There are also quite a few shelf traverses which I would highly recommend. Some are long (close to 20 moves) traverses on the sloping lip of the boulder itself before topping out where you'll get more pinches than crimps.

The style is mostly quite athletic and gym-like especially the 5 stars climbs. There are not too many slabs around and the top-outs are mostly easy in comparison to Fontainebleau even if you are not experienced.

In terms of preparation, I recommend training finger strength and finger power endurance; you want to be confident holding small holds and you want to make sure you don’t get too pumped too soon. On top of that, body tension, shoulder strength as well as heel hooks are very important in Magic Wood.

As the boulders are by-products of avalanches millennia ago the debris on this talus slope tends to have sketchy landing zones because of all the rocks around the climbs. Bring a lot of pads and be on alert at all times. 

Do note that the river runs North-South and the valley of Magic Wood is on the western bank of the river. This means that a lot of boulders face East and it might be too exposed to the sun to climb in the middle of the day.

Topo

Best to get yourself a guidebook.

It’s also one of the must go bouldering mecca so there are a lot of beta vids on youtube.

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Sectors

There are 9 sectors in Magic Wood: Bach, Mitte, Haupt 1, Haupt 2, Haupt 3, Beach, Kamel, Oben and Swiss. 

Due to the river eroding the rocks, some of the lines on Bach and Kamel and most on the Beach are strangely slopey, rounded and polished and not too crimpy. I say this because I had the impression that most granite climbs will be sharp crimps or blocky geometric shaped pinches.

The rest of the sectors are uphill from the first three sectors. The approach is simple yet steep. Imagine walking up a staircase to the 10th storey. That’s what the approach is like in Magic Wood; a lot of stepping up involved in the process. There is no need to climb or mantle over small rocks so all in all, the approach is considerably easy. Of course it’s not as simple as the approach in Fontainebleau but still it’s not hard at all.

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Recommended lines

'Blue Sky of Mine' can be your first foray to tall boulders. 8 meters in height, with most of the difficulty on the bottom half of the climb, crimpy and sketchy feet options and then juggy flakes and simple layback and top out. If you can do this early in your trip, it will be a great morale boost.

Highlander (6B): Imagine a boulder that looks like a thin blade, much like the sword in the cult classic Highlander. It’s maybe a 30 cm wide flake that has no business standing up but it is. Tight, strange compression, but definitely super enjoyable.

This riverside slab climbing featuring a very special mantle into a handless stand up (flexibility is key) into simple powerful crimpy climb. You don’t expect this kind of moves on rock!

Tall and crimpy for the board climbing fans out there. Very exposed landing zone, so soak up on the adrenaline once you catch the crux move.

I am biased because this is one of my projects on this trip but the line is so aesthetic with precise seams requiring as much skill as strength to do it. It’s also quite tall so, the adrenaline adds to the fun.

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‍‍Accommodation

Bodhi Climbing is the main accommodation for Magic Wood. They have chalets for bigger groups, shared rooms, and camping spots as well.

There are also other small towns around Magic Wood such as Andeer and Splügen that have supermarkets, cafes and other specialty shops. 

This part of Switzerland is German and Romansch speaking, although most will be able to converse in basic English. In the villages and towns, the locals are very warm and welcoming. 

Food

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend many things to do or food to eat in Switzerland itself. The food is expensive and I am not a big fan of the cuisine. Be prepared to cook your breakfast and dinner to save on cost.

Rest day activities

Visit Andeer thermal bath for some active recovery. They have hot and cold baths to promote blood circulation. The jacuzzi jets are to die for.

You can also drive over the border to Italy and visit Madesimo, Montespluga or Chiavenna. Have some gelato, local pizza, pasta, some vino, caffe affogato. Nothing like Italian food in the small Italian towns.