GlobalClimbing

It was one of the most fun short trips I've been on in a long time! A great constellation of people coming from Münster (Germany), Vienna and Graz (Austria) and Sevilla (Spain). Six days of climbing under blue skies, in shady forests and under the light green leaves...

One of the great things about the Frankenjura is that it is such a diverse area and therefore ideal for groups of climbers with mixed abilities. You will find great 8bs right next to beautiful 6bs. If you're looking for that, then the Sorangerwand, or also the Grüne Hölle are a good choices. That was important for me, because I was there with my two rookies, Mel and Gonzalo who were also pulling hard and pushing their personal limits.

For my part, I was quite happy to be climbing again after a longer break and I was also quite satisfied with the results. All the climbs I tried I was either able to on-sight or do them on my second attempt. Here's a brief resumé:

 

Day one, Grüne Hölle:

[Bastard, 10-/10]

Day one was a good start. I've been wanting to try the Moffat classic Bastard, 10-/10 for many years. The climb is amazing, even though it can be a bitch to get all the fingers into the crucial target hold. (Yes, nomen est omen...) Instead of catching the pocket with three fingers I only got it with one... Here's a little video.

Oh, and then I also did Vögeln Verboten, 9+, an absolute must if you ever visit the Grüne Hölle.

 

Day two, Schlossbergwand:

[Master Blaster, originally 10-, sometimes called 10-/10]

The Schlossbergwand was less dry than expected but the routes in the central part of the wall looked great. I chose to get on Master Blaster and it was good! After Gonzalo had taken a few pix of the climb it already got dark but I decided to have a quick look at Monster AG in the left part of the cave. It was an epic struggle: some of the holds were wet and a small sharp underlcing was tearing my skin apart. Later a local told me that the before mentioned underlcing broke recently and the climb was now supposed to be 8b or something.

[Monster AG, after breakage possibly 8b]

 

Day three, Sorangerwand:

We scoped out the place the previous day and I thought it would be nice to try some of the steeper routes on the far right while the other guys could play around on some nice moderate routes close by. It turned out to be a fun and successful day for all of us.

[Leichte Beute, 9+/10-]

[Doppelpack, 10-]

 

Day four, Sorangerwand / Illafelder Wand:

There's one route that was always busy the previous day: Die 2 Muskeltiere, 10-, on the far right of the cave at Soranger. I saw some locals, two guys from Sweden and a Polish climber throw in a bunch of tries and the climb looked really powerful and complicated. The next morning I got on the climb and found a perfect knee-drop which allowed me to skip a few moves. A local named Martin told me that there were discussions about the grade... well, these discussions are usually senseless. But if you want to talk about it, here is a video of my version of the climb.

[Die 2 Muskeltiere, 10-]

While Gonzalo needed to catch up on some sleeping (theses Erasmus students party too hard...) Mel decided to take advantage of the brisk temps in the morning and did some beautiful classics.

[Schweine im Weltall, 7a]

Around noon the rocks got crowded due to the fact that the Easter holidays had just started so we moved on to some more quiet areas. At the Illafelder cave there are some amazing climbs in perfect rock that is not quite so typical for the Frankenjura. One climb is called, Warmduscher, 8, and the other one Ringbandschoner, 9+/10-. After having on sighted both of them we spent some time playing around and taking a few photos. Check it out:

[During the on-sight of Ringbandschoner, 9+/10-]

[During the on-sight of Ringbandschoner, 9+/10-]

 

Day five, Moschendorfer Block / Grüne Hölle:

Even though there are only three routes at the Moschendorfer Block I really wanted to check it out because I heard that Fliegender Gräfix, 9+/10- is supposed to be a killer dyno-route. The climb is truly amazing, but apparently I didn't find the dyno... But even with my entirely different sequence the climb remains challenging. Those of you who fancy a go, click here!

[Doing the non-dyno version of Fliegender Gräfix, 9+/10-]

Because the reamining two routes were occupied and quite hard we moved on, back to Grüne Hölle where we met up with our friends Stefan and Berni. Futhermore, I really wanted to try some more of the climbs in the steep, compact section of the wall. Spiderman, 10-, looked impossibly hard from the ground and therefore especially tempting to me. I really have to say that this was exactly my kind of climb and one of the best one's I've done in all Frankenjura. Simply world class!!!

[Spiderman, 10-]

[Spiderman, 10-]

 

Day six, Marientaler Wände:

The day when the rain came... The timing could not have been any more perfect! We got up early that day because we still had the long drive home ahead of us and wanted to climb a bit before getting in the car. Although the humidity was crazy high and my quick send of Leftfield, 9+/10- was on the edge due to the bad friction we were quite happy because the climbs were at least dry.

[Mel focusing all her power at the final crux of Opa Falkenstein, 8-]

[Gonzalo sticking the crucial 3-finger-pocket of Opa Falkenstein, 8-]

After Mel and Gonzalo had put their last bit of remaining energy into Opa Falkenstein, 8-, it was time for me to get on the final climb for this trip: Ruptur, 10-. My skin was wrecked and sweaty, there was so much moisture in the air and one of my tips was bleeding through the tape. I still don't know how I got up this thing, but I was deeply satisfied when I did it. It was a perfect finish for such a fun trip.

[The crux move of Ruptur, 10-. Notice the wet spot below my feet...]

As soon as we got in the car we heard the roar of thunder and it started pouring. Time to head back to Graz.