Magic Wood and Kids

Heading for the first time to Magic Wood in late July for some camping and bouldering with my wife and two of the kiddos.

Does anyone know if there are any easy bouldering areas there like the "enfant" sections in Bleau?

Sounds like it is known for its hard bouldering but I'm hoping there is some easy stuff as well.

Thanks.

How old are your kids? They may have fun scrambling through the forest or climb the occasional boulder. But Magic Wood is not at all like Font. The trails are steep, finding your way around is difficult the first two days. You can stick to the stuff near the river, although I'm not sure how much kid friendly easy stuff there is. There are no easy areas, the whole place is maybe one area in Font but densely packed with boulders (and scary landings compared to Font). Since you asked about kids areas, you might have a slightly wrong impression of the place. I think some new easier boulders were cleaned in the last few years, but the climbing is athletic and may not fit kid's proportions. Get the newest dedicated guide if you decide to go. If this is a trip for you and your wife to climb and the kids to climb the occasional boulder, in sure it will be fine. If it's for your kids to climb, think about whether it is the best destination. Although if your kids are older, psyched to climb and good on their feet it's probably fine.

I've been there often for day trips or weekends, it's a nice place. I haven't been in a while, but it used to be packed in summers. A friend mentioned they have some sort of registration system now with the corona regulations. I might be able to give you a few pointers for other bouldering spots or crags to visit along the way if you decide to go to Switzerland.

Pino Pepino wrote: How old are your kids? They may have fun scrambling through the forest or climb the occasional boulder. But Magic Wood is not at all like Font. The trails are steep, finding your way around is difficult the first two days. You can stick to the stuff near the river, although I'm not sure how much kid friendly easy stuff there is. There are no easy areas, the whole place is maybe one area in Font but densely packed with boulders (and scary landings compared to Font). Since you asked about kids areas, you might have a slightly wrong impression of the place. I think some new easier boulders were cleaned in the last few years, but the climbing is athletic and may not fit kid's proportions. Get the newest dedicated guide if you decide to go. If this is a trip for you and your wife to climb and the kids to climb the occasional boulder, in sure it will be fine. If it's for your kids to climb, think about whether it is the best destination. Although if your kids are older, psyched to climb and good on their feet it's probably fine.

I've been there often for day trips or weekends, it's a nice place. I haven't been in a while, but it used to be packed in summers. A friend mentioned they have some sort of registration system now with the corona regulations. I might be able to give you a few pointers for other bouldering spots or crags to visit along the way if you decide to go to Switzerland.

Thanks for the great advice!  I bought the latest guidebook that I could find.  It was published in June 2019 and it has around 50 routes rated 4c and below with about 20 of those that are 3c and below so it looks like we should be good to go.

We already booked our tent site at Bodhi Campground and have confirmed entry so that should be good as well.

We'll be there for 4 days so I imagine that we'll try to stay near the river and hit most of the "easy" boulders.

Thanks again for the help!

They cleaned more easy problems then, my older guide only has about 30 problems in that range. All the problems on the beach block are class. Other great problems of the top of my head are Höhenrausch, the Bosna boulder problems, Zillimann, Blindfisch, Blindflug, Rythmo, Barbarella, Blown away.

If you find the right path, the walk to the problems in the middle area is easy as well (the big block with The Understanding, Oh Tannenbaum and a couple of grade 7 problems on it). That area has a lot of classic problems as well. It's really only the higher areas that are sometimes annoying to walk to, and for some areas it's easier to walk in from the opposite side.  Enjoy your stay!