tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7794610932809858152024-03-04T21:04:44.393-08:00Eastern Alps ClimbingRock climbing in Bavaria, Austria, southern Tirol, northern Italy and eastern SwitzerlandAlexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-26244714187702997172024-01-03T10:32:00.000-08:002024-01-03T11:41:15.458-08:00Wirklich oben bist Du nie (VI+), Gimpel Vorbau, 3rd September 2023<p>I climbed this with Mario's friend Rolf. (Mario and Martina climbed Morgenstund and their friends Jürgen and Rosi climbed Jedem Tierchen sein Plaisirchen.)</p><p>All of the six pitches were VI or VI+. Bolt spacing was like on a well-bolted sport crag. The climbing was good and at my upper limit, especially since I still had a problem on the ring finger of my right hand after hurting it at the wall a month earlier.</p><p>Rolf led the first pitch, which was the longest and most sustained. Pitch four started with some <i>heikele Steherei</i> (tricky standing around, i.e. slab climbing).</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8dZgIBV49n-75-7nNogpiHtW9HAmohA8we0lJcgAMg9VXVmAYLcz2dxzXt1nMYE0FCWbvp187hP54Zk8Uu5qe_L7ewtFTIoL-zvrYliFnsH5R_NZG9-atlrhKiuclrXrrCUbROSRusZnJ9TQCcX4bN1Jz2_lY7JwfqKvwvlsRDa0RUsMAM_AOj1Fv-Bqj/s1600/2023-09-03_12-00-49_gimpel.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1201" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8dZgIBV49n-75-7nNogpiHtW9HAmohA8we0lJcgAMg9VXVmAYLcz2dxzXt1nMYE0FCWbvp187hP54Zk8Uu5qe_L7ewtFTIoL-zvrYliFnsH5R_NZG9-atlrhKiuclrXrrCUbROSRusZnJ9TQCcX4bN1Jz2_lY7JwfqKvwvlsRDa0RUsMAM_AOj1Fv-Bqj/s320/2023-09-03_12-00-49_gimpel.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rolf in <i>Wirklich oben bist Du nie</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Rolf abseiled, whereas I descended on foot with Mario and Martina from the top of their route.<p></p><p>Due to the lack of a logical line the route felt more like six sport climbs one after the other, but set against that the hard moves were good climbing and the rock was solid everywhere, with almost no grass and no loose easy sections.</p><br />Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-45335739306666267672024-01-03T10:18:00.000-08:002024-01-03T11:42:51.964-08:00Ma-Ma Kante (V+), Kreuzwand, Karwendel, 24th September 2023<p>Michij and I caught the first train down to Garmisch, then hitched from there to Mittenwald. With this trick we were at the start almost an hour earlier than two weeks previously with Robert.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh28T5Um66QVL8y9kayoMR7sTZ5td5SNFvO3cFxz_3IoGreWT_yW_sPZ_Wv_UJI9Rkmmy0dyqx58Xh0PlVNeJGbAWapAla20mr-bk2GHU-LWJnB8egSb6V9m1OMoCbDqVK5Zo40gaJo4JVuixBMHfTG-jvSapobdfzgud0PZJPNV7yhoeP2_2j_wgwWXLef/s1600/2023-09-24_08-40-25_ma-ma-kante.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1201" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh28T5Um66QVL8y9kayoMR7sTZ5td5SNFvO3cFxz_3IoGreWT_yW_sPZ_Wv_UJI9Rkmmy0dyqx58Xh0PlVNeJGbAWapAla20mr-bk2GHU-LWJnB8egSb6V9m1OMoCbDqVK5Zo40gaJo4JVuixBMHfTG-jvSapobdfzgud0PZJPNV7yhoeP2_2j_wgwWXLef/s320/2023-09-24_08-40-25_ma-ma-kante.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the start of the Ma-Ma Kante<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>We then swung leads, saving another few minutes per pitch. Unlike two weeks earlier we succeeded in getting back down to Mittenwald by daylight.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTLz_cAII5KGH54R39oKGJuVd6P182SXMtmvNFZEpJWpc5wrgpZqm4-dE34VktCGE65sO1wxP9uDhqr8kMODrZxdMT865dxLdEucaBIMad7nDhW_u7YwzJqDBKtR-hjvwgSnyAA4QYVpSapGTSEgP1gNArHgSAvFUpxH1Tju9KQHtL8IRVfteet6CERisc/s1600/2023-09-24_13-52-16_ma-ma-kante.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1201" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTLz_cAII5KGH54R39oKGJuVd6P182SXMtmvNFZEpJWpc5wrgpZqm4-dE34VktCGE65sO1wxP9uDhqr8kMODrZxdMT865dxLdEucaBIMad7nDhW_u7YwzJqDBKtR-hjvwgSnyAA4QYVpSapGTSEgP1gNArHgSAvFUpxH1Tju9KQHtL8IRVfteet6CERisc/s320/2023-09-24_13-52-16_ma-ma-kante.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Climbing onto the "elephant"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxroTDb5ZXWIa5g-46fWqCRpFLsqoddT_4s4Tz330FNmHgvMX42g2nzPp4ztUIh6hBc7UuyJ8rjTVNKy6mq6u8w698-GvXQtoV_Wn2RIZ1DI9-4ZXmYGz6Ub2X3DHItEUbom-cdmzD4iLoGu4d-sHpucEun4tNxMgECcG_p1lq5dZG1Qrfo5WWwkCirlkg/s1600/2023-09-24_15-54-40_ma-ma-kante.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxroTDb5ZXWIa5g-46fWqCRpFLsqoddT_4s4Tz330FNmHgvMX42g2nzPp4ztUIh6hBc7UuyJ8rjTVNKy6mq6u8w698-GvXQtoV_Wn2RIZ1DI9-4ZXmYGz6Ub2X3DHItEUbom-cdmzD4iLoGu4d-sHpucEun4tNxMgECcG_p1lq5dZG1Qrfo5WWwkCirlkg/s320/2023-09-24_15-54-40_ma-ma-kante.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the descent<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p>Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-62500721850349691142024-01-03T10:11:00.000-08:002024-01-07T09:04:53.704-08:00 Ma-Ma Kante (V+), Kreuzwand, Karwendel, 10th September 2023<p>This route was rebolted in 2016, and I think that this means that it was also made directer with some harder climbing over better rock taking the place of some looser but easier pitches. This is certainly the case on the first pitch, and there were some pitches further up which I don't remember from last time and which offered good climbing on solid rock.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIu4VU2ay7oIIJU1mlv08MlWFp8uQq6PiKMU5u28QlhNmgT05vDj3Y6lSn-Z7wuXIN2mXF89P_yJaYxzjs0yaRFdL09vCnkWfHODS05nkAg-vywdfBaBulH5eG-PWfIf6TGuAjOzbkUuPZcDrE3xSeIvT2wwCZfVtWYHtSAxIw6snvIwYpftM-q92H6DKa/s1600/2023-09-10_10-01-38_ma-ma-kante.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIu4VU2ay7oIIJU1mlv08MlWFp8uQq6PiKMU5u28QlhNmgT05vDj3Y6lSn-Z7wuXIN2mXF89P_yJaYxzjs0yaRFdL09vCnkWfHODS05nkAg-vywdfBaBulH5eG-PWfIf6TGuAjOzbkUuPZcDrE3xSeIvT2wwCZfVtWYHtSAxIw6snvIwYpftM-q92H6DKa/s320/2023-09-10_10-01-38_ma-ma-kante.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walking up to the Kreuzwand<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>The first pitch and a grade V pitch further up were super. Also the supposed crux pitch, which I do remember from last time, is still pretty good. However, the pitch 10, which I must also have climbed last time, was too hard for me this time. I needed to do a move just above the belay A0, and I then gave up at the third bolt and lowered off that. We then escaped via the easy exit to the left.<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6LozuRKOQw61ZcpoGc30tssjg2zS7S2V3fs19YtyMBsArlpSq4LuReUOGt1LS1I2hKuiwzn77VJyuPj40xmP3b7GIsvK4odhI4x-Q4hs_dxsSfiMwuXXoU_K2JNQ2oMD9T1jSw8scpYMSq8N-BihZX11vugM1cOgw1RVS35Cgm3FQS7oSzXztvvscUtr6/s1600/2023-09-10_10-33-16_ma-ma-kante.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1201" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6LozuRKOQw61ZcpoGc30tssjg2zS7S2V3fs19YtyMBsArlpSq4LuReUOGt1LS1I2hKuiwzn77VJyuPj40xmP3b7GIsvK4odhI4x-Q4hs_dxsSfiMwuXXoU_K2JNQ2oMD9T1jSw8scpYMSq8N-BihZX11vugM1cOgw1RVS35Cgm3FQS7oSzXztvvscUtr6/s320/2023-09-10_10-33-16_ma-ma-kante.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robert in the first pitch<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>The two grade III pitches in the middle marked as <i>heikel</i> (tricky) really were. They were unprotected and unprotectable, at least with nuts and Friends.<p></p><p>The sun was setting as we scrambled along the ridge, and it was twilight by the time we descended to the col and then walked down the scree slopes back to the Dammkar Hut. We then drank something at the hut before walking back to Mittenwald by the light of our headtorches.<br /><br />Overall I enjoyed the route much more than the last time. I would like to go back to get the time down to 30 or preferably 25 minutes per pitch, and to finish the climb via the normal last two pitches rather than baling out via the easy exit.</p>Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-32934819176640800712024-01-03T09:52:00.000-08:002024-01-03T10:00:18.797-08:00Kirchlexpress (VI), Totenkirchl, 31st July 2023<p>I climbed this with Christian, a new climbing partner who had an ad on the website of the German Alpine Club (DAV).<br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzPEN85EsnPUGZ0RbGUnqxjX4K6vVEnwEfAMRw-nXyBl0gH0T7i18HnCXAESr2wohqqHuBwXFgGDJ4T5AS12gEvjySOvqnubKoBFK3rU8wIPmlvwEs14SyqI-a7kdwieUgmjaImDZwIYHdCUtesT50McOgAI9HTAsuVGY7SmXmN6wpb3fh2wah5s8m_8O/s1600/2023-07-31_10-34-35_totenkirchl.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzPEN85EsnPUGZ0RbGUnqxjX4K6vVEnwEfAMRw-nXyBl0gH0T7i18HnCXAESr2wohqqHuBwXFgGDJ4T5AS12gEvjySOvqnubKoBFK3rU8wIPmlvwEs14SyqI-a7kdwieUgmjaImDZwIYHdCUtesT50McOgAI9HTAsuVGY7SmXmN6wpb3fh2wah5s8m_8O/s320/2023-07-31_10-34-35_totenkirchl.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kirchlexpress, lower section<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>I walked up to the Stripsenjochhaus on the previous evening and we met up for the first time at the start of the climb. We started climbing at 8:20 and got to the top of the climb at 16:40, then back to the hut at 19:15. The climb was typical for a newer "alpine" sport climb at that grade, i.e. not much of a logical line, and more of an attempt to connect sections of climbable rock together to make a whole climb. However, there were not much grass and not much loose rock, and the climbing on the harder pitches was at times quite good.<br /><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyjs2ZOxft9RDoapEIa7G9l32ZNEykKvV4mfzWB32qFwG5AZGJhEWoHJOfaecymG0de0jJ6jdukzslkaws1ZI71nhWAgXrrUidjMatGX0y-7_qmOMFzKz51Bh8OVs3cGsLurNisBPfdl3wlw7VKKlDq8_8X8Dv13kfD9fkd3Ihk6LlT1Ns57DziaN4RvGe/s1600/2023-07-31_12-56-55_totenkirchl.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyjs2ZOxft9RDoapEIa7G9l32ZNEykKvV4mfzWB32qFwG5AZGJhEWoHJOfaecymG0de0jJ6jdukzslkaws1ZI71nhWAgXrrUidjMatGX0y-7_qmOMFzKz51Bh8OVs3cGsLurNisBPfdl3wlw7VKKlDq8_8X8Dv13kfD9fkd3Ihk6LlT1Ns57DziaN4RvGe/s320/2023-07-31_12-56-55_totenkirchl.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kirchlexpress, upper section<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>I also enjoyed the descent. Once the red markings have been found there is not much danger of losing the way. We downclimbed the upper abseil pitches, but the lower ones were steeper and maybe longer, so we abseiled those. We got lost shortly before the hut at a point where it turned out that it is necessary to climb up an easy rocky slab to the right to get to the top of a hummock from which it is then possible to walk down directly to the hut.<br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoyE2kh-0D2MenEuBppvHnItQwkTiRG7REV7rovYml9QSO7ri4UMAiPMtVXkpyoRLymxGHxk9UI0APjXEJTrkvtrpnHKgLsm8mnV_wtnt_OA6PdG9dzkU0re6ln6mstCoFbFTpmWZHjbQr8bUpaJPItGLfTEmLXiSmQ3qKZe2RK4_igrJPO1HkMtkDwM7-/s1600/2023-07-31_15-35-35_totenkirchl.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoyE2kh-0D2MenEuBppvHnItQwkTiRG7REV7rovYml9QSO7ri4UMAiPMtVXkpyoRLymxGHxk9UI0APjXEJTrkvtrpnHKgLsm8mnV_wtnt_OA6PdG9dzkU0re6ln6mstCoFbFTpmWZHjbQr8bUpaJPItGLfTEmLXiSmQ3qKZe2RK4_igrJPO1HkMtkDwM7-/s320/2023-07-31_15-35-35_totenkirchl.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kirchlexpress, exit cracks<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <p></p>Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-59766630268078561362024-01-03T09:36:00.000-08:002024-01-03T10:21:37.159-08:00Dolomites, 8th - 14th July 2023<p>Felix and I formed one rope, while Mario and his friend Rolf joined us as another on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday. We stayed on the Camping Alla Baita to the north of the Lago di Misurina. The shower and wash block here was very primitive, and I don't intend to go back there before this is improved.<br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Sat. 8th July: Torre Wundt, Mazzorana, IV+</h4><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDXrtgGRvY3gMlXxsq6RvcFLO2AMo4VWaOhpZY_H4PRYhCfkH1qQtzf9NhfOkhTaZmvQdk2YQCv4qAB55fqayeOXjhab1y4zJMedVWsgPazVnHowioChuIvJl4uJDtZiT9l6m7WMjlHFYbZb_mlHYQKUTn3zk-iL_faF4Vi_hIvWoP9wAtiojSfpzGdVsy/s1600/2023-07-08_12-59-19_dolomites.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDXrtgGRvY3gMlXxsq6RvcFLO2AMo4VWaOhpZY_H4PRYhCfkH1qQtzf9NhfOkhTaZmvQdk2YQCv4qAB55fqayeOXjhab1y4zJMedVWsgPazVnHowioChuIvJl4uJDtZiT9l6m7WMjlHFYbZb_mlHYQKUTn3zk-iL_faF4Vi_hIvWoP9wAtiojSfpzGdVsy/s320/2023-07-08_12-59-19_dolomites.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Torre Wundt<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>Driving down from Germany we got to the campsite at the Misurinasee at 11:15 and set off for the Torre Wundt at about 12:00, reaching the start at maybe 13:30. We ignored the signs that it was clouding over and likely to start raining, and started climbing. Felix and I had reached the second belay and Mario and Rolf the first when it started to rain, whereupon we abseiled. I wondered at first whether we should have waited it out, but in fact it carried on and we were soaking wet by the time we reached the Fonda Savio Hut for a bowl of soup.<br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Sun. 9th July: Averau, Alvera, IV+</h4><p>We left the campsite at around eight and got to the Fedare Hut on the side of the Passo Giau just before nine. From there we walked up to the top station of the chair lift and traversed across to the bottom of the easy ground at the bottom, then scrambled up to the bottom of the south face, which was not difficult, but exposed in places, and I wouldn't have liked to have come back down that way. There were lots of parties (five?) above us, and we had to wait for ages both to start and then at every stance. It was five o'clock before we got to the top.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Lf0zVesXLaxRr4kSU816fvGAYCzymXlxoqKwfQU-Eexk_0Ax4QrDFcF-1EgSZdAYcfE8nhDfwd0JXnpdVXtJxU3E8OTyQKLY0i8LIwD8oC-5EIR_IQiXgIjxxzBI1ooLkCeorUxZEoAu2-6hgIqNhjTMzjvBcA2awED9ifRdJDyB7uf6G7P833Ca5in2/s1600/2023-07-09_14-50-17_dolomites.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Lf0zVesXLaxRr4kSU816fvGAYCzymXlxoqKwfQU-Eexk_0Ax4QrDFcF-1EgSZdAYcfE8nhDfwd0JXnpdVXtJxU3E8OTyQKLY0i8LIwD8oC-5EIR_IQiXgIjxxzBI1ooLkCeorUxZEoAu2-6hgIqNhjTMzjvBcA2awED9ifRdJDyB7uf6G7P833Ca5in2/s320/2023-07-09_14-50-17_dolomites.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Averau, Alvera, traverse pitch<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>The rightwards traverse in the fourth pitch was just super, with big hand- and footholds and just one mildly tricky move right before the next belay. This pitch was the best of the route, but there was some other worthwhile climbing on some of the others. The way down included a steep and exposed via ferrata. The next time I will take a via ferrata set with me, or at very least keep my harness on and clip in with a sling.<br /><p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Mon. 10th July: Torre Wundt, Mazzorana, IV+</h4><p>This time we completed the climb in good weather. Thick iron ring pegs at the first four belays. The third pitch is graded with III in the Bernardi guide, but is more like IV or IV+. According to Felix I placed nine runners on this pitch.<br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC_rHUoeaQtYK4ivwyy3IRao1q2O8_HQUeKG9iEHmuD4AqsyujWed8Xf6Dspr3lsuhELhqBvTALsxshzqVpna4oT50qJkmb6H4mmiYxhY_f4eEtA00_a_SF8eUpRILHXfk2qHhyphenhyphendzw2UOOUyB9sHo_o7qILbVYzahlF_T6sAEr4d5VgdseGkqZ1xtms9a7/s1600/2023-07-10_15-24-20_dolomites.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC_rHUoeaQtYK4ivwyy3IRao1q2O8_HQUeKG9iEHmuD4AqsyujWed8Xf6Dspr3lsuhELhqBvTALsxshzqVpna4oT50qJkmb6H4mmiYxhY_f4eEtA00_a_SF8eUpRILHXfk2qHhyphenhyphendzw2UOOUyB9sHo_o7qILbVYzahlF_T6sAEr4d5VgdseGkqZ1xtms9a7/s320/2023-07-10_15-24-20_dolomites.