Last weekend I had another appointment in Ettringen… This
time not with my usual climbing mates but with a group of Dutch climbers. We
all signed in for a crack climbing course organized by the Dutch Alpine Club
(oh yes, of course Dutch Royal
Alpine Club)… our instructor Martin climbed El Cap several times and also did
some bigwall shit on Baffin Island.
I already attended Martins bigwall course two years ago… he
managed it to let me climb a A2-pitch on the second day of the course – fun!
So, my expectations were high for this course as well. I mean, I spent quite
some climbing days in Ettringen, but my crack climbing techniques are not well
developed.
The first day we went to the Arena and the “crocodile back”…
we started with taping our hands and Martin installed very quickly some
topropes. Then it was our turn to try the different routes: “stay in front of
the crack and try to put hands and feets in the crack”. This sounds really easy
but my hands and feet were constantly searching for hand- and footholds… He
also told us that we should try to make a lot of climbing metres… ok got that
and I tried to climb all the routes at least 2 or 3 times.
Another funny thing is that the difficulty of the route
really depends on the anatomical properties of your body. Sometimes your hand
perfectly fits in the crack and jamming is easy…. Next time it just does not fit
and you have a hard time on the rock. We also tried some off-width routes, that
means the size of the crack is larger than your fist… you really get a good
whole body workout stemming arms, legs and your body into the crack…. Nice
exercise.
Yesterday I bought the hugh cow bells (Black Diamond
camalots size 5 and 6). So next time when I’m in Ettringen I can try this
freaky stuff as well.
Next day we went into sector “Finsterlay”. The routes here
are longer and harder – yes! The route Oger is an 7+/8- crack in the size of
your fist…. Really cool but difficult climbing! Next time I’m gonna try to redpoint
that one!
Together we had a great time out there. I think everybody
learned a lot about climbing cracks. Thanks to Martin for his enthousiasme and
his patience. If you are interested in his skills and courses please check the
site of the alpine club at www.nkbv.nl and
his own website www.bigwall.nl
