Every evening we have the honour of seeing heavy thunderstorms turn our camp into puddles. Fortunately, we can shelter under our tarpaulin and in our tent. We try to keep the weight down by travelling with a small, light tent (Samaya2.0) in which our air mattresses fit to the millimetre and which provides excellent shelter without taking up much space and weight.
We have many friends along the way who are happy to offer us the comfort of a bed and a hot shower from time to time. A much appreciated luxury after long days of cycling and climbing. To minimise our weight, we continue to leave things with our friends: two pairs of underwear and two pairs of socks are enough, and we continue to wash them in the rivers or wherever we can.
The heavy rain forces us to continue our journey after only two days in Rätikon. Wrapped up in our waterproofs, we ride to Chur and from there across the Rheintal to Disentis and the Oberalppass. Long days of cycling, thousands of metres of ascent and a considerable distance. We soon realise that our fuel is our food and that we need much more than on a normal climbing trip. Fortunately, as we pedal along we pass many small shops or farms that can provide us with energy, and it feels good to support local commerce in this way.

After our first pass, the Oberalppass, we reach our second climbing destination: the Teufelstalschlucht just above Andermatt. Eight pitches of clean granite on the Peruvian Dancing Dust (7a+) make me feel in my element. From finger cracks to chimneys, from dihedrals to roofs, we find all sorts of different climbing styles on granite. Simply incredible! But while climbing, I have a whole new experience: normally my arms are swollen, this time my legs are sore and when I lie down they start to shake. The plan of recovering from cycling while climbing and vice versa doesn't seem to work very well and we will probably have to think about a rest day for our tired bodies. But first we still want to cross the Sustenpass. This means that the next day we are back on our bikes, hoping that our tired legs will allow us to ride in the rain. It's amazing how we can keep pedalling day after day, going with the flow and keeping going. We manage to pass the Susten and descend to Gadmen in a heavy downpour. The Wendenstöcke will have to dry out and we can finally take a day of rest. After 9 days of climbing and cycling, this is more than necessary.
The Wendenstöcke are known for their exposed approach: steep and slippery grass protects the imposing rock face and this time we even get a few more rock falls. Suddenly, large rocks start to fall from the top of the wall as we cross a ravine to the base of the Excalibur pillar. We try to stick our bodies as close to the wall as possible and hope that none of these stone bombs will hurt us. And when the nightmare ends, we both arrive at the beginning of the route with wobbly knees and trembling hands. For today, a lot of our mental strength has been used and we decide to climb Excalibur instead of something more difficult. A great route and still challenging climbing between the bolts, while we still think about the descent and having to go back through the scary couloir. On top of that, a mother ibex crosses the ledge above us and we fear she will cause more rock falls. After all the experiences of the day, we decide not to climb another day here, but instead continue on our bikes towards Interlaken and our next stop: the Eiger.

The climb to the Eigergletscher is steep and we have to get off our bikes several times and push them. They are so heavy that we can't push them alone. We have to work as a team on every stage of this trip. At the Eiger we find windy conditions and cold temperatures during the ascent of the Deep Blue Sea route on the Geneva pillar.
Then the weather turns bad and we are happy to rest for a while in Interlaken. But at some point we can't waste any more time waiting for the rain to stop. So we start cycling in a fresh drizzle. And when it finally clears up, all the mountains around us are white, covered with snow. Not quite what we wanted to see on a climbing trip, but just another challenge. We take an overnight ride up to the Jaun Pass and are very happy to find a hot shower and bed at the pass campsite to recover. The bed and shower suddenly become something we dream about as something special and luxurious.

Due to the cold weather, we climb the south face of the Gastlosen, a classic route: "Fêtes des pères". A few slabs and some steeper sections make it a varied climb, which we enjoy riding. During this cycling roadtrip we realised that we had to lower our expectations when it comes to climbing difficult routes: climbing so many passes by bike tires the whole body and makes it difficult to climb to our maximum.
After a full day of climbing, we sit back down on our bikes to ride over the Col du Pillon. And after another night cycling session, we reach Les Diablerets, motivated by the possibility to sleep at a friend's place.

At the dawn of a beautiful day, we continue on our bikes towards the Rhone valley and then into the Valais, the last Swiss canton we will visit. Fortunately, the wind is pushing us and we can move quickly towards the westernmost part of our journey. Because of the snowfall, we start to change our plans from climbing steep granitic cracks on the north face of the Petit Clocher du Portalet, which will probably be too cold and wet, to climbing an alpine ridge right next door on the Aiguilles Dorées. But this means we suddenly need crampons, ice axes and warm clothes, which we didn't bring on our bikes! Fortunately, we get help from our friends who lend us everything we need. It's amazing how much support we get from the climbing community. The climb to the Cabane du Trient seems much longer than usual. First by bike, then hiking up a steep mountain path, we barely make it in time for dinner. Olivier, the hut keeper, gives us a surprising surprise: a hot shower. Incredible and so pleasant for our exhausted bodies.
The next day we get up early and start walking in the dark on the glacier towards the start of the Aiguille Dorée traverse. We know it's going to be difficult as there is a lot of snow on the mountains and no one has opened a trail yet, but that makes it even more interesting. We start with some icy cracks and snow-covered rocks and then move onto the south side, where we find some amazing golden granite that glows in the sun, allowing us to climb without gloves and without freezing.
The trickiest part is not the well-known steep dihedral, but the pitches on the north face. Here we find tons of snow, which is not consolidated. Leading one of these steeper pitches while trying to dig for some kind of hold while moving upwards in a chaos of powder reminds me of some of the first Himalayan climbs I did. Quite an adventure.
It's amazing to go all the way up that long ridge line to the top of the Aiguille de la Varappe. What a great end to our Rock'n'Road trip! A big long hug and being so happy to reach this last point near the border with France. We did it: we crossed Switzerland and climbed all those incredible walls. A moment of happiness that makes all the little annoyances and sufferings disappear.

Back at the hut, you feel the same as when you return from an expedition. A feeling of release from all pressure, of deep exhaustion and pure happiness. We have finished our little "expedition home". We both agree that travelling by bike is a unique opportunity to meet people, discover beautiful landscapes and go to climbing sites in an ecological way. It is definitely something we will try to do more often. It also showed us once again how many good climbing routes are right next door.

Photo credits: Caro North / Ines Papert