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Torre Wundt, first abseil<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>We got the descent wrong at first. The correct descent is:<br /><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Walk over the summit ridge to an abseil anchor at its westernmost end.</li><li>About 10 m directly beneath this abseil anchor is the point where the gully a part of which is climbed by pitch 6 (Benardi guide) reaches its highest point before falling off again to the west. Abseil down from the summit ridge and down the westward side of the gully (rightwards looking out) to a ring anchor on the north side of the ridge connecting the main summit with the west summit, perhaps 20 m in total from the summit ridge.</li><li>Abseil several (three?) more times, each time about 20 m, to more ring anchors.</li><li>From the final ring anchor abseil as far as possible (e.g. almost 30 m if abseiling with a single 60 m rope), then descend an exposed path, trending leftwards (facing out, probably northwards or northwestwards). Skirt around the base of the cliffs on the north side of the mountain crossing one or maybe two cols until the top of the gully is reached which descends to the left of the south face, and descend this relatively easily to reach the bottom of the south face.</li></ol><h4 style="text-align: left;"> 11th & 12th July</h4><p>Weather forecast uncertain and so went walking.<br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Thu. 13th July: Monte Popena Basso, Mazzorana, IV</h4><p>We walked up the path starting just to the left of the Hotel Dolomiti on the side of the main road by the turning for Camping Alla Baita and Drei Zinnen. The the ground at the bottom of the face itself is flat, but the last few metres leading up to it are scree and rubble which are steep enough that a nervous partner might be glad of a rope.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNdDAXsghlYaD72f7VFqs3_iQpgdsKRxejPy7GGcOEyUqLusQnQ9NRg3VXHDD4oDlAl7Uwt951uVH-QRmJSHsFf6AiFXhzZexWUvHWMJzqTFan0_Mp7UAUbhr6YMhcE8NT-XN5NFymV03egMtuoOak0uyJemf4IcCNeOdPL9ryv2jdWpz7M6uzQMp5kPzf/s1600/2023-07-13_13-28-01_dolomites.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNdDAXsghlYaD72f7VFqs3_iQpgdsKRxejPy7GGcOEyUqLusQnQ9NRg3VXHDD4oDlAl7Uwt951uVH-QRmJSHsFf6AiFXhzZexWUvHWMJzqTFan0_Mp7UAUbhr6YMhcE8NT-XN5NFymV03egMtuoOak0uyJemf4IcCNeOdPL9ryv2jdWpz7M6uzQMp5kPzf/s320/2023-07-13_13-28-01_dolomites.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Monte Popena Basso, Mazzorana<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>The route was pleasant with thick iron ring pegs and glued in pitons at the stances, other than at the top, at which there was just a piece of old rope tied to a dwarf pine, and good climbing almost throughout. Felix stepped on a loose block at the start of the last pitch, which fell the whole height of the route without hitting the face once before landing on the screes below. Before the rope came tight he scraped down the rock, getting scratches on one arm, both knees and one ankle. It started to rain just as Felix was seconding this pitch.<br /><br />From the top we traversed about 30 m to the right (north) to meet up with a track which led upwards (south) to meet up with a marked footpath which traverses the mountain from north to south, and followed this in steady rain southwards over the summit, descending pleasantly and easily to the cluster of restaurants at the southern end of the Lago di Misurina.<br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Fri. 14th: First Sella Tower, Steger, IV+</h4><p>From the Locomotive we headed along the left (north) side of ridge leading to the start, which ended in an exposed climb of a few metres to reach the foot of the route, for which we roped up. The next time I shall continue along the right (south) side of the ridge after the Locomotive.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJb0tnPuNBULyr5W7b-5auazOsjNSc8ssYGiUxz3ZuF6kqFWcwTbwOr273TMfcsygkDujvhcYJm4fjzFY2yAoNprG5VibE57kj_KlvP9l6RpwBZYHxZp_pTcTy5GtYWzyMbXTIMK2NzJ_xuGaCoW4IHkA_vZInq4i_bvMUvXsR5_oZDoqZoaFyI_UmMxhs/s1600/2023-07-14_16-30-51_dolomites.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJb0tnPuNBULyr5W7b-5auazOsjNSc8ssYGiUxz3ZuF6kqFWcwTbwOr273TMfcsygkDujvhcYJm4fjzFY2yAoNprG5VibE57kj_KlvP9l6RpwBZYHxZp_pTcTy5GtYWzyMbXTIMK2NzJ_xuGaCoW4IHkA_vZInq4i_bvMUvXsR5_oZDoqZoaFyI_UmMxhs/s320/2023-07-14_16-30-51_dolomites.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the First Sella Tower, Langkofel in background<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I enjoyed the climbing more than I remember enjoying it last time. The best two pitches were those immediately above the rightwards walking traverse. Most stances had thick iron rings, but the stance at the right hand end of the traverse and directly below the crack of the first of these pitches only had one old peg, which I improved with a Friend and a Camalot. The second of these pitches had several pegs runners and one bolt. I found this easier than I remember it from my ascent with Ingo in October 2006.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh09_j-MpACGxEvcZw0syWM9pULvzhTQnwt_JWEWOL9rZT1IMgk7WT-wL7s2GLrUp21XfjLY8VUUA8OMSi71OVHDwibADBN1YKprpZqb5FHkc_YhXoA3uKDrtEHxYg_8LoQcfK_Ot_hqUezFR-qwmFo6JQ0m3uXdiRdbkEECFwDk3wy4F_x54aLC1B9FaxG/s1600/2023-07-14_18-42-01_dolomites.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh09_j-MpACGxEvcZw0syWM9pULvzhTQnwt_JWEWOL9rZT1IMgk7WT-wL7s2GLrUp21XfjLY8VUUA8OMSi71OVHDwibADBN1YKprpZqb5FHkc_YhXoA3uKDrtEHxYg_8LoQcfK_Ot_hqUezFR-qwmFo6JQ0m3uXdiRdbkEECFwDk3wy4F_x54aLC1B9FaxG/s320/2023-07-14_18-42-01_dolomites.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wrong descent from First Sella Tower<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />We got the descent wrong here too at first. We traversed the summit but then tried to descend the slopes to the left (looking out, i.e. the east) of the exit of the Trenker Crack, i.e. still on the First Sella Tower, finding a bolted belay before the ground steepened which looked like an abseil anchor. We abseiled almost the full 60 m from this, but the rope got stuck and didn't pull through. We then spent ages trying to find the way up the correct descent in order to rescue the ropes. After having reached the top of the route at half past four it was eight o'clock before we got back to the car.<p></p><p>The correct descent is: Traverse the summit of the First Sella Tower to the col connecting this to the Piz Ciavazes, and cross this col onto the Piz Ciavazes. Walk and then scramble down from here, following a path and at times cairns. This descent now has many bolts, so it should be possible to belay a nervous partner down here.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguwvxsJV0KkSLXC5y1nukJeVvEbkFj5wBPKoIhNbwU1fBcsS3fJDFfVobBwaZbd6XPgEz59NlJWYSJNAKE5KtupY0ssKiqb9ZogWh-kNQrvJJP8BKvwvY3VTD5K_GiREyz2DcIm9-PdzIGEGcunfeTIDrRYsEf0jS5ZcFfoSm9TSaJCV2nTglLK0NBUADS/s1600/2023-07-14_19-21-54_dolomites.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguwvxsJV0KkSLXC5y1nukJeVvEbkFj5wBPKoIhNbwU1fBcsS3fJDFfVobBwaZbd6XPgEz59NlJWYSJNAKE5KtupY0ssKiqb9ZogWh-kNQrvJJP8BKvwvY3VTD5K_GiREyz2DcIm9-PdzIGEGcunfeTIDrRYsEf0jS5ZcFfoSm9TSaJCV2nTglLK0NBUADS/s320/2023-07-14_19-21-54_dolomites.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The last few feet back to flat ground<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Felix and I down-climbed the last few meters from the abseil ring from which Ingo had insisted on abseiling seventeen years earlier. I also found this easier than I remember it from my visit with Ingo.<br /></p>Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-15028320943965791812024-01-03T08:52:00.000-08:002024-01-03T08:52:34.441-08:00Schüsselkarspitze / Scharnitzspitze, 24th / 25th June 2023<p>Rain in the night of Friday to Saturday. Saturday morning was wet and cool with low cloud. Armin and I had originally wanted to do the Jörg / Simon, but we waited first for the rock to dry. By the time we got up to the bottom of the Siemens / Wolf it was still cold and there were still a lot of water streaks on the rock, so we decided to do the Hannemann on the Scharnitzspitze instead.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsTZ6l3CC4SJ32AYUpI5m8KgA-V8eJHSQ7GShIq0X3ZANMfygVdwFLmy1uEzPf606MS4ov5wPEuQF9iioqy8gOSN9gHwLbTy_-FuqaynNAWJyG4CtvDXfBcHusVrp2q__09E3d5wsXcWTeJovaJP_S74takOIP3j8iKRKDQfBA-TuRvcVqKRuDKqaFX1Le/s1600/2023-06-24_11-52-52_schuesselkarspitze.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsTZ6l3CC4SJ32AYUpI5m8KgA-V8eJHSQ7GShIq0X3ZANMfygVdwFLmy1uEzPf606MS4ov5wPEuQF9iioqy8gOSN9gHwLbTy_-FuqaynNAWJyG4CtvDXfBcHusVrp2q__09E3d5wsXcWTeJovaJP_S74takOIP3j8iKRKDQfBA-TuRvcVqKRuDKqaFX1Le/s320/2023-06-24_11-52-52_schuesselkarspitze.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rockfall debris beneath the Hannemann on the Scharnitzspitze<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>The bottom of the Hannemann was covered in brown dust, and the ground at the bottom of the climb was covered in debris from a rockfall. We decided that we didn't know where exactly it had come from and that we didn't want to risk there being more loose rock up there which could fall on us, so decided against this route as well. We ended up doing Phantasia, a new route which follows more or less the same line as the Siemens / Wolf just a few metres further to the right. Armin got the two hardest pitches and I was glad that he did, since they seemed hard to me for V+.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWhuTfGGZTm7KHxTjyZBQFPVxaJGZdbkmxlU1vb5W9gnKcKHOgMImy_Oug-QI0ZmEsXtd8Rw-AOCwRTN9-7xedHfokCX_x3nmH0xb_Lq8OASQdHEiEBb4de2wlkyzSbochjpkQVXxco0mNq27zzr6WM1UcerCSKt3STS8-ZcBgyo9O5bV1Zn1BLTqxtxDj/s1600/2023-06-24_17-52-44_schuesselkarspitze.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWhuTfGGZTm7KHxTjyZBQFPVxaJGZdbkmxlU1vb5W9gnKcKHOgMImy_Oug-QI0ZmEsXtd8Rw-AOCwRTN9-7xedHfokCX_x3nmH0xb_Lq8OASQdHEiEBb4de2wlkyzSbochjpkQVXxco0mNq27zzr6WM1UcerCSKt3STS8-ZcBgyo9O5bV1Zn1BLTqxtxDj/s320/2023-06-24_17-52-44_schuesselkarspitze.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The abseil down to the Wangscharte<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>The standard descent seems now to be to scramble along the ridge from the finish of the Siemens / Wolf and down to a single glued bolt, then abseil from this (28 m) down to the flat area which I used to reach by abseiling straight from the top of the Siemens / Wolf and then making an exposed traverse to the right (looking outwards, i.e. towards the west). From here walk and then scramble down past another glued bolt to a huge abseil ring marked by a red arrow on a metal rod. Abseil from this (45 m) down to the Wangscharte, and from there back down to the bottom (56 m).</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKmLdPHlke8SzH4j6W7rI6NOGBfu2OpWpXdX6MxtLbbDE9TLA2cPe_1RgfEM4Gr30PxMAEnsYOnQYt1qBBKPTTGIr_GOGrxmgdFiMBtk7EbB7Fv_qX6pN6l7yrB0BSqYiUJw2wB2JuF0mYYH24OR-vtxcrgiKc0xj6rDhXvMfZhKTcfF0DcI4wtCJeXgVS/s1600/2023-06-25_11-27-49_schuesselkarspitze.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKmLdPHlke8SzH4j6W7rI6NOGBfu2OpWpXdX6MxtLbbDE9TLA2cPe_1RgfEM4Gr30PxMAEnsYOnQYt1qBBKPTTGIr_GOGrxmgdFiMBtk7EbB7Fv_qX6pN6l7yrB0BSqYiUJw2wB2JuF0mYYH24OR-vtxcrgiKc0xj6rDhXvMfZhKTcfF0DcI4wtCJeXgVS/s320/2023-06-25_11-27-49_schuesselkarspitze.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michij in the Siemens / Wolf<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>On the Sunday Michij and I did the Siemens / Wolf. This was pretty different from how I remember it. I remember more grass and I don't remember the belay in the niche (where there is now also a belay belonging to Phantasia on the other side). In particular I don't remember the difficult face climbing in the last pitch, although I guess maybe I climbed a different last pitch last time.<br /><br />Phantasia had a hard crux on the first pitch which I was glad not to climb. The Siemens Wolf had a few metres of nice climbing at the start of the last pitch. Otherwise both routes had a lot of badly protected low grade wandering. Neither was particularly good.</p><br /><br /><br />Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-32930469514912774842023-08-29T13:20:00.003-07:002023-08-29T13:22:43.735-07:00Sarca Valley, 18th - 21st May 2023<p>Ascension Day is a bank holiday in Bavaria which gives a four day weekend, and the plan was to get down to the Dolomites for my first time climbing (apart from two or three visits to sport crags) since the <a href="http://easternalpsclimbing.blogspot.com/2010/08/fusssteinkante-9th-july-2010.html">Fussstein</a> in 2010. Unfortunately the weather had other ideas, with snow falling and lying all the way down to the valley, so, as so often, the solution became Arco.</p><p><br />On the first day we climbed the Via Teresa (VI) on the Sonnenplatten, as they are known to German-speaking climbers, or the Parete Zebrata as the Italians call them. This was a nice length at 400 m / 15 pitches, and the grade VI pitches were sort of fun, but the experience taken as a whole didn't have me itching to get back there. What came next was more fun, however.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimmEnDlclD_utUXVEd7hbitRYqJQ5axUXO1pRXaFXO8YyKoHe_RhaY8QSZuaR7RnPl4x1ro0Rcoh2-OXS0t0L9WEuLSTQrWCaNcK5btDtcyu0_259uzhOENFtLvQaw987shpqkBFhx1ff-WsNmb4xYcMlQNM0nn0BZ_7jqHyJgIbFn7GdSf7MujE08AoPJ/s1600/2023-05-18_14-00-52_arco.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimmEnDlclD_utUXVEd7hbitRYqJQ5axUXO1pRXaFXO8YyKoHe_RhaY8QSZuaR7RnPl4x1ro0Rcoh2-OXS0t0L9WEuLSTQrWCaNcK5btDtcyu0_259uzhOENFtLvQaw987shpqkBFhx1ff-WsNmb4xYcMlQNM0nn0BZ_7jqHyJgIbFn7GdSf7MujE08AoPJ/s320/2023-05-18_14-00-52_arco.jpg" width="240" /></a></div> I had first heard the name Heinz Grill from a non-climbing neighbour who used to like going to Arco for yoga courses with him. At that time almost all I knew about multi-pitch climbs in the Sarca Valley came from the Versante Sud guidebook Pareti del Sarca by Diego Filippi and that meant fairly steep and serious routes starting at about VI+ with peg belays and maybe a few more pegs in between, such as <a href="http://easternalpsclimbing.blogspot.com/2009/05/cesare-levis-pian-del-paia-sarca-valley.html">Cesare Levis</a> or <a href="http://easternalpsclimbing.blogspot.com/2009/05/via-del-missile-vi-monte-casale-sarca.html">Via del Missile</a>. To cut a long story short, Heinz Grill has been pretty busy with his Hilti over the past twenty years, and the fruits of a lot of his labours are presented in the new guidebook Arco Plaisir by Florian Kluckner.<p><br />The first of these we tried was the Via Helena on a valley-level crag with the grandiose name of Monte Colt, for which you park next to the river and walk all of about three minutes to get to the start of the routes in some dense bush. This is an eight pitch route graded VI+, on which we learnt what is meant by the Heinz Grill protection style: bolts on the hard bits, a lot of in-situ threads, and every now and again a crack left alone so that you are glad you brought your rack along after all. The highlight of the Via Helena is a large overhang with the most enormous jugs which I have ever experienced outside of a climbing wall. I climbed this in a hurry, fearing that it had to get harder at some point, but it just didn't. Another time I would take my time and enjoy it some more.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhormXAQR7iUdmpifzwcVJ7zP1TaWfa_-yC-UQL77VTO3HzPuB0-62C-VUVOqWX6Z2sVGWduTFO7be4u2ZW75EBZ6ia7oXee86h7KRA-xNpcHxFMZlcd_qBwBJTAszyFU9f4M8bg8MdPDzV3LIVUP_tWAzPiHHjJnezvKykXj3kZcbTlPU8Y3QMLWA1BeHN/s1600/2023-05-21_13-58-40_arco.