Ettringen 3

One more day in Ettringen, Steingarten, some easy routes but also some nice VII-/VII routes there.

Ettringen 2

One more day of climbing in Ettringen, we went to the sector Westkessel.

Ettringen

First climbing after our lock down. Great to have been there again. We were in the Zeckenloch first and at yosemite afterwards.

Ice climbing in Val Pusteria

Quest for ice without snow and rain

Weather forecast for the Alps was pretty bad – when Jeroen and I met last tuesday. Only light of hope: the Dolomites. But where to go? Finally we booked a small appartement in Ahornach (Val Pusteria) and went there without having any info about conditions.

The first day we climbed an easy route (couloir Kofler, WI3+) close to the road. We used rest of the day to find out more about other ice routes. In the afternoon we climbed a short but nice mixed route at the Eisklettergarten Angerer in Rein. 

Next morning we went to the Tristenbach (WI4+) and after a cappuccino we went to the Gelltaler Fälle. Really nice climbing (two pitches WI4+ and WI5).

Thanks to mountain guide Veit Bertagnolli we went to the pretty cool route “Eiskaffee”. The route had been climbed for the last time 10 years ago. Now, the first pitch had enough ice to climb on but on the crux no ice for protection. I had to climb 4-5 metres above my last piece (short ice screw) but it was really nice climbing. The final pitch WI4+ was well chopped but looong (70 metres or so).

We stayed at the Roanerhof with Annelies and Hans. We had a great time with them and I definitely can recommend staying their (https://www.roanerhof.com/de).

Couloir Koffler on the left, the right hand route got sun very early, we decided not to climb ...


Jeroen on the first pitch of couloir Koffler, nice climbing, no traces, makes even the easy routes more demanding, we climbed the route in 3 pitches, there are two bolted belays (one after 50m en the other after 60m climbing if you climb it in two pitches, we made two ice belays and used the bolted belays for the abseils).






 Mixed climbing at the Jausestation Angerer... most of the ice climbers we saw during our trip in the Rein valley were climbing here, almost nobody else on the "real" routes...


 Tristenbach, nice blue ice with cauliflower formations, cool climbing, these are the upper two pitches, the pitch below is easy...

 upper part...

Jeroen on the last pitch of the Tristenbach...

Gellntaler Eisfall, pitch 1

airy start of pitch 2, I really enjoyed the climbing, take care about the icicles on top of the routes, especially in warmer temperatures...



Eiskaffee, seen from the Franziskus parking in the valley...


Arriving at the bottom of the route...



ehhmmm, impressive pitch 1...

 attack ....

 easier part, crux was 10 metres above, no protection and thin ice for about 5 metres, but ice quality was pretty good...





 Jeroen seconding first pitch...





... and starting pitch 2...

 ehhh, 3rd pitch was looooonnnnngggggg..... 70 metres or so...

 happy!

Ice in Cogne

Jeroen and I had a nice weekend of climbing in Cogne. Nice and stable winter weather and excellent conditions in Chamonix. But... 2 days before departure I twisted my right ankle quiet badly... In the end we climbed three unknown routes in Cogne, better than staying at home anyway.

 day 1: Vertigine Porcellana, WI3+, two pitches, on the right side of the Valleille, after Levure, nice place.


 Jeroen in the second pitch of Vertigine...

Second day: L'ago di Money, WI4+, with nice thin mixed start in the first pitch.

 

Start of first pitch

First pitch from belay...

start of second pitch...

 third pitch, really nice




start of 4th pitch, thin, but really cool climbing

 exit pitch 4

 first pitch of hidden ice, the topo mentions 4 pitches, but we climbed it in 2 pitches.

on the right L'ago di money and on the left hidden ice.

Ettringen in november

Nice but cold and wet weekend in Ettringen with Jeroen. We climbed at Schiffsbug at next day in Zeckenloch. Mordor is currently closed due the potential breading activity of bubo bubo...

 

xzc

 

Ecrins 2019

Andreas and I spent one week in the Ecrins, we planned to climb the SSE-ridge of Pic Gaspard but did not get any further than the start of the route. Nevertheless we had a nice week together, climbing some easy alpine stuff, sport climbing and dreaming of bigger routes...

 on our way to the hut


approach to the start of the Point Emma traverse integrale

on the traverse, nice views on the south face of La Meije, which we climbed a few years ago...

 interesting and long approach from the hut to the base of the SSE ridge of Pic Gaspard

SSE ridge...