My vertical world: rock climbing

Well, summer is almost gone, we are at home again and to be honest I’m already planning for the ice climbing season...

Last weeks were great. Together with Marieke I went to the Frankenjura and to the Dauphine again. We had not been in the Frankenjura this year. Last two springs we had been to the Bavarian climbing Nirvana for a few times. Already after our first visit back in 2011 we knew we would come back. The whole package is great: there are a few thousand routes on several hundred rocks in a very quite and nice forest/lower hill- region. The rock is most of the time steep and fingery, the easier routes are mostly poor equipped and have to be protected by yourself. The harder routes normally see more bolts but it can be pretty demanding. Beside that climbing specific features – the Frankenjura is a good place to be because of the hospitality of the people, good food for an affordable prize and most of all – all smaller villages have their own brewery…. What else do you need?

We spent our first week in Freienfels on the very low profile campground Waldmühle… no 4 star swimming pool, just the backyard of the old watermill. An old school campground.

First day we went to the Treunitzer Wand. A small climbing area with about 20 routes between UIAA 4 and 7-. Nice warm up. We went there by bike and checked out one of the breweries… I ordered a beer and got half a litre – yeah. Next day my brother and his girl-friend arrived as well and we went to the Treunitzer Klettergarten. A larger area with plenty of routes in the lower grades. We checked out a pretty hard 7+, pure fun!

Marieke climbing on the Treunitzer Wand

cycling before the beer was ok, afterwards was interesting...

at the brewery

At the Treunitzer Klettergarten

Another great spot is the Rote Wand close to Kleinziegenfeld. A really impressive wall with on the right a few classic routes. We climbed the old direct south face, steep and long! After that we did some nice attempts in “brothers in arms” UIAA 8. Good and steep with a boulderproblem halfway. There are a few more really interesting routes rated 8- till 8+, they look really good and I definitely will come back. To the right are easier routes, Peter did some good leadclimbing there.

the classic south face of the Rote Wand...

Sarah working here way up in "brothers in arms"

Another great spot are the Obere Schlossbergwände close to Gössweinstein. We went there twice. After two attemps I redpointed my first 6c+/UIAA 8-, the route is called Ulala and has a fingery start and in combination with the small roof in the middle it is a nice route. two weeks later we met a guy who opened these routes, by the way, we met him in the Dauphine...

excellent climbing on the Obere Schlossbergwände

After 10 days the weather got bad and we drove to the south – to the Dauphine. I was really happy to go there. In the last 5 years I visited the Dauphine every year for alpine and sports climbing. The southern climate and the French culture are almost a “must have” in the summer! We went to the camp ground in La Roche de Ram, about 20 minutes to the south of Briancon in de Durance valley.

The biggest ice axe of the world.... in Argentiere, well, a bit heavy if you need two of them for steep ice....

We went to the climbing areas of Freissnieres, les Traverses and most of the time we ended up at the Rocher Baron. The quartzite rock is very solid and the routes are really good bolted. That makes it easier for Marieke to do some leadclimbs as well. Most of the routes are in the lower grades but in the second sector you can find some hard routes between 6c and 7c+. I redpointed a few 6c’s and a 6c+ and almost catched my first 7a. Good workouts up there in the sun and the wind. Great.