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhormXAQR7iUdmpifzwcVJ7zP1TaWfa_-yC-UQL77VTO3HzPuB0-62C-VUVOqWX6Z2sVGWduTFO7be4u2ZW75EBZ6ia7oXee86h7KRA-xNpcHxFMZlcd_qBwBJTAszyFU9f4M8bg8MdPDzV3LIVUP_tWAzPiHHjJnezvKykXj3kZcbTlPU8Y3QMLWA1BeHN/s320/2023-05-21_13-58-40_arco.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>On the last day we climbed La Luna Argentea (VI/A0) on the Piramide Lakshmi, another super route with some lovely pitches easily as good as anything on a single pitch sport crag and the same style of protection as on the Via Helena.</p>Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-53992843594878727712010-08-08T08:26:00.000-07:002010-08-08T08:54:36.456-07:00Fusssteinkante, 9th July 2010<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5zCMc9vKDaiIe_EDmzIpdLgiSdQ5CyM7hhBqUjn56fbErZdWw-vWP0voallmQyAje1N79cAciE59gKAfCdCgQ2jQ2OrwyNwO8DmgzSoVt38AGv8mUDTarxNkhGSq6kobtihQIXc3jT_N6/s1600/2010-07-09_11-17-08_fussstein_400x300.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5zCMc9vKDaiIe_EDmzIpdLgiSdQ5CyM7hhBqUjn56fbErZdWw-vWP0voallmQyAje1N79cAciE59gKAfCdCgQ2jQ2OrwyNwO8DmgzSoVt38AGv8mUDTarxNkhGSq6kobtihQIXc3jT_N6/s400/2010-07-09_11-17-08_fussstein_400x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503061724063810194" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Mario belaying me on the Fußstein Nordkante<br /></span></span></div><br />The Fussstein Nordkante (north ridge) is a 14 pitch granit climb up a 3380m high mountain with a glacier approach. This makes it something unusual for Austria, since most of the rock climbs there are on lower limestone mountains, and the higher glaciated mountains popular for their classic alpine routes do not mostly offer good rock climbs. It is a super route on mostly excellent rock that would probably be very popular with British climbers climbing VS.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXRqB0_uGvFPd7lpPwjJmGlhfmCBuiGMSQlEylKqna38UZGcNVTGImIlwOXFlBhZcNih2azNbqZKTvptVkMGCB_Qg3_HdHw2IzqGoyKva4x8lefr2LCEG3wrcDhp069femWrsm-XS4kobF/s1600/2010-07-08_17-56-45_fussstein_400x300.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXRqB0_uGvFPd7lpPwjJmGlhfmCBuiGMSQlEylKqna38UZGcNVTGImIlwOXFlBhZcNih2azNbqZKTvptVkMGCB_Qg3_HdHw2IzqGoyKva4x8lefr2LCEG3wrcDhp069femWrsm-XS4kobF/s400/2010-07-08_17-56-45_fussstein_400x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503065109111863202" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Getting to the hut</span></span><br /></div><br />Felix Luetkenherm, Mario Senke and I approached from the <a href="http://www.geraerhuette.at/">Geraer Hut</a> up the true right bank of the glacier, i.e. its eastern edge. Apparently the approach can become tricky later in the season, but we did not have to cross any open crevasses, and there was no bergschrund either.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYPMopLHftPbFPOhFHAoX3KnUTQV3BgZKgo8o10id69SyMXTVNp0UDf0hrSoQznb25vsqxQ9nPTn1RkQOfimrXaefrgDxJBi5JBW8IE7Vid6Zvm_rbmtuuUnIy-mIK0_2Xpvtkw_e5l4So/s1600/2010-07-09_06-58-25_fussstein_400x300.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYPMopLHftPbFPOhFHAoX3KnUTQV3BgZKgo8o10id69SyMXTVNp0UDf0hrSoQznb25vsqxQ9nPTn1RkQOfimrXaefrgDxJBi5JBW8IE7Vid6Zvm_rbmtuuUnIy-mIK0_2Xpvtkw_e5l4So/s400/2010-07-09_06-58-25_fussstein_400x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503065104148966098" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">On the glacier</span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizt3Sc5-nGYBtE_cy0ctnQtvmfOJPKMbgN_wWmB4xgBSopi0LIwBVVD2wXlE1Bf2CErhAjzXY0J2zppN-eU3QCmWi1qrJ8vtMdgAq1uHPspWMyrMGK4N259v7n9WgcwA5Yc9MHcl2cqMKb/s1600/2010-07-09_08-45-39_fussstein_400x300.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizt3Sc5-nGYBtE_cy0ctnQtvmfOJPKMbgN_wWmB4xgBSopi0LIwBVVD2wXlE1Bf2CErhAjzXY0J2zppN-eU3QCmWi1qrJ8vtMdgAq1uHPspWMyrMGK4N259v7n9WgcwA5Yc9MHcl2cqMKb/s400/2010-07-09_08-45-39_fussstein_400x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503065102135605906" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The first pitch</span></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The first pitch starts straight away up solid rough granit. The climbing is reminiscent of routes at Bosigran such as Little Brown Jug (VS 5a) or Variety Show (HVS 5a), but less steep and so correspondingly easier. We had the topo from <a href="http://www.bergsteigen.at/de/touren.aspx?ID=423">Bergsteigen.at</a>, which probably has more right than it has wrong, but I still found myself searching for the belay at the top of this pitch, which turned out to be a bit higher than it appeared on the topo. Further up we climbed entire pitches not marked on the topo, and totally ignored a puzzling traverse through an overhang that seemed to exist on the topo but not in reality. Some of the belays have been reequipped with bolts, but a lot haven't, and we ended up building a lot of our own, which was in fact never a problem due to the numerous cracks.<br /></div></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzJ1ZXScho32gUK17I8jp8i47tPlTxg7jqlHy4m8g-VMpI_iDErFzYaBk7Fy2LA1RFNQ5ZoJ0LkBK0JTzYoKaHiSmuoMwr0JzTCayokQFKJMgwLNUB4JpGJ6BXozeANIHSP0E1SohPvP4Q/s1600/2010-07-09_11-44-38_fussstein_400x300.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzJ1ZXScho32gUK17I8jp8i47tPlTxg7jqlHy4m8g-VMpI_iDErFzYaBk7Fy2LA1RFNQ5ZoJ0LkBK0JTzYoKaHiSmuoMwr0JzTCayokQFKJMgwLNUB4JpGJ6BXozeANIHSP0E1SohPvP4Q/s400/2010-07-09_11-44-38_fussstein_400x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503061720906807746" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Mario in the middle of the route</span></span><br /></div><br />After the first pitch and a half the quality of the rock went down a bit and the climbing turned from easy VS fun on solid rock to VDiff and Severe meandering for a few pitches. A traverse right took us into a gully, the walls of which we then climbed for three or four pitches to a loose ledge. From here the route goes up a series of cracks just to the right of the ridge crest, offering four or five pitches in a row of wonderful hard Severe or easy VS standard climbing on rough solid rock before the angle eases and some easy ground leads to the top.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKPq5H9gldF7C131JhCVKMYiwLy-iinuNjT61vCMXduQaEcBzFUh8V-P-f7Ce6Fd58HTiF8hjqABjFN-QITsFRbFdfnKsmiSSgTw0YX1OwzIzswr05XrsFDeRrfTkCz5FqYjUCPTyPcMto/s1600/2010-07-09_fussstein_film1_35_02_400x251.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 259px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKPq5H9gldF7C131JhCVKMYiwLy-iinuNjT61vCMXduQaEcBzFUh8V-P-f7Ce6Fd58HTiF8hjqABjFN-QITsFRbFdfnKsmiSSgTw0YX1OwzIzswr05XrsFDeRrfTkCz5FqYjUCPTyPcMto/s400/2010-07-09_fussstein_film1_35_02_400x251.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503061702293006834" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Mario with some belay ingredients</span></span><br /></div><br />The mountain itself has a really nice summit. We admired the view briefly, but we had spent such a lot of time on route finding and climbing the wrong way only to downclimb again and try somewhere else that we wanted to get on with the descent. We abseiled to get to a ledge which leads to a col on the ridge connecting the Fussstein to the Schramacher, from where a big scramble, marked with blue and red paint, leads perhaps 700 vertical meters down the walls above the corrie on the west side of the mountain. By the time we got back to the hut it was dark and we had missed supper, so were very grateful when the warden's wife cooked us up some soup.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQNu0Mm-yfSpIcWRVwXjjrsA_Wjxveiup_RHp1Fltj-WFvpOt3bFdLwVqpC-Eu5ItSSM5NujtW1X1jmJTU7sIeYDftYwgaLvDdHIMhc-FpmGevuAg3GFQtwdsT8e05L-z8LGqfCZh2PDwF/s1600/2010-07-09_fussstein_film2_08_29_400x300.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQNu0Mm-yfSpIcWRVwXjjrsA_Wjxveiup_RHp1Fltj-WFvpOt3bFdLwVqpC-Eu5ItSSM5NujtW1X1jmJTU7sIeYDftYwgaLvDdHIMhc-FpmGevuAg3GFQtwdsT8e05L-z8LGqfCZh2PDwF/s400/2010-07-09_fussstein_film2_08_29_400x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503061697928645202" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">On the wonderful slabs of the upper pitches</span></span><br /></div><br />In summary I would say that this is probably the best route of this grade which I have done in Austria. I would guess that it matches the taste of a great many British climbers, offering the sort of rough, solid and easily protectable rock they know from home, but in a high mountain environment on a route 450m long.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCZIyea1-_Hoo_oAxWja5j1UE4uFVne-9fLw4TWhcyeD5cRnAOfwsAVDcvV0P31qJpwPycnMnkl_1mZgPdbNapjP12T7LG2yY6LTTSv-MyYubqOYBZibw1QaqF9QGrh1DHgc4fOOnLeG9x/s1600/2010-07-09_19-50-39_fussstein_320x240.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCZIyea1-_Hoo_oAxWja5j1UE4uFVne-9fLw4TWhcyeD5cRnAOfwsAVDcvV0P31qJpwPycnMnkl_1mZgPdbNapjP12T7LG2yY6LTTSv-MyYubqOYBZibw1QaqF9QGrh1DHgc4fOOnLeG9x/s400/2010-07-09_19-50-39_fussstein_320x240.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503061706103234626" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:85%;">On the descent from the Fußstein</span></span><br /></div><br />Post Script: The Nordkante is by far the most well known route on the Fussstein, but it is not the only route here. Further to the left is the slightly harder Direct North Face or Aschenbrenner/Mariner, while to the right the Fluch/Brankowski is longer but apparently a<br />little easier. The north face of the Sagwandspitze overlooks the hut directly and offers a small number of longer and more serious routes, including three from the prolific Mathias Rebitsch.Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-19802433590720002862010-07-24T00:28:00.000-07:002010-07-24T11:10:51.629-07:00Zwoelferkopf, 4th July 2010<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsvQJbsNmxAh0Xe-Zutr432i1jXyAA0Kfb1Amjf-6GppVTGW32UjrPcqkHiWIFlz3xTtOwxxdZvNEDyJwqodfY_d-0c2fKjZNcjdJA7r6Y4MGP2IW_gsaCeRiYa-G6zszhsuqdVDpervcV/s1600/2010-07-04_07-02-46_zwoelferkopf_400x300.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsvQJbsNmxAh0Xe-Zutr432i1jXyAA0Kfb1Amjf-6GppVTGW32UjrPcqkHiWIFlz3xTtOwxxdZvNEDyJwqodfY_d-0c2fKjZNcjdJA7r6Y4MGP2IW_gsaCeRiYa-G6zszhsuqdVDpervcV/s400/2010-07-04_07-02-46_zwoelferkopf_400x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497398102891936834" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Waxenstein (l.) and Zwölferkopf (r.) seen from Hammersbach<br /></span></span></div><br />The Zwölferkopf and the Waxenstein are two of the most prominent mountains above Garmisch. When sitting in a cafe in the town centre or going for a stroll over the meadow it is these two mountains which dominate the view more than any other, despite the higher Alpspitze and Zugspitze slightly further back.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Mv8FEhEPmJONMB_SLwpe1p4_vKfJ7FfiBmhnmlaDfv2FbNN8XTnhxaxyBJZcjeJlOOWC2TkalOavSeInav5pGt0vnwT8MRXLu_vz7igFIQcQ_6SWiMLLvDEhuVVgpEznL4JVTDXuubxV/s1600/2010-07-04_08-36-30_zwoelferkopf_320x240.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Mv8FEhEPmJONMB_SLwpe1p4_vKfJ7FfiBmhnmlaDfv2FbNN8XTnhxaxyBJZcjeJlOOWC2TkalOavSeInav5pGt0vnwT8MRXLu_vz7igFIQcQ_6SWiMLLvDEhuVVgpEznL4JVTDXuubxV/s400/2010-07-04_08-36-30_zwoelferkopf_320x240.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497398099390207986" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Letterbox on a tree in the middle of the forest on the walk in<br /></span></span></div><br />I had heard tales of loose rock on the Zwölferkopf, but wanted at least to have sat on its summit once. Michael Stanton and I had planned a trip to the Wilder Kaiser for this weekend, but a bad weather forecast for there together with a slightly better one for Garmisch led to a quick decision to climb the north ridge or Zwölferkante.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlQCfZbB4My-WBzNTHOKBJ2tJZfSh8K7rqOgNgfT0ul9eoRPvwm_bmKZ3TToO4Vg4n9NQjfn7VjHO-cOayMwUyxnKqzwXQIkRI5zxRt831bCrpMU6nsnHjyhfujIzQnV7SLiBtx5GI6kR9/s1600/2010-07-04_09-30-33_zwoelferkopf_DxO_1_400x300.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlQCfZbB4My-WBzNTHOKBJ2tJZfSh8K7rqOgNgfT0ul9eoRPvwm_bmKZ3TToO4Vg4n9NQjfn7VjHO-cOayMwUyxnKqzwXQIkRI5zxRt831bCrpMU6nsnHjyhfujIzQnV7SLiBtx5GI6kR9/s400/2010-07-04_09-30-33_zwoelferkopf_DxO_1_400x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497398089425848786" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Michael crossing the small snow field before the start<br /></span></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">The original start, by the red sling marked in the guidebook, turned out to be as loose as its reputation. However, after two pitches we found the first of the newer bolt belays and with them also solider rock. The middle pitches turned out to be as good as can be hoped for on a grade IV route in the northern limestone alps. The pitch lengths between the new bolt belays appeared at times to be longer than marked in the topo, or we might simply have missed some. We had 50m ropes, but if doing this route again I would take 60m ropes.<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibgNTOWLezk5Iv03P2DPDgm-GRijWlpCVXcCbMoieZ7_-F0sNudOmid3cyx116EwnZvlD29CGrUykOo9ppfC-n-wFdRDFouds-8NFG7FR_-L5kt0x8-awPKgepWQjrf674jxm8nRh-e0oD/s1600/2010-07-04_12-51-26_zwoelferkopf_DxO_320x240.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibgNTOWLezk5Iv03P2DPDgm-GRijWlpCVXcCbMoieZ7_-F0sNudOmid3cyx116EwnZvlD29CGrUykOo9ppfC-n-wFdRDFouds-8NFG7FR_-L5kt0x8-awPKgepWQjrf674jxm8nRh-e0oD/s400/2010-07-04_12-51-26_zwoelferkopf_DxO_320x240.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497398082583824818" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >One of the new bolt belays</span><br /></div><br />The weather forecast we had chosen to believe turned out to be a little optimistic in its prognostications over the arrival time of the thunder storms. Whereas these had been advertised for the evening, it was about two when we heard the first peals of thunder. From this point our interest in taking photographs of the climbing waned and we concentrated on getting to the top. Somewhere around pitch 11 we lost the route, and at exactly this point the cloud came down, the thunder claps became more frequent, and the storm broke loose. Michael made a heroic lead of three pitches of anonymous terrain in pouring rain and hail to get us to the summit.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbSC4j6-VrZB0ekt847F2M4ODdpobSqi4VlHxtRrwN6IQXBuI5H7QNGJdHu0ATE5KoDu1UQ0v8Xefi1lDpiGKtFP_D7kcqF3wrzpU6-ztVitdm1vE-a_VXaTcHE8GGMq1drTj-n6MijgQM/s1600/2010-07-04_13-35-04_zwoelferkopf_400x300.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbSC4j6-VrZB0ekt847F2M4ODdpobSqi4VlHxtRrwN6IQXBuI5H7QNGJdHu0ATE5KoDu1UQ0v8Xefi1lDpiGKtFP_D7kcqF3wrzpU6-ztVitdm1vE-a_VXaTcHE8GGMq1drTj-n6MijgQM/s400/2010-07-04_13-35-04_zwoelferkopf_400x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497398081793022706" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Michael on one of the upper pitches</span></span><br /></div><br />It turned out that our difficulties were not yet over. At first we descended easily over solid scrambly terrain in the direction of the Höllental. Very quickly, however, the descent led leftwards and then out over steep grass slopes in the direction of the Mittag Scharte, the saddle between the Zwölferkopf and the Waxenstein. Beneath us the slope steepened and dropped out of sight into the Mittag Schlucht hundreds of meters beneath us. From the saddle we then traversed southwestwards at the same height as far as the Riffelkar, and found our way down in more or less continuous rain to a very welcome plate of Kaiserschmarrn in the Höllentalangerhütte. Finally at nine o'clock we got down to the valley again.<br /><br />In summary, a nice climb and a full mountain day out, but a descent not for beginners or for those of a nervous disposition.Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-81897112236617542702010-07-15T23:01:00.000-07:002010-07-15T23:42:05.855-07:00Two Innsbrucker climbing books<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvCOwDp38FifuVks3TgVWxufE1xSE0NtaLKs62Okyxp4o_YKjOgsQxZ0jOkIodK4E93m6Ujwg4MyxSlw3etUCW8uu3F50G4oV2mLGEjl4Z1Zeol2yw-61ZRLo0l4vOrQTHh9OOEAfortmx/s1600/achttausend-drueber-und-drunter_400x250.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvCOwDp38FifuVks3TgVWxufE1xSE0NtaLKs62Okyxp4o_YKjOgsQxZ0jOkIodK4E93m6Ujwg4MyxSlw3etUCW8uu3F50G4oV2mLGEjl4Z1Zeol2yw-61ZRLo0l4vOrQTHh9OOEAfortmx/s400/achttausend-drueber-und-drunter_400x250.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5494387737171234418" border="0" /></a>I have just read two books about climbers from Innsbruck, the Austrian city in the heart of the mountains.<br /><br />Hermann Buhl's Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage (German title Achttausender Drüber und Drunter) does not need much introduction. I knew in advance that it describes his climbs in Austria, followed by the expedition in 1954 on which he made the first ascent of Nanga Parbat.<br /><br />For anyone familiar with climbing in northern and southern Tirol it is very entertaining to be taken on a tour of known routes sixty years in the past. Buhl climbs on the Schüsselkarspitze in the Wetterstein, on the Fleischbank, the Predigstuhl and the Maukspitze amongst numerous others in the Wilder Kaiser, various better forgotten horror routes in the Karwendel and Stubai Alps, the Solda on the Marmolada and the Eisenstecken on the Rotwand. Taken individually these accounts are all very readable, compared to, say, the awkward prose of Joe Brown in The Hard Years. Read together, however, a pattern seems to emerge: Buhl succeeds in roping in another unsuspecting innocent for a madcap mission (Rainer/Aschenbrenner on the Schüsselkarspitze in January, Solda on the Marmolada in winter, etc.), they climb some overhangs, the weather turns bad, death seems almost certain, and against all odds they survive to climb another day.<br /><br />It is a while since I read many climbing books from this era, so I am comparing from memory. However, while Lionel Terray doesn't set out to entertain the readers of Conquistadors of the Useless (French title Conquerants de l'Inutile) with a laugh a minute, and while he too survives some epic brushes with an untimely end (e.g. on the second ascent of the Eiger North Face), I didn't end up with quite the same impression of a never-ending cycle of staring death in the face, surviving by the skin of one's teeth, and then going and doing it again. Friendship too plays an important role in Terray's book, particularly his friendship with Louis Lachenal. While I don't know what role Buhl's climbing friends played in his life, I certainly didn't get to find out through reading his book.<br /><br />The great French mountaineers of this epoque are mentioned twice. Buhl and his partner find themselves climbing the Eiger North Face at the same times as Gaston Rebuffat and Guido Magnone, and indeed join forces with them at the White Spider and in the exit cracks as the weather turns and the climb becomes a battle for survival. On the march out from Nanga Parbat Buhl then reflects bitterly on the acrimony within the expedition, comparing it unfavourably but almost certainly naively with the French Annapurna expedition, an "expedition of friends" as he puts it, showing that he was unaware of the bitter controversy surrounding Maurice Herzog's death-or-glory push for the summit which was to cost Louis Lachenal his fingers and toes. (This was probably generally not known outside the inner circles of French mountaineering at that time.)<br /><br />Tom Patey, meanwhile, was also a contemporary of Buhl's, but in One Man's Mountains manages to make the most hair-raising of escapades seem like a bundle of laughs. Patey was, however, writing for fellow mountaineers who understood what really lay behind his understatement or lighthearted trivialisation, whereas Buhl was writing for the wider public.<br /><br />This edition has been abridged in order to make room for a chapter by Kurt Diemberger about the Broad Peak expedition and the transcription of Buhl's diaries from the Nanga Parbat expedition. I don't know whether these have been translated into English, and while I didn't mind having these additions, I would have preferred more Tirolean adventures to the details of Buhl's thoughts on Nanga Parbat.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeoo3ADjtxpBXVz5DcR1YgRwGmDGwRZ4wg2H4o2U6s8h6-lDydFdRJO3FHS2ukSxuFyDJynnj2L2DSu4tfdGjJjRO640XUBolkadPlFzKwWnr7nKgZ9-0JZLOg0V6QijAoesCFR-sLhcHY/s1600/wo-die-wilden-hunde-wohnen_400x244.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 244px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeoo3ADjtxpBXVz5DcR1YgRwGmDGwRZ4wg2H4o2U6s8h6-lDydFdRJO3FHS2ukSxuFyDJynnj2L2DSu4tfdGjJjRO640XUBolkadPlFzKwWnr7nKgZ9-0JZLOg0V6QijAoesCFR-sLhcHY/s400/wo-die-wilden-hunde-wohnen_400x244.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5494387734811879538" border="0" /></a><br />A totally different kettle of fish is the recently published Wo die Wilden Hunde Wohnen. (The title is a pun on the German title of Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are.) 10 Tiroler climbers from the 70s and 80s, most from the area around Innsbruck, write about their local climbing scene from these years. Some of them, such as Heinz Mariacher or Heinz Zak, are well known to English-speaking climbers, while others, such as Otti Wiedmann or Luggi "Darshano" Rieser are not, despite their considerable influence on their own climbing scene. The period is that at the start of the free climbing revolution (until the early 1970s the usual climbing style in the eastern Alps was V+/A0) and before the bolt revolution, while the tone is rebellious and iconoclastic. Route names become references to literature or mock previous routes - following Heinz Zak's ascent of Schwarzer Spaziergang (Black Stroll) comes a whole series of Spaziergang routes, including a vegetated Grüner Spaziergang and ending with a Graugrüner Spaziergang durch die Rosa-rote Brille (Grey-green stroll through rose-tinted spectacles). When Heinz Mariacher comes close to an untimely demise while soloing in the Rofan mountains at the age of nineteen, he reflects that the bad piton which had nevertheless held his fall is not now likely to fail as he hangs some meters from the rock face and many more meters from the ground, so at first he rolls himself a cigarette and relaxes smoking that before prussiking his way back to solid rock. Possibly not entirely coincidentally a winter ascent of the Solda on the Marmolada is also included. Here, however, Mariacher and Rieser oversleep and only start climbing at midday, but manage to reach the top in three hours and are "down in time for tea".<br /><br />The action is concentrated in the Karwendel, particularly around the Lalidererwand, and in a number of other areas such as the Kalkkögel in the Stubaier Alps which, to judge from the descriptions here, are not in danger of being overrun and which appear to rival the shale cliffs of north Devon in their lack of solidity. (The Schüsselkarspitze receives surprisingly little attention, despite being just up the hill from Innsbruck and across the road from the Karwendel.) If bolts are mentioned at all, then it is only to reject them, while long run-outs above pegs which scarcely support their own weight are more the order of the day.Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-80267820057734310552010-07-12T04:28:00.000-07:002010-07-12T08:26:27.928-07:00Schüsselkarspitze, 24th May 2010<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAWOo4Wzy8vupozdIU4lrHvG7kVhdXvkgRvE5mX6dEfAdWgKIvCBE7P0sOz2TWkYXnKFwX1SxF9AJyKjMqZbITGuQXlCHxHrb-vMVtmj3ihgTB4lTv6gNSmHgX7yIxpzllCfjBSlo0SWot/s1600/2010-05-24_09-00-09_schuesselkarspitze_400x300.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAWOo4Wzy8vupozdIU4lrHvG7kVhdXvkgRvE5mX6dEfAdWgKIvCBE7P0sOz2TWkYXnKFwX1SxF9AJyKjMqZbITGuQXlCHxHrb-vMVtmj3ihgTB4lTv6gNSmHgX7yIxpzllCfjBSlo0SWot/s400/2010-05-24_09-00-09_schuesselkarspitze_400x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493036544189809234" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Michael Stanton approaching the Schüsselkarspitze<br /></span></span></div><br />After a month of May during which it seemed to have rained almost every day we finally got a good weather forecast for the weekend of the Pfingsten (Whitsun) holiday. After such a long period of forced inactivity I was keen to get up into the real mountains again, and so suggested, unwisely as it turned out, the Schüsselkarspitze for another attempt on the Meßner/Sint.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZQacSYs6C31Vw7IvBoph3rz4yWDXLLimnJJFI4YGNkdngXpmpnPoeqQ5sOgxiH6T1frBbiGctAEKR93D-dz5khss0ayqSVdDpAYKREXJHHKPGBJS3XftP72ihvahpSCybH2vPibbLp5Lj/s1600/4643103704_840b89fe8c_o_400x267.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZQacSYs6C31Vw7IvBoph3rz4yWDXLLimnJJFI4YGNkdngXpmpnPoeqQ5sOgxiH6T1frBbiGctAEKR93D-dz5khss0ayqSVdDpAYKREXJHHKPGBJS3XftP72ihvahpSCybH2vPibbLp5Lj/s400/4643103704_840b89fe8c_o_400x267.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493038381590087346" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">My attempt on the first pitch of the Meßner/Sint<br /><br /></span></span></div>I had walked up the Puitztal on my own a month earlier, and lower down there was now less snow. However, on the summit ridge of the Schüsselkarspitze there was a lot of new snow which had not been there then, and great black streaks of water covered the entire face as the sun melted this snow.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn49E8HhFNVnE_ick5LadHvSYF4vfzsjBO_wCUemxvr_EzCiHbnzmIZ6YhI507Dms2pR_DQzdKIeKk9JZFeJRDKQnKd61Aq9MNJvOaTPOD-jc6CfnHoQ4rHYgoF9XCfaEvaXvPWCZ6g2uN/s1600/2010-05-24_13-40-02_schuesselkarspitze_400x300.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn49E8HhFNVnE_ick5LadHvSYF4vfzsjBO_wCUemxvr_EzCiHbnzmIZ6YhI507Dms2pR_DQzdKIeKk9JZFeJRDKQnKd61Aq9MNJvOaTPOD-jc6CfnHoQ4rHYgoF9XCfaEvaXvPWCZ6g2uN/s400/2010-05-24_13-40-02_schuesselkarspitze_400x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493040900630137970" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">An avalanche coming down the middle of the south face<br /></span></span></div><br />Armed with slightly better information than on my previous attempt we found the start straight away. However, our attempt was to end half way up the first pitch at the first difficulties, which were soaked with melt water. Cabbage-sized snowballs fell through the air from the ridge above as I climbed, landing some distance out from the foot of the face and burying themselves in the snow field. I climbed back down again, and it took little discussion for us to decide to abandon our attempt there and then. This was probably a wise descision: as we descended in the warmth of the late morning sun the central face was swept by several avalanches.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGCKkol9vGcLuclWG8VTQ7e-Woqz2yl_sK_jiqdPZh1ofJyNE9wRWizfGs3EXrLGmAYlR1k06jSbh2V3dw-One0s1CRi6AzfCqJuMAyPCTd2Izes4pFpxpcTA68v1zGeEgvba_pfDtl6UI/s1600/2010-05-24_12-57-54_schuesselkarspitze_400x300.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGCKkol9vGcLuclWG8VTQ7e-Woqz2yl_sK_jiqdPZh1ofJyNE9wRWizfGs3EXrLGmAYlR1k06jSbh2V3dw-One0s1CRi6AzfCqJuMAyPCTd2Izes4pFpxpcTA68v1zGeEgvba_pfDtl6UI/s400/2010-05-24_12-57-54_schuesselkarspitze_400x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493039751792540754" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Descending through old avalanche debris</span></span><br /></div>Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-8256790814067756442010-03-21T08:50:00.000-07:002010-03-21T09:16:51.881-07:00Buchstein, 20th March 2010The Roßstein and Buchstein are two little mountains, or even one mountain with two summits, above the Tegernsee to the south of Munich. They are easy to get to, even early in the year, and have got short sunny south faces with scores of climbs of all difficulties. Michael Stanton and I wanted to take advantage of the warm spring weather to start the climbing season early.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju1GetIb2LwpfCF1huu0JYzECmlfIy5gO9KBIo_9xwHVk83aQ7TJ-IweaoIueowxPFIYtGY55w3EdI_1aHn33kwQ_3bClhtvmS58pjqPMFsZzK-vYUWnsoM-TIa-RPb9Ezxds8jYA_m4LR/s1600-h/2010-03-20_08-57-37_buchstein_400x267_bis.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju1GetIb2LwpfCF1huu0JYzECmlfIy5gO9KBIo_9xwHVk83aQ7TJ-IweaoIueowxPFIYtGY55w3EdI_1aHn33kwQ_3bClhtvmS58pjqPMFsZzK-vYUWnsoM-TIa-RPb9Ezxds8jYA_m4LR/s400/2010-03-20_08-57-37_buchstein_400x267_bis.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451115716598037602" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The Roßstein (left) and Buchstein (right)</span><br /></span></div>First of all we climbed the Südverschneidung or Südwandschmankerl on the Buchstein. This is an old climb which follows a corner. It has solid rock, although it gets more vegetated in the upper pitches, and has been re-bolted almost to climbing wall standards. The hardest pitch was graded VI-, although this was generously graded - a V in the Wilder Kaiser is harder.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEqgkS8h-wf0qWM7FcLRZWpr0_wK0PT6nfz1knXCEeMyS88eKZqBGN50Gd3G_6qqqJG742diBu4-TNgohSUvbc9h7TqnVVXCSeAOuQHVrAEsYThCqC3Vj5vwSNppr2CFYTkx2YIEWB32Dm/s1600-h/2010-03-20_13-19-17_buchstein_400x300.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEqgkS8h-wf0qWM7FcLRZWpr0_wK0PT6nfz1knXCEeMyS88eKZqBGN50Gd3G_6qqqJG742diBu4-TNgohSUvbc9h7TqnVVXCSeAOuQHVrAEsYThCqC3Vj5vwSNppr2CFYTkx2YIEWB32Dm/s400/2010-03-20_13-19-17_buchstein_400x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451115716956351250" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Michael Stanton on Sahnestückchen<br /></span></span></div>After this climb we abseiled back down again and climbed Sahnestückchen. This is a totally different style of climb, a modern eliminate up the compact slabs to the right of the Südverschneidung and the sort of climb only made possible by bolts. The first pitch, graded VI, is wonderful - tricky technical slab climbing on rough compact rock. The second pitch, graded VII-, is the crux. This turned out to be a one-move wonder, with a desperately hard move which neither of us managed free. At the top we continued up a slippery snow gully to the summit of the Buchstein, which certainly was not pleasant in rock shoes, but gave us a wonderful view out over the Wetterstein to the south, the Karwendel to the southeast and the Rofangebirge to the east.Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-81994539427774858492010-03-09T04:00:00.000-08:002010-03-09T04:08:10.448-08:00Bayerische Alpen Nordtirol<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipU37UH1UAe8jRNMi2KBRaIcL5DaI83Fun_0gjXK4-9915l8HneVoUEq5HWrDa9HCRY4lZeupQB_yUnS-gVQYkYn4zPDfFaZI30x5Kp4VLY4-uQj-TTtVWiGxZRDZryan9PcetkfLi8lkJ/s1600-h/bayerische-alpen-nordtirol_400x282.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 282px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipU37UH1UAe8jRNMi2KBRaIcL5DaI83Fun_0gjXK4-9915l8HneVoUEq5HWrDa9HCRY4lZeupQB_yUnS-gVQYkYn4zPDfFaZI30x5Kp4VLY4-uQj-TTtVWiGxZRDZryan9PcetkfLi8lkJ/s400/bayerische-alpen-nordtirol_400x282.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446604389734690642" border="0" /></a><br />Selected climbs guide with 100 of the best-known classics in grades IV - VII from the Oberreintal, the Schüsselkarspitze, the Wilder Kaiser, the Karwendel, the Berchtesgadener and the Salzburger Alps, and some less well-known mountains. Each route receives a hand-drawn topo and a black and white crag photo with the line of the route. Approach and descent are described in German. For the publication date of 2004 the guide does not seem very modern. It has no climbing photos, and even the cover photo is a less than inspiring bum shot. Set against that, it is probably the quickest way to get to know the classic routes in this area. <p> </p><p>A second slightly revised edition was published in 2009.<br /></p>Author: Richard Goedeke<br />Published: Rother (2004)<br />ISBN: 3-7633-3016-XAlexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-69757533316028139022010-02-27T05:50:00.001-08:002010-02-27T06:16:15.372-08:00Wilder Kaiser, Band 1 and Band 2<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwEtN28zrYR7X8cpU9v9MyJoWE9c16UdaBuwxzGCwcRr3HXxzx6lEt7lAgnv5fqxTnSLCasTypsUCVgCyZpq3ibO9dtaQM-slDavih6L2rF4zf_8YNPTPvYC9O-1zqUn_UmqpXyZZD7G0r/s1600-h/wilder-kaiser_6-10_400x246.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 246px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwEtN28zrYR7X8cpU9v9MyJoWE9c16UdaBuwxzGCwcRr3HXxzx6lEt7lAgnv5fqxTnSLCasTypsUCVgCyZpq3ibO9dtaQM-slDavih6L2rF4zf_8YNPTPvYC9O-1zqUn_UmqpXyZZD7G0r/s400/wilder-kaiser_6-10_400x246.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442920717996707826" border="0" /></a>Topo-based guides to climbs in the Wilder Kaiser. Minimal text in German describes approach, how many bolts and pegs a climb has, and descent. Seriousness rating given on a scale of E1 - E6. This has nothing to do with British E-grades, and is better compared with the P-rating in the Yorkshire gritstone guide. Climbs in the lower grades are described in Band 1 and those in the upper grades in Band 2. As with all Panico guides in this series the topos are also reproduced on pocket-sized pull-out cards. Topos are clear and accurate.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCnMLFsyPmGSFi8PDqh0blOyEcOkUtfvPB_-zFxgPwUYtE_wyONZzhMhdf3RqrsUuXs4MGcN5KSeeUBK_5Gr1RlBNhOAsCC9MB4d4ZrCdFx4LRK6o934WyCSN4h9kiqCX9pEpeRibQPj4O/s1600-h/wilder-kaiser_3-6_400x246.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 246px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCnMLFsyPmGSFi8PDqh0blOyEcOkUtfvPB_-zFxgPwUYtE_wyONZzhMhdf3RqrsUuXs4MGcN5KSeeUBK_5Gr1RlBNhOAsCC9MB4d4ZrCdFx4LRK6o934WyCSN4h9kiqCX9pEpeRibQPj4O/s400/wilder-kaiser_3-6_400x246.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442920715072618146" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Author: Markus Stadler<br />Publisher: Panico (2004)<br />ISBN: 978-3-936740-06-6 and 978-3-936740-13-4Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-9004009974089265552010-02-26T23:48:00.000-08:002010-02-27T06:23:19.646-08:00Best of Genuss, Band 1<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwYang4mKA8IMzutjVL7DuMNNBTPHXBUrMtRa5cW21GymGgsPOQaBVkv3DzwGnQ3SbrLXDI_KZq8w0KqV5ieVo9F6snZQbxj0m11aJ5iJWc30nl_-2mc9_61Y_JH2P8jKx_O4FJnBV7D6p/s1600-h/best-of-genuss_1_400x255.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 255px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwYang4mKA8IMzutjVL7DuMNNBTPHXBUrMtRa5cW21GymGgsPOQaBVkv3DzwGnQ3SbrLXDI_KZq8w0KqV5ieVo9F6snZQbxj0m11aJ5iJWc30nl_-2mc9_61Y_JH2P8jKx_O4FJnBV7D6p/s400/best-of-genuss_1_400x255.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442829497368412226" border="0" /></a>Selected climbs guide covering the Salzburger and Berchtesgadener Alps. The guide covers climbs in the range from IV to VII, although the emphasis is more on climbs at the upper end of this range. Furthermore the guide concentrates on the many new bolted climbs which have been established in this area in the last two decades. For example, the Hinterstoisser/Kurz and the Barth Chimney, two well-known classics on the Berchtesgadener Hochthron from the start of the 20th century, are ignored in favour of newer but less well-known climbs. On the other hand, the guide contains many routes currently (2010) not described anywhere else. The authors are prolific new-routers in this region and include many of their own climbs. <p> </p><p>The guidebook has many colour photographs for inspiration as well as colour crag photos with the lines of the routes. Each climb recieves a well-drawn topo as well as notes on approach and descent in German. Some climbs also receive a pitch by pitch description. </p><p> </p><p>Of greatest interest to visiting climbers is likely to be the Hochkönig massif. A great number of the climbs in this massif are equipped with the controversial home-made <a href="http://www.bergsteigen.at/de/Bericht.aspx?ID=13062">Sigi-bolts</a>. These have been linked to at least one fatal accident and subsequently shown in <a href="http://www.bergrettung.at/uploads/media/SigiboltsGesamtergebnisse.pdf">tests</a> by the German Alpine Club (DAV) to show a large spread in failure loads. The authors have consequently decided not to describe any of the routes protected by Sigi-bolts, but still manage to include a large selection of other routes in the Hochkönig.(The DAV has also issue a <a href="http://www.alpenverein.de/template_loader.php?tplpage_id=13&_article_id=1225">warning</a> concerning the use of these bolts.)<br /></p><br />Authors: Rudolf Kühberger, Gerald Forchthammer<br />Published: Panico <i>(2008)</i><br />ISBN: 978-3-936740-37-0Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-41569867125205153172009-08-26T02:38:00.000-07:002010-01-16T00:25:41.660-08:00Wilder Kaiser, 24th August 2009Anthony Woodrow had time for a quick trip down to Munich and then the Wilder Kaiser between flights to and from Frankfurt, and the <a href="http://www.bergsteigen.at/de/touren.aspx?ID=558">Via Classica</a> on the Fleischbank seemed like a good opportunity to get up something long-ish with hopefully minimal potential for surprises. It is a sport route of 15 pitches (including two walks over grassy ledges), bolted in 2002. Due to its bolt protection, its good rock, its easy climbing and its position directly opposite the balcony of the <a href="http://www.stripsenjoch.at/">Stripsenjochhaus</a> it has quickly become very popular, and even on a Monday we were not the only party on the route.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDY0saPgSglEFk06V-8ke9b9Vp7uHIyxbArolu-t6C7OgmviQ-KVOnf6MoREDRfW9dCIuhVN5wacS36mUvTfqXXk-iOECfDg3Pb0Ngv0NPpceQtkIUYGi_qujA1jZwzD4xNFm_3Y0xRK6P/s1600-h/2009_film_1_scan0032_400x267.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDY0saPgSglEFk06V-8ke9b9Vp7uHIyxbArolu-t6C7OgmviQ-KVOnf6MoREDRfW9dCIuhVN5wacS36mUvTfqXXk-iOECfDg3Pb0Ngv0NPpceQtkIUYGi_qujA1jZwzD4xNFm_3Y0xRK6P/s400/2009_film_1_scan0032_400x267.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427249204142185266" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Anthony Woodrow on the Via Classica on the Fleischbank</span></span><br /></div><br />The climbing got better the higher we went, the highlight being the 50m V+ pitch near the top, which was sustained at the lower end of VS for almost all of its length. The bolt spacing was such that I didn't place any of my own gear apart from on the last two pitches, and route finding was not a problem either. Without being in a hurry we got up in five and a quarter hours.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLHNhXfWpMMWJaqDJ2DqDBkzPxySpNK72-znYGrqrFhTtQ5LkVsq5s6TNarOoivzvlbNv4yqlnNDuyrG39YxFm_Lu5lNfGUoXJHf1wvI5fJt7gtPYWuuxjIGBD33HvjY3bmagQEiwUVSw-/s1600-h/2009_film_3_scan0030_400x266.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLHNhXfWpMMWJaqDJ2DqDBkzPxySpNK72-znYGrqrFhTtQ5LkVsq5s6TNarOoivzvlbNv4yqlnNDuyrG39YxFm_Lu5lNfGUoXJHf1wvI5fJt7gtPYWuuxjIGBD33HvjY3bmagQEiwUVSw-/s400/2009_film_3_scan0030_400x266.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427250703550542418" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Anthony Woodrow finishing the last pitch of the Via Classica</span></span><br /></div><br />Getting down was more of an event. We had to continue over the summit of the Fleischbank, which involved a couple of bad steps for which we roped up again, before descending to the Christascharte and ab-ing into the Steinerne Rinne. We had taken enough water for the climb only, and by the time we got back to the hut in the perfect August weather our mouths were dry and we were dreaming of Apfelsaftschorle.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqz9g3FkosFNa6zyfR6zVKYvG_AFUkpP1M6miUm-0rd0FNdrkIa_Jmzcm9v8i5VvREZ3FcuBla-3eTSS_C6fNSB9JL_wT8gYwKLEyLeIre99e1rFtlSssuPkBvjC2kM6IAzezLUECn9yK2/s1600-h/2009_film_1_scan0038_400x267.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqz9g3FkosFNa6zyfR6zVKYvG_AFUkpP1M6miUm-0rd0FNdrkIa_Jmzcm9v8i5VvREZ3FcuBla-3eTSS_C6fNSB9JL_wT8gYwKLEyLeIre99e1rFtlSssuPkBvjC2kM6IAzezLUECn9yK2/s400/2009_film_1_scan0038_400x267.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427249876658020130" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Anthony Woodrow climbing onto the summit of the Fleischbank</span></span><br /></div>Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-32412253571750604982009-07-28T10:04:00.000-07:002010-01-16T00:12:27.131-08:00Wilder Kaiser, 25th / 26th July 2009<div style="text-align: left;">The weather forecast delivered on its promise of showers for the northern side of the eastern Alps, and so Ingo Peter, Felix Lütkenherm and I spent much of the Saturday morning sitting in the <a href="http://www.stripsenjoch.at/">Stripsenjochhaus</a> eating Apfelstrudel, drinking coffee, and looking out of the window wondering when the rock would dry. Ingo thankfully had topos for some shorter routes not too far from the hut, and was motivated enough to get us out of the door again shortly before lunchtime, but even then we sheltered from another two showers and saw two other parties turn back before we got as far as the start of the Schneiderweg (V+, 5 pitches) on the Totenkirchl.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNPtFdZ3SRj1IRlK7sLcVI1A5iBA6zPdnNu8zQXcCDBJRSQDq1IJkLL65LisB-nLQp1YlFkPrRYH5AQyW2jDLwT2pFjwlrKLEMvckY0eQ9QeasUOP8Bj6Eq3M4PtC_r0Wm01oqVM3LcXgh/s1600-h/2009_film_2_scan0004_400x265.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 265px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNPtFdZ3SRj1IRlK7sLcVI1A5iBA6zPdnNu8zQXcCDBJRSQDq1IJkLL65LisB-nLQp1YlFkPrRYH5AQyW2jDLwT2pFjwlrKLEMvckY0eQ9QeasUOP8Bj6Eq3M4PtC_r0Wm01oqVM3LcXgh/s400/2009_film_2_scan0004_400x265.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427244029054780322" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Evening sun on the Fleischbank after a rainy day<br /></span></span></div><br />The first pitch goes up an unproblematic grade IV corner before traversing right to a stance which, unusually for Austria, had no bolts and just one inconveniently placed rusty old peg. From here a short pitch leads up to a cramped stance jammed between a rock spike and the overhanging wall above. After this is where the fun starts. A rough crack leads diagonally upwards and leftwards around the overhang. Beneath the crack is a compact wall with smears for the feet, while above the crack the overhang pushes out. It is possible to get the right leg into the crack, and hope that the left foot sticks to the sloping toe holds beneath. This was my favourite pitch of the route, and would be worth going back for.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnlTwY1EVoHRU1Rfhc_BC3MVkQw6oA_MjY5_DhdnKZLGDKydaq8Y10vhqpfJVR_X3v5heApWqMYiJcc6_ebgtZO6e2yefR7FSAtyNYvOohJJ4Grevzpg_wEKlxq5Czc5OS_wAXHEuxOUp_/s1600-h/2009_film_4_scan0025_400x266.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnlTwY1EVoHRU1Rfhc_BC3MVkQw6oA_MjY5_DhdnKZLGDKydaq8Y10vhqpfJVR_X3v5heApWqMYiJcc6_ebgtZO6e2yefR7FSAtyNYvOohJJ4Grevzpg_wEKlxq5Czc5OS_wAXHEuxOUp_/s400/2009_film_4_scan0025_400x266.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427244771978719026" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Felix Lütkenherm at the end of pitch 3 on the Schneiderweg on the Totenkirchl<br /></span></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The fourth pitch is a foot traverse with small and sometimes low handholds rightwards out over the overhang turned by the previous pitch. Rain had already been threatening as we finished the second pitch, and now as I came to the end of the rightwards traverse it arrived. The last few meters to the belay were not as difficult, and thankfully the shower was almost over again by the time Felix and Ingo joined me.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz8GLCw4VVl8rbWk1LO4KzV2pgLmjAEQBn4Y3vVp0u4fOeoUJ_lBZMHcm5Cx5-nw75XA8tFc3X1L3R7YRwisRsot1ZdsXDdokKXqfbvYcfwhwaD8hYEwvCA2EoMZZABC5RNHlzS9KPM2Na/s1600-h/2009_film_4_scan0026_400x267.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz8GLCw4VVl8rbWk1LO4KzV2pgLmjAEQBn4Y3vVp0u4fOeoUJ_lBZMHcm5Cx5-nw75XA8tFc3X1L3R7YRwisRsot1ZdsXDdokKXqfbvYcfwhwaD8hYEwvCA2EoMZZABC5RNHlzS9KPM2Na/s400/2009_film_4_scan0026_400x267.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427245552734858882" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family:arial;">The Stripsenjoch seen from the Totenkirchl<br /></span></span></div><br />The last pitch was an unpleasant Wilder Kaiser chimney. This was not my first experience of these, and they are somehow unlike anything I have ever climbed in England or Wales. In its depths it was wet, polished, and not easy to protect, although there were some bolts and pegs in place. After first traversing left, then penduluming right, and first pulling then standing on a peg<br />before traversing left again, I had the most awful rope drag and for the last few meters could only stand up at all on both legs simultaneously. The pitch was graded V+, which is usually about VS, but this was more like VS for HVS climbers.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjecblOhTgiQDPMAVdjY9GEz7LCGUgMFam1lzBfOWnFrwft9tw5PsTLq3FwBNAqCGVRuJ3ge-x_pLvidarChvD0zwGxPXQGWtqNqsXkhuOpCQhINevSTl9u7_Jr9xPLnXYjB7OYYTfZ37d/s1600-h/P1040329_400.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 225px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjecblOhTgiQDPMAVdjY9GEz7LCGUgMFam1lzBfOWnFrwft9tw5PsTLq3FwBNAqCGVRuJ3ge-x_pLvidarChvD0zwGxPXQGWtqNqsXkhuOpCQhINevSTl9u7_Jr9xPLnXYjB7OYYTfZ37d/s400/P1040329_400.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363890918504680850" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >Crux pitch of the Christakante</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">On the Sunday we did the <a href="http://www.bergsteigen.at/de/touren.aspx?ID=572">Christakante</a> (V/A0, 10 pitches) on the Christaturm, next to the Ellmauer Tor at the top of the Steinerne Rinne. The weather turned out warm and sunny, the climbing was easy and pleasant, and we got to the top without event. The pitches varied between Diff and the lower end of VS, with three steep and very slippery meters of climbing being overcome by pulling on the bolts.<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqqy6GRVyfR9aBY1jsly-0OIvXh-17S9rCnaFdBCZqtgjemIvtiQ0mind_O_My2xZw5nQT1W6cFPjRnpuiPhfP3LLWCAS5FELfUxOWZhb21b9wlpN07eKJNL_6k0vLM7AJXcg0va2nYwcH/s1600-h/2009_film_2_scan0023_400x266.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqqy6GRVyfR9aBY1jsly-0OIvXh-17S9rCnaFdBCZqtgjemIvtiQ0mind_O_My2xZw5nQT1W6cFPjRnpuiPhfP3LLWCAS5FELfUxOWZhb21b9wlpN07eKJNL_6k0vLM7AJXcg0va2nYwcH/s400/2009_film_2_scan0023_400x266.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427246673617591026" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Ingo Peter and Felix Lütkenherm on the Christakante<br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsfldjxcw_QCweQDytB8Jj80n4Rjh30nKBT0ZyN0xX5yIfkwWZ3ZS7t3cOTEVBpZ7M1joMBdWooG9nMIszLDbdjHAXbylqxeq3swT2eabbDp-7HNp7Mve0QuoshA4pBWkKfPiuqnwtkohV/s1600-h/P1040353_400.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsfldjxcw_QCweQDytB8Jj80n4Rjh30nKBT0ZyN0xX5yIfkwWZ3ZS7t3cOTEVBpZ7M1joMBdWooG9nMIszLDbdjHAXbylqxeq3swT2eabbDp-7HNp7Mve0QuoshA4pBWkKfPiuqnwtkohV/s400/P1040353_400.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363890922701560770" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: courier new; font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: arial;">On the summit of the Christaturm</span></span><br /></div></div></div>Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-83254063266193194482009-07-28T09:54:00.000-07:002010-01-16T00:17:11.432-08:00Schüsselkarspitze, 11th / 12th July 2009<div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">After several weekends in a row of really wet weather I was all too ready to read a little more into a slightly more optimistic weather forecast for the north side of the eastern Alps than turned out to be justified.<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCgWz9M2QC9UR33eE55CnHbq1NQ3kvH-Ofe7ZFxraCz4U44thRPLsxnoSHYixk_4_d34uY4UVZdVc0J2rC9XTDKjdDObv8sSG1mJ1fYQfQauT2oTZ0Gg0hEwwA131XrLl0_SvkNtBm4ufD/s1600-h/2009_film_4_scan0015_400x266.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 265px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCgWz9M2QC9UR33eE55CnHbq1NQ3kvH-Ofe7ZFxraCz4U44thRPLsxnoSHYixk_4_d34uY4UVZdVc0J2rC9XTDKjdDObv8sSG1mJ1fYQfQauT2oTZ0Gg0hEwwA131XrLl0_SvkNtBm4ufD/s400/2009_film_4_scan0015_400x266.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427248097776603778" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Hohe Munde seen from the Schüsselkarspitze</span></span><br /></div><br />Ingo Peter and I stayed in the Wangalm, on the south side of the Wetterstein, but after a cold rainy night we were not in a hurry to get started. By half past ten we were standing at the bottom of the Locker vom Hocker slab on the Schüsselkarspitze wondering at first where the Meßner / Sint route could go, and then, once we had excluded all other possibilities, whether the guidebook grade of VI+ could really be right. It was cold and misty, and after an hour and a half of sitting there shivering we gave up waiting for the weather to get better and went off to do the Leberle on the Scharnitzspitze.<br /><br />The first three pitches of this were straightforward, but the fourth turned out to be good value for IV. As it was it started to rain and then to hail as Ingo seconded this pitch, and soon the rock was soaking wet. After a while the rain stopped and our friends Mario Senke and Felix Lütkenherm appeared below. However, after an hour of standing shivering at the belay the rock was showing no signs of getting any dryer, so we abbed and that was that.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcEetpz3g-h3pDRWT6LBP8ceAprTBERddRXZnyUqILAgbElX1GBYeUurMAm4SLuqiA8pnaWE-p8T4ol4LwLw8sd0gLXR-6Bw2Q2GFJUj-fqe-1Dmm8C-Dz_w12kMP-N3ee5vFtbJUYCdn_/s1600-h/2009_film_4_scan0018_400x266.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcEetpz3g-h3pDRWT6LBP8ceAprTBERddRXZnyUqILAgbElX1GBYeUurMAm4SLuqiA8pnaWE-p8T4ol4LwLw8sd0gLXR-6Bw2Q2GFJUj-fqe-1Dmm8C-Dz_w12kMP-N3ee5vFtbJUYCdn_/s400/2009_film_4_scan0018_400x266.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427248515521232722" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Ingo Peter on the 4th pitch of the Leberle on the Scharnitzspitze</span></span><br /></div><br />Sunday went even worse. Ingo and I didn't get anything done at all, although Mario and Felix got up the Leberle on the Scharnitzspitze. We bumped into Arnaud Richel and climbing partner who wanted to do a route called <a href="http://www.bergsteigen.at/de/touren.aspx?ID=835">Steiler Zahn</a> just to the right of the Meßner / Sint, although they didn't end up getting up that either.Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-64414668621070328532009-05-31T23:33:00.000-07:002009-07-06T05:49:51.439-07:00Via del Missile (VI+), Monte Casale, Sarca Valley, 18th August 2007Once again a super climb in the Sarca Valley, probably the most exciting climb of the year.<br /><br />Egon Kirschner had the bright idea of not setting off too early, so as not to spend too long climbing in the sun. We didn't spend very long climbing in the sun, but we did come quite close to being able to enjoy a night on a ledge near the top of the route.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiqb5HDwKFad_5Rmxni4KbHUbyQ01PjKpuJOOU-jlRQyIBpOQxXTIQqRaXQAZvU7mqnMEbmTBldu70PN_zXwqx54t-ScFB2eOuUEtIbs5TVFqoCkPV5Mbu8iS4xnjtPR7SbooREsYKs2yr/s1600-h/2007-08-18_via-del-missile_routenfuehrung_400x300.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiqb5HDwKFad_5Rmxni4KbHUbyQ01PjKpuJOOU-jlRQyIBpOQxXTIQqRaXQAZvU7mqnMEbmTBldu70PN_zXwqx54t-ScFB2eOuUEtIbs5TVFqoCkPV5Mbu8iS4xnjtPR7SbooREsYKs2yr/s400/2007-08-18_via-del-missile_routenfuehrung_400x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342247223041010354" border="0" /></a>The first couple of pitches were relatively easy. The third got a bit more exciting, however. Here it was necessary to climb up a corner from the belay and then somehow traverse left across a horizontal crack. This was a lot harder than it looked, and it soon became clear why the guidebook says A0 for this pitch. Egon led the traverse swinging from peg to peg, and then had to lower himself perhaps fifteen feet from a long piece of tat hanging from the last peg. While hanging at the end of the tat it was then possible to pendulum leftwards and reach more pegs, then using these to climb back up again to the continuation of the horizontal crack, in which four not entirely confidence-inspiring pegs made up the hanging belay. It didn't look much fun to lead, and wasn't much fun to second either. I was much happier once I had clipped the next two pegs of the next pitch.<br /><br />For a while the climbing was easier, and then came a long steep corner crack, graded at VI+ in the guidebook. This should have been a lovely E1 pitch, but after my summer of activity I was not up to sustained E1 climbing without rests. Soon I clipped into a peg, and I ended up aiding the entire pitch with a combination of pegs and the thankfully plentiful nut placements.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTqJP-tRGPmxupWX2rzyHIEN7lamhxUi839zZSoiKZky5tXbA_fG2OJbm05qHJYlOWxfNvveuV8EaCYkmZG2eVbvOFwL5donawd0Bqdg0_Wym1xNlLoI0xNy7J_2CPXB9tZM2cQFw58coc/s1600-h/2007-08-18_via-del-missile_a_400x261.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 261px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTqJP-tRGPmxupWX2rzyHIEN7lamhxUi839zZSoiKZky5tXbA_fG2OJbm05qHJYlOWxfNvveuV8EaCYkmZG2eVbvOFwL5donawd0Bqdg0_Wym1xNlLoI0xNy7J_2CPXB9tZM2cQFw58coc/s400/2007-08-18_via-del-missile_a_400x261.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342247401993355330" border="0" /></a>After this came a deep wide crack with few holds. Egon led this not without cursing and struggle. He soon took his rucksack off and left this on a ledge for me to carry while seconding. Protection was almost non-existant, but a fall would have seen him not so much fall from the wall, but rather further into the crack and probably get stuck. Thankfully it did not come to this.<br /><br />Presently we came to a large vegetated ledge on which the guidebook indicated we should traverse a long way to the right. By this time it was clear that we did not have very much daylight left. Unfortunately it was not clear which of the not very inviting exits from the ledge it was necessary to take, and I ended up traversing rather too far. By the time we had traversed back again we had even less light left.<br /><br />Egon then led up a loose and unpleasant wide corner, from the top of which our goal was in sight. Just one more pitch separated us from the summit plateau. Unfortunately this turned out to be one of the hardest of the route, a wide hold-less crack a bit reminiscent of the top of Wall Buttress at Stanage only longer and with rather less friction.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnb-gygKL1qbVkm_8v5G7nkkiIzcno0ndXsASm7jLYSOBkY_YkMoW75nQIuZTpQEje4jdUAuaB8y6osK33I9MADmnpCpwXGU6l1Sq5dbWspmo9tI1aMpsZjppOR2UEn8Nd2HwtlholHLJb/s1600-h/2007-08-18_via-del-missile_b_400x261.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 261px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnb-gygKL1qbVkm_8v5G7nkkiIzcno0ndXsASm7jLYSOBkY_YkMoW75nQIuZTpQEje4jdUAuaB8y6osK33I9MADmnpCpwXGU6l1Sq5dbWspmo9tI1aMpsZjppOR2UEn8Nd2HwtlholHLJb/s400/2007-08-18_via-del-missile_b_400x261.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342247627039285458" border="0" /></a>Had this been a one pitch climb on a crag I would not have put myself through it. However, given that Egon had led the unpleasant aid pitch and the first unpleasant crack, I could not very well shirk this lead. I had been saving my last few drops of water for the summit, but my mouth was dry and I couldn't hold out any longer, so I emptied the water bottle before setting off. I too found myself taking off my rucksack and leaving it clipped to a runner before things got really difficult. Somehow through a combination of squeezing, writhing, panting and pausing apparently without holds but somehow wedged into the crack to get my breath back I got to the top. Egon then had the no more agreeable job of getting his way up there carrying both rucksacks, which he managed with help from the rope. It was now nine o'clock.<br /><br />In the wood on top it was pitch dark. In an act of generosity Egon cut his apple in two with his nut key and gave me half. We then still had the business of getting down before us, for which we had no map and only vague instructions, which proved to be next to no use whatsoever. It took us a total of three hours staggering around in the dark before we eventually found our way down to the road, still miles from the car. Thankfully Andrea managed to persuade Renate to come and pick us up, otherwise it would probably have been another two hours before we got back to our car.Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-76100301569011315312009-05-31T23:25:00.000-07:002009-06-03T22:27:55.683-07:00Somewhere in the Transvaal, 3rd October 2002Wednesday 2nd October, a nature reserve somewhere in the Transvaal:<br /><br />Up at six for a drive through the nearest part of the reserve. We don't see a lot, just a few buck and a few piles of rhinoceros droppings. Later go for a walk up the <span style="font-style: italic;">kopje</span> (hill) behind the house and picnic on the top.<br /><br />Back at the house we pack up the <span style="font-style: italic;">bakkie</span> (pick-up), and set off for a remote part of the reserve. On the way there we see kudu in the bush beside the road, a herd of giraffe in the trees, then on the lake shore half a mile away rhinoceros and a huge herd of wildebeest. Further along we find zebra.<br /><br />I take the wheel. The track is now quite a bit rougher, but it's amazing what these 4x4s will cover. Crawling forward at low revs we pick our way over rocks and boulders for hours, and finally we arrive at our campsite in the dark.<br /><br />Thursday 3rd October:<br /><br />Up at five. We swallow a quick breakfast of porridge and then pack the climbing rucksacks. Surprisingly the sky has completely clouded over. Rob is nervous. It is the very end of the dry season, and heavy rain is expected any day now. Not only might this make our climb tricky, but it could make the Oliphants River unfordable on our return.<br /><br />For now the Oliphants is very low, and I get across with my boots on. We beat our way up the <span style="font-style: italic;">kloof</span> (ravine) of a tributary of the Oliphants, and then head upwards to the base of the cliffs. Not for the first time on this trip we can't find our route. The cliffs are half a mile wide, with just twenty routes so far, with purely textual descriptions. We are looking for a climb called Raze The Dead, which is just to the right of the descent gully.<br /><br />Rob has been here once before and quickly finds a corner which looks like the bottom of the descent gully. Moving a bit to the right he then finds another corner which looks even more like the bottom of the descent gully. This is repeated another time, and another. At the fourth we have had enough of finding the same descent gully in four different places, and decide that the route must be here. The rock is compact red sandstone and looks good.<br /><br />I lead the first pitch. It's easy, about VDiff. The second looks a bit harder. Rob has to go up a bit from the belay, traverse rightwards across the top of the corner, and continue rightwards over a steep wall to reach easier ground. By this stage we have decided that we are off route. Suddenly, from about twenty feet above the belay and to the right, Rob comes flying off. First he hits the rock to my right and then he crashes into me, before swinging back to come to a rest suspended in his harness over the corner to my right. One of his pieces of gear has popped, but another has held. My leg is pretty sore at first where he hit it, but this eases fast, and we swap positions at the belay. Rob is shaking and has had enough of leading for the time being.<br /><br />It's really not as easy as it looks. I dilly-dally and go back and forward for about half an hour. Meanwhile Rob is looking at his watch and telling me that we're not a quarter of the way up the<br />cliff yet. Eventually I waggle in an unconvincing Friend, and with this for moral support make the move. The pitch ends with a pleasant surprise: a cave, large enough for two to sleep in shelter, and not visible from the ground.<br /><br />The traverse pitch turns out to be the one difficult pitch of the climb, and everything after that is about VDiff, although still a bit stressful, as very poorly protected, despite being covered in holds. I lead a further three long pitches, two of them the full length of the ropes, and a shorter one, before we arrive on top. There is a bit of additional excitement near the start of pitch five when an earth foot-hold gives way and I fall feet first on to the top of a small pillar. I lose my footing, fall backwards, and almost do a backwards somersault over the edge of the cliff.<br /><br />At the top we are not out of the woods yet. Rob can't find the descent. Meanwhile I have had enough of deciding which way to go after doing all the leading over what was unknown ground, so am happy to follow. All I can think of is water. After an hour and a half wandering up and down the bushy slopes of the top of the cliff we find it. By the time we are at the bottom of the final ab it is pitch black.<br /><br />Once back in the <span style="font-style: italic;">kloof</span> Rob sees fit to give me instructions for what to do if we meet a buffalo or a leopard. Meanwhile I still can't think of anything but water. Rob drinks from the stream, which is<br />scarcely moving, and I hold out for the first hour or so, but in the end I give in, and decide that a drink is probably worth the risk of being sick tomorrow.<br /><br />Rob walks into the water while fording the Oliphants on the way back, but blames this on my walking stick. We get back to the tent at eight, and drink water, then fruit juice, then rooibos tea, then beer. Rob says he thinks we have climbed a new route.Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-34501460613395952412009-05-31T07:29:00.000-07:002009-07-06T05:56:20.788-07:00Steger Route, Rosengartenspitze E Face, 9th August 2005This was my most exciting route of 2005.<br /><br />Anthony Woodrow and I started climbing at eight or so, and for most of the way up the climbing was straightforward. Somehow we were however slow. It was mostly fairly pleasant, and also had an interesting chimney pitch. I had forgotten to take the equipment from Anthony at the last belay, so I just had a few quickdraws and nuts left over from the previous pitch. This didn't turn out to be as much of a problem as it might have been, as there wasn't much opportunity to use these in any case, and so instead I wedged myself as deeply into the crack as possible. I squirmed and squeezed my way upwards, with the knowledge that Anthony would soon have to climb the same crack making it all seem not too bad. Sure enough, he enjoyed it even less than I did, and the shiny bits on his rucksack weren't quite as shiny afterwards either.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRivBujtaWVJnWm8d5-fTxhlQp6mWeEO8IK1_GqowBXPY_Uwq92miJsIKD34K1kTEYkeNz9ml7zaLE_nYvZq3VPiiJYy-3GpmwGQmOI7oS-W9itGHhYp9gO0FEswTed9TwYMfHuXczt8wQ/s1600-h/rosengartenspitze-east-face_400x300.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRivBujtaWVJnWm8d5-fTxhlQp6mWeEO8IK1_GqowBXPY_Uwq92miJsIKD34K1kTEYkeNz9ml7zaLE_nYvZq3VPiiJYy-3GpmwGQmOI7oS-W9itGHhYp9gO0FEswTed9TwYMfHuXczt8wQ/s400/rosengartenspitze-east-face_400x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342238713661680482" border="0" /></a>We got higher and higher, but unfortunately it was getting later and later. According to the guidebook it was necessary to traverse right away from the main crack at some point, but unfortunately I did this too soon. It become clear to me after making this mistake that we were going to end up spending the night on the route, but unfortunately less so to Anthony, who looked quite surprised as I remarked to him that we had better starting looking for somewhere to sleep.<br /><br />By sheer good luck there was a cave to be seen slightly above and to the left of our belay. I climbed up to it and it turned out to be just the right size for two people to sleep. At first I banged in a peg, which then turned out to be superfluous when I crawled to the back of the cave and discovered a providential thread. The roof of the cave was not quite high enough for sitting up even at its highest point and the floor sloped down and then out over the east face of the Rosengartenspitze, so we were keen to make sure that everything was clipped on, not just ourselves. Once we had done that there wasn't much more for it than to settle down for a not very comfortable night. To someone like Mick Fowler the bivvy would probably have qualified as four star at least, but when you're not used to it and are dressed for a rock climb then it's not as much fun.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6p0S4JxzJ5LbfTzjxR_KCniEvO_tHIote7fAQWcKNMNKws8enl6jB-b22yiptbayokOrb-lGBuxhWOMo81mc4FqfeYhOAVm2-OcuRxDWBclybFEWIUtzky27G50Uplissek0i4uulV4wh/s1600-h/2005-08-09_21-54-06-dolomites.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6p0S4JxzJ5LbfTzjxR_KCniEvO_tHIote7fAQWcKNMNKws8enl6jB-b22yiptbayokOrb-lGBuxhWOMo81mc4FqfeYhOAVm2-OcuRxDWBclybFEWIUtzky27G50Uplissek0i4uulV4wh/s320/2005-08-09_21-54-06-dolomites.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342091461546643842" border="0" /></a>Anthony sent a text message to his girlfriend Ned, who was waiting for us below in the hut with our friends Maria and Mario, to say that we were fine but that we would be down tomorrow. Her reply, when it came, was not what we had expected. It is in the spirit of British mountaineering that if somebody wants to spend a cold, uncomfortable night on a ledge three quarters of the way up a cliff, then that is his business. Apparently the Italians don't see it like that. Our lights had been seen from the Gardacia Hut below, and now a group of indignant mountain guides had gathered and were threatening to rescue us. All evening long an unpleasant exchange of text messages went back and forth, relayed by the luckless Ned, in which the guides accused us of recklessness and stupidity, against which we tried to tell them that we were fine and would they please just go away. Eventually they did call it a day, departing with a threat that if we weren't down by such-and-such a time the following day then they would rescue us whether we liked it or not.<br /><br />What with the chilly night (the thermometer outside the Vajolet Hut had registerd 5 degrees C) and the hard ledge we didn't sleep as much as we might, and were very glad when the sun came over the horizon. We were then able to witness a beautiful sunrise over the Marmolada. Unfortunately I was cold enough that I didn't get my camera out to record it.<br /><br />Once we had packed our rucksacks again we made two big and unpleasant diagonal abseils to get back on route and climbed up a bit further to the point where we should have turned right. Here it is totally clear which way the route goes. From here a pleasant rising traverse, a wonderful grade V wall pitch and an interesting windy chimney led to the summit ridge, from which it was just a scramble to the summit itself.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj7LX9VncxSSWyM01JceV4MTzRdflzU4OG81Bg0VgVBSIPuaxYo0q4sW9swyYiVXdP1WrljJYsfUeoRIv7y1-ryMYhnNgyDLj0ypVwP64HgDTDRKeUYp6bo5Ts_SyE74wFPs81glotHAHQ/s1600-h/2005-08-10_15-18-49-dolomites_320x240.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj7LX9VncxSSWyM01JceV4MTzRdflzU4OG81Bg0VgVBSIPuaxYo0q4sW9swyYiVXdP1WrljJYsfUeoRIv7y1-ryMYhnNgyDLj0ypVwP64HgDTDRKeUYp6bo5Ts_SyE74wFPs81glotHAHQ/s320/2005-08-10_15-18-49-dolomites_320x240.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342238471856412834" border="0" /></a>Ned was sweet enough to come up to the Santner Pass Hut below the west face to meet us, bringing us all sorts of nice things to eat. Considering that I had only eaten half a dry roll in the past twenty four hours I wasn't very hungry, but it was very nice to be met. Back at the Vajolet Hut I did a better job of doing justice to my supper that evening.Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-48004213938927255782009-05-31T06:02:00.000-07:002009-07-06T06:00:06.973-07:00Cesare Levis, Pian del Paia, Sarca Valley, 28th October 2006This was my first multi-pitch route in the Sarca Valley, and what a super discovery it was! Until buying the guidebook Pareti del Sarca by Diego Filippi I had thought that the Arco experience meant queueing for the few easy routes in Nago or Massone, but now I learnt that the area has much more to offer.<br /><br />The first few pitches were a modern variant start and consisted of easy pleasant slab climbing with frequent bolts. As such they were out of character with the rest of the route. The harder climbing started by the jammed Friend marked in the guidebook. I don't know if there was any point in clipping it, but there certainly was no point in trying to get it out again.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtTZneGV7Ek8PmnEL6hnmyGKcqAgUAkzgmU7gJDnTHgKnbSj3Suefmepfo5MQIzhawFVrtv_7WFlErMGghHXYkwT29tF7LOZ_PC7qOhOlmnr_Zh2apg61Fv8ktmrbZR7OSboGM3Gi4pQpM/s1600-h/2006-10-28_11-45-24-gardasee_400x300.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtTZneGV7Ek8PmnEL6hnmyGKcqAgUAkzgmU7gJDnTHgKnbSj3Suefmepfo5MQIzhawFVrtv_7WFlErMGghHXYkwT29tF7LOZ_PC7qOhOlmnr_Zh2apg61Fv8ktmrbZR7OSboGM3Gi4pQpM/s400/2006-10-28_11-45-24-gardasee_400x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341976264435053986" border="0" /></a>Shortly after this came the best pitch of the route, the big roof. I made several attempts to climb this free. To do this it was necessary to climb a steep wall on the left before reaching the crack at the lip of the overhang. Providentially it was possible to fill this with good nuts. It was then necessary to traverse this to the right, with the footholds getting ever smaller and further away under the overhang, before attempting to reach over the right-hand end of the overhang and hoping to find a hold there. Had this been on Stanage I would have stuck at it until I got it free. As it was, however, it was necessary to downclimb quite a long way to get back to a restful position, and I didn't want to spend all day on this one pitch when I didn't know what the others above would bring, so I ended up grabbing the piece of tat which hung temptingly from the right hand side of the overhang, only to find a huge hidden hold only slightly further than I had got on my free attempts!<br /><br />The belay above was not confidence-inspiring, consisting of two rusty pegs in a steep wall and a foot ledge small enough for the belay to qualify at least as semi-hanging. I reinforced the pegs with a Wallnut number 1 in the crack above.<br /><br />Ingo did not waste any time on free attempts, but rather grabbed straight for the tat and hauled himself ingloriously up there. This suited me fine, as I was not looking forward to testing the belay. Mario, however, struggled a bit removing the two nuts which I had placed in the overhang before resorting to his dynamic traverse technique, demonstrated early that year on the Erdenkäufer/Sigl on the Schüsselkarspitze, i.e. he let go and swung across. The pegs flexed but stayed put. Unfortunately he managed to swing too far, and in his efforts to get back to climbable rock managed to pull off a block about the size of a cabbage together with the rubble surrounding it. We had earlier heard voices beneath us, and were relieved to work out that these belonged to climbers attempting a neighbouring route not directly in the fall line of our climb.<br /><br />Leaving the belay was also somewhat tricky. There was only room for one on the tiny foot ledge, and so Ingo and then Mario had taken refuge in a cramped and uncomfortable position beneath an overhang slightly below and to one side of the belay. Ingo now took my place on the ledge, while Mario remained under the overhang. The climbing immediately above the belay was not much fun either. It was not desperately hard, but loose and lacking in good protection. I did not fancy one bit taking a factor two fall back onto the wobbly pegs and so used up a large fraction of my rack in the first few metres above the belay placing a selection of not entirely confidence-inspiring nuts in an effort to reduce the likelihood of this happening.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgow7q3p_vaWwxy96zzJsWhxKIMRBMi3McqCI5tkp-9rYvmqdHSMKevkossJ9U3elhCOQA6QuC3D5S7ORdM4ITHIlgIAw4dt6pOeeyRBmxHXoEbCqHthyyMJZORs0jHvqRgctYL9KLFK7pR/s1600-h/2006-10-28_14-44-18-gardasee_400x300.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgow7q3p_vaWwxy96zzJsWhxKIMRBMi3McqCI5tkp-9rYvmqdHSMKevkossJ9U3elhCOQA6QuC3D5S7ORdM4ITHIlgIAw4dt6pOeeyRBmxHXoEbCqHthyyMJZORs0jHvqRgctYL9KLFK7pR/s400/2006-10-28_14-44-18-gardasee_400x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341975995048178802" border="0" /></a>Unfortunately I passed the next belay without realising that that is what it was and continued up the grade V rock of the next pitch with my now depleted collection of nuts and quickdraws. Presently it became clear that I had climbed rather a long way since the last belay, that I had very few quickdraws left, and that a belay was nowhere in sight. It was also extremely warm in the Italian sun and my tongue was sticking to my mouth for thirst. I managed to squeeze my way to the back of the corner crack which I was climbing and wrap a sling around a chockstone, and took the risk of taking my rucksack off to get at my water bottle. Progress thereafter was also slow as I struggled to make the most of the few remaining karabiners, nuts, slings and prussiks hanging from my harness. Eventually I reached a belay and brought the others up.<br /><br />They arrived cursing and thirsty. Apparently I had taken over an hour to get up what turned out to have been two pitches. Luckily we were using Ingo's 60m ropes and not mine, which are 50m long, as there had been very little rope left by the time I had finally found my belay. Each had thought he was unluckier than the other, Ingo perched painfully on the toe ledge and half hanging from the wobbly pegs, and Mario bent double sitting on the sloping ledge underneath the overhang.<br /><br />The rest of the route went more straightforwardly, although there was still a lot of enjoyable grade V climbing before we got to the top. Once there I was happy to sit in the piles of autumn leaves while the others coiled the ropes away.Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-33642152267155178482009-05-30T22:57:00.000-07:002009-05-31T00:39:01.953-07:00Furkapass, 12th - 16th July 2007<span style="font-style: italic;">Geplant war ursprünglich die Schleierkante an der Cima dela Madonna in der Pala Gruppe.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Es war Mario Senkes Idee. "Die schönste Kalkkletterei der Alpen." Als Verstärkung zogen wir Ingo Peter und Felix Lütkenherm ein und wir fixierten ein Datum in Juli 2007. In Juni wurde Mario aber Opfer eines Arbeitsunfalls und musste seine ganzen geplannten Touren streichen. Was nun? Wir wollten nicht Marios Tour ohne ihn machen und auf meinen Vorschlag, dass er die Touren mit Steigklemmen na</span><span style="font-style: italic;">chkommt, ging er nicht ein.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Mittwoch 11.07.07, 22h00, Parkplatz unterhalb der Sidelenhütte am Furkapass: Die Schleierkante ist auf nächstes Jahr verschoben worden und wir haben uns von den Bildern schöner Granittouren am Furkapass im Führer "Topoguide der Alpen" inspirieren lassen. Jetzt ist es aber 3 Grad, es schneit und es fällt uns ein, dass wir zwischen uns nicht einen Schweizer Franken haben. Fahrt nach Ande</span><span style="font-style: italic;">rmatt angesagt.</span><a style="font-style: italic;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOX8OSm-PbChG8uc25heAeaYirKwMwlTDCjOptkLmH3OFdlqrqvxVClvyhv9nJtowjVUWG7pvQVBhETSJF_DknQAze-KuCpYT2KM6uZ8UY07qWDYdbdUjsDL597UnuF2jjpZc4NkRTI_tV/s1600-h/gross-furkahorn-approach_320x240.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOX8OSm-PbChG8uc25heAeaYirKwMwlTDCjOptkLmH3OFdlqrqvxVClvyhv9nJtowjVUWG7pvQVBhETSJF_DknQAze-KuCpYT2KM6uZ8UY07qWDYdbdUjsDL597UnuF2jjpZc4NkRTI_tV/s320/gross-furkahorn-approach_320x240.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341875502710246482" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Donnerstag 12.07.07: Der erste Blick aus der Hütte bei Tageslicht zeigt leider mehr Nebel und weniger spitze Gipfel als gehofft. Ingos zweites Hobby ist aber nicht um sonst das Wetter. Er ist voller Zuversicht und wir durfen keinen dritten Kaffee genießen, sondern wir müssen die Rucksäcke packen und los. Als Aufwärmungstour wollen wir etwas leichtes machen und wir suchen die SO-Kante des Gross Furkahorns aus, eine lange Gratkletterei im IV. Grad. Eine kurze Lücke in den Wolken erlaubt uns einen Blick auf die Route und wir begeben uns über den Gletscher an den Einstieg.</span><a style="font-style: italic;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3A29U1-5K64AUOcFuowGNoeodw9JTnXvqbXNHl-dWTqG5wUIocLRTHUiQohxhMzWdAGQkr2OzMGGTi5D7TR4y7lzcWIvoQxC2DtjyFyOpHlaQH7HzRcB6cWgy3PQOAKYPL8FdQf2RejAm/s1600-h/gross-furkahorn-einstieg_320x240.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3A29U1-5K64AUOcFuowGNoeodw9JTnXvqbXNHl-dWTqG5wUIocLRTHUiQohxhMzWdAGQkr2OzMGGTi5D7TR4y7lzcWIvoQxC2DtjyFyOpHlaQH7HzRcB6cWgy3PQOAKYPL8FdQf2RejAm/s320/gross-furkahorn-einstieg_320x240.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341874428256854754" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Das erste interessante Problem bezieht sich darauf, wie man den Übergang von Schnee um 30 Grad mit Bergschuhen auf Fels um 60 Grad mit Kletterschuhen macht, ohne sich selbst oder verschiedene Ausrüstungsgegenstände den Berg herunterfallen zu lassen. Es ist kniffliger als ich dachte, aber das Lachen von unten hält sich in Grenzen, wahrscheinlich weil Ingo und Felix als nächste daran sind. Zum Glück lässt sich die erste Seillänge leicht klettern.</span><br /><a style="font-style: italic;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU3QEdiNZc06tgxjO9GY9LQgrKU2YKQV2934R5JM0PzI1x6HvIPn9AEghMxvPdQvDBNfQPjIdPSJCaJKyiXU6ZeFJUTtkrFXrkxlLAyWrw4YFQynTs5ZxJtiyOTwaSbtAot1p4210IMOXw/s1600-h/gross-furkahorn-routenfuehrung_400x300.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU3QEdiNZc06tgxjO9GY9LQgrKU2YKQV2934R5JM0PzI1x6HvIPn9AEghMxvPdQvDBNfQPjIdPSJCaJKyiXU6ZeFJUTtkrFXrkxlLAyWrw4YFQynTs5ZxJtiyOTwaSbtAot1p4210IMOXw/s400/gross-furkahorn-routenfuehrung_400x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341873213784483330" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Die zweite erweist sich dagegen für IV+ hart und nicht gerecht. Vertrauen in sowohl Seil als auch Standplatz lässt sich aber rechtfertigen, und bald ist die Länge vorbei. Nachher lässt die</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Schwierigkeit nach, und es folgt Seillänge nach Seillänge von schönstem Granit, über Türme, Gräte und Scharten. Die Uhr tickt langsam</span><a style="font-style: italic;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjexnhcD2XbsrE08yqPkU3diMebU0_ZT15MwI2BPBRAzQNmfItFSl0GDB06V4ZH37JM9F-qgIVwO5CsxLhV3T2u1GMxpxRg5QELiiC1IFCC0TUzF2p5fyljkYffi-NCMsV891au2dxfCR5r/s1600-h/gross-furkahorn-descent_400x261.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 261px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjexnhcD2XbsrE08yqPkU3diMebU0_ZT15MwI2BPBRAzQNmfItFSl0GDB06V4ZH37JM9F-qgIVwO5CsxLhV3T2u1GMxpxRg5QELiiC1IFCC0TUzF2p5fyljkYffi-NCMsV891au2dxfCR5r/s400/gross-furkahorn-descent_400x261.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341871734085760882" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">weiter und eh wir aus der schattigen Seite des Gipfelturms auf den Gipfelspitz klettern, lässt die Sonne den rot-goldenen Granit mit warmem Abendlicht glühen.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-style: italic;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6QYY0-aQgWZXaN1pc-RT10mwB_HCekvuGgly2Sl7RNOW1SX7oLbks0j7_EZwssioThHV5y8g2vnTyo9J40tmRY1Sm6kncl8w7TD5peF-kD9iNFbRlINLPOS9ly_kAjLMLMSi75mQhRwVn/s1600-h/hannibal-turm-einstieg_320x240.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6QYY0-aQgWZXaN1pc-RT10mwB_HCekvuGgly2Sl7RNOW1SX7oLbks0j7_EZwssioThHV5y8g2vnTyo9J40tmRY1Sm6kncl8w7TD5peF-kD9iNFbRlINLPOS9ly_kAjLMLMSi75mQhRwVn/s320/hannibal-turm-einstieg_320x240.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341869841606607250" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Freitag 13.07.07: Gestern haben wir einen langen klassischen Anstieg vom Jahr 1907 gemacht, und heute haben wir etwas komplett anderes vor: eine kurze moderne Route am Hannibal Turm. Der Routename ist am Einstieg kunstvoll angemalt und silberne Bohrhaken glänzen in der Sonne. Die Klette</span><span style="font-style: italic;">rei selbst ist ein bißchen schwieriger (VI bis VI+), aber wir kommen schnell auf den Gipfel, wo uns eine rot gestrichene Holzbank erwartet.</span><a style="font-style: italic;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIuJ5_qEwTnpwkJ0CA8eAJEHtjK5ktwSeTqpi_pj_KhtTy_-qUrDcIXirMeK-_SPL3jrAoNSaqqgpzD3aeX1gSyPe6y5RTiC1mz8SbtgFEsq97N-ACGV-HP1LaeuxxXK3XyFuxTSlsAAtK/s1600-h/alex-hanibal-turm_300x400.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIuJ5_qEwTnpwkJ0CA8eAJEHtjK5ktwSeTqpi_pj_KhtTy_-qUrDcIXirMeK-_SPL3jrAoNSaqqgpzD3aeX1gSyPe6y5RTiC1mz8SbtgFEsq97N-ACGV-HP1LaeuxxXK3XyFuxTSlsAAtK/s400/alex-hanibal-turm_300x400.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341867709015163074" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Samstag 14.07.07: Kein großer Erfolg, zumindest für mich. Wir stehen um 5h30 auf und steigen über den Sidelengeletscher zum Einstieg der Galengrat-Verschneidung. Es geht mir aber irgendwie nicht gut, und wir steigen nicht ein. Ich verbringe den Rest des Tages in der Hütte und Ingo und Felix machen die SO-Kante des Gross Bielenhorns.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH6rdnhF86ay-NuL08sJbU6lKIqWmK57JLIqSD4k9nBlsBID2S2Ge4bZMD78WRUr7fOYNv_jjNtODbpRLxjHD-roeP2xgtcbmlJTtI0WPVCMOFhb4lgSTCyF4OXTMWI0O61v-466uwblSl/s1600-h/hannibal-turm-gipfel_400x261.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 261px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH6rdnhF86ay-NuL08sJbU6lKIqWmK57JLIqSD4k9nBlsBID2S2Ge4bZMD78WRUr7fOYNv_jjNtODbpRLxjHD-roeP2xgtcbmlJTtI0WPVCMOFhb4lgSTCyF4OXTMWI0O61v-466uwblSl/s400/hannibal-turm-gipfel_400x261.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341877379669076594" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Sonntag 15.07.07: Wieder um 5h30 aufgestanden und dieses Mal geht es mir besser. "Bis auf die erste ist es jede Seillänge wert" steht es im Führer und selbst diese Bewertung ist ungroßzügig. Nach einer kurzen A0-Passage ist auch die erste Seillänge ein echtes Vergnügen auf rauhem festem Granit. Wo keine Risse sind, sind ausreichend Bohrhaken vorhanden und wo es doch Risse gibt, lassen sich Friends wie im Traum legen. Die Sonne steigt höher, aber wir auch, und erst am vorletzten Standpla</span><span style="font-style: italic;">tz trifft sie uns. Die lezten zwei Seillängen sind wahrscheinlich das Prunkstück der Route, und ich wäre gern noch einige Längen von der Art geklettert. Zu bald sitzen wir aber oben neben dem Schnee, blicken auf den Fels zurück und ziehen Bergschuhe und Steigeisen an. Der Gipfel-Anstieg ist ein leichter Schneehang, und auch dieser ist schnell Vorbei. Felix steht jedes Jahr mindestens einmal auf 4000m, aber mit seinen 3586m ist der Galenstock mein höchster Punkt seit vier Jahren. Wir klettern den Nordg</span><span style="font-style: italic;">rat herunter dann vorsichtig über bruchiges Gelände bis auf de</span><span style="font-style: italic;">n Tiefengletscher, und gehen den langen Weg zurück zur Hütte.</span><br /><a style="font-style: italic;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqphD0XKY6o7Jka_1f8VftkjlKDDqqDKxB6vRLJRrkqBO7WO8FQAM2uWD2MGCillgqsvL57JfGgpEAe-vWqEU8hndejJFJi2rNEFTDgCQYgWDsUOdXa85NSXqWa7FjlhgwMafNmv1YwUXm/s1600-h/galenstock-routenfuehrung_300x400.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqphD0XKY6o7Jka_1f8VftkjlKDDqqDKxB6vRLJRrkqBO7WO8FQAM2uWD2MGCillgqsvL57JfGgpEAe-vWqEU8hndejJFJi2rNEFTDgCQYgWDsUOdXa85NSXqWa7FjlhgwMafNmv1YwUXm/s400/galenstock-routenfuehrung_300x400.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341866242278088194" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Montag 16.07.07: Nach unserem Tag am Galenstock wäre alles andere eine Enttäuschung gewesen. Ingo und ich klettern ein paar Seillängen im kleinen Klettergarten neben der Hütte, dann begeben wir uns langsam ins Tal, wo der Sommer dieses Mal richtig begonnen hat.</span>Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-5891136532736587782009-05-29T13:46:00.000-07:002009-07-28T10:17:27.128-07:00Kopfkraxe, Wilder Kaiser, 6th May 2006<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisbSnEHUruxAQZb9R9Ncdy8vKhkqM2ucSLVGp2TF98V9r3v4MsQBDS-M94sNgrKTnkz5Xk4kuVbO75Iv4S20JJi5B0DJKRGYQ_fR3kqCtqV9xJFdHJOK1NO91ce13RsMRVkD-TxU_zxV4T/s1600-h/2006-05-06_07-59-24-kopfkraxen.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisbSnEHUruxAQZb9R9Ncdy8vKhkqM2ucSLVGp2TF98V9r3v4MsQBDS-M94sNgrKTnkz5Xk4kuVbO75Iv4S20JJi5B0DJKRGYQ_fR3kqCtqV9xJFdHJOK1NO91ce13RsMRVkD-TxU_zxV4T/s400/2006-05-06_07-59-24-kopfkraxen.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341351457564652882" border="0" /></a><br /><br />At the start of 2006 I had never been climbing in the Wilder Kaiser. I knew vaguely about the famous summits above the Stripsenjoch - the Fleischbank, the Predigstuhl and the Totenkirchl - but while I had been skiing in Elmau three years earlier, I had never really wondered what there is to climb on the southern edge of the Wilder Kaiser. However, Mario Senke had a rare weekend free, and, following a less than successful but not quickly to be forgotten Easter trip to Arco, I was keen for the season to start properly. Arnaud Richel mentioned that he was planning something near Scheffau, and he knew a route there which would be just right for me, the <a href="http://www.bergsteigen.at/de/touren.aspx?ID=552">Via Romantica</a> on the Kopfkraxe, fifteen pitches up to VI+.<br /><br />We left Munich fairly early, driving past a group of girls on their way home from the disco in their "war paint", as Mario put it. We were out of the car before seven and were half way up the 900 (vertical) meter approach in a mixture of snow and dwarf pines when Arnaud and his climbing partner came steaming past us. Arnaud represented his country at rugby in the under-18 side, so I just have to get used to the fact that he is faster than I am when it comes to walking up and down hills. By about nine we were sitting on a small <span style="font-style: italic;">Bergschrund</span> looking at the first nice shiny bolt and wondering where the route goes from there.<br /><br />The route had only been bolted a few years earlier, and the rock was at times more similar to the rougher bits of Pembroke than the Avon Gorge. Polish certainly wasn't a problem. According to the topo the harder pitches should be lower down, and it was certainly nice to think of having the VI+ pitch out of the way soon and not waiting for us at the top.<br /><br />The VI+ pitch, when it came, was certainly tricky enough, and I didn't get up it first try. However, it was something of a one-move wonder, up an unpleasant overhanging flaring crack. A bit more fun further up was a lay-back flake which swallowed my Camalot 3 quickly and would have taken my Friend 4 just as fast if I had had it with me.<br /><br />In between the pitches were often scree- or grass-covered ledges. The line, too, seemed somehow more like an artificial attempt to link sections of climbable rock together than a skillful tracing of the easiest way through an otherwise holdless rock face. However, the climbing was still fairly enjoyable. About midday it was pleasantly sunny and we heard an avalanche come down the cirque below us. Arnaud told me the following week that this avalanche had run over their approach tracks and almost covered their rucksacks, which they had left at the bottom of their climb.<br /><br />Further up came a wide flaring crack, innocuously graded V+ in the topo. It was Mario's lead, and after looking at it I looked forward to some entertainment while watching him get up it. The entertainment was dissappointingly short-lived, however, since after several brave attempts he declared that I was going to have lead this pitch, which wasn't what I wanted at all.<br /><br />After my first try it was clear why he didn't want to do it. It was short on holds and not long on protection, and after trying to inch and struggle my way up it I didn't want to do it either. If this had been a single-pitch route at ground-level I really would have walked away, but the thought of having climbed half-way up this face only to turn round because of an unpleasant rounded crack was just too awful. After considerably more struggling I managed to get some more protection in, and shortly after that I was at the belay and able to look forward to watching Mario climb. At this point the wind got up and it started to snow, which probably made things harder for him, although he was still able bravely to declare that he wouldn't have put in so much gear if it had been his lead. Thankfully the snow stopped again soon, and what had fallen didn't lie.<br /><br />A few more pitches of not so hard climbing led to a little bowl which still held some old snow. From here a loose pillar of choss led something like 30m upwards and rightwards to a grass col. Unfortunately due to the lead swap this was now my lead, and it just wasn't fun. I did manage to get in a couple of nuts, more for the pleasure of seeing a couple of quickdraws on the rope, as I wouldn't have wanted to lower off them, let alone fall. Thankfully the climbing was only about Severe.<br /><br />From the grassy col just one more pitch led to the top, of what looked like pleasant grade IV climbing on sold rock, a nice way to finish off the route. I was feeling quite relaxed and not expecting any surprises when Mario fell off without warning and plummeted earthwwards, the rope catching him onlyafter he had landed awkwardly on a rock ledge a few metres below where he had been.<br /><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">Als ich an Alex vorbeiflog, dachte ich, 'Hmm..., das Seil muss bald straf werden'!<br /></span></blockquote>"I flew past Alex and thought, 'Hmm, the rope is probably going to come tight quite soon'!" was how Mario later recounted it, on the more than one occasion on which he was to tell this tale. I suppose it is true that I could have given him less slack without impeding his upward progress. For now, however, the more immediate problem was how to get up the climb and down the mountain. Thankfully his ankle did not begin to hurt straight away, and he managed to get up the pitch on his second attempt and made a belay somewhere behind a pile of snow on the top.<br /><br />With the tension of the route over Mario started to realise that his ankle wasn't quite right. It turned out that the descent was down a snow ridge and then from a col down a broad snow flank back down to the path, and Mario bravely packed more snow around his heel to ease the swelling then set off down. I think that I probably enjoyed the descent more than he did, although I wasn't that keen on the horizontal cracks in the <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEYWsXwiMDc89wXHZyNe-5ylEOiEP20FqHOoS7IXGURLiEwhsDjJYukj0NauhV4O1eqHG0uESROWpZpB4-Tkv72xg8lNspk2EP3cFz-Rr191IxAAEZsgjPGzARjPCwHEaMClK25CsMUHf9/s1600-h/2006-05-06_18-11-15-kopfkraxen.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEYWsXwiMDc89wXHZyNe-5ylEOiEP20FqHOoS7IXGURLiEwhsDjJYukj0NauhV4O1eqHG0uESROWpZpB4-Tkv72xg8lNspk2EP3cFz-Rr191IxAAEZsgjPGzARjPCwHEaMClK25CsMUHf9/s400/2006-05-06_18-11-15-kopfkraxen.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341350861680301474" border="0" /></a>snow on the broad slope which we descended. As it was we got back down to the car without further event. Plans for a further route the following day were quickly abandoned, and we drove off to the nearest Gasthof for a very welcome beer and warm meal.Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779461093280985815.post-18590875685998172202009-05-29T13:13:00.000-07:002009-05-29T13:43:08.988-07:00Boeseekofel, 13th August 2005<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGJe__xt9wUkGnRERs0wRpY-soxJLhrvVydcPq3P_vsWxPxMN625gXbwnxhqwZLVatWw3CGSeNqZHWemgIYPNv-6ajgwYzMVORwIHY9rIvtK8Blgg5Um2_5nfq2Yn1B1D2TPOrkkQ3YtBZ/s1600-h/2007-09-02_15-32-59_dolomiten.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGJe__xt9wUkGnRERs0wRpY-soxJLhrvVydcPq3P_vsWxPxMN625gXbwnxhqwZLVatWw3CGSeNqZHWemgIYPNv-6ajgwYzMVORwIHY9rIvtK8Blgg5Um2_5nfq2Yn1B1D2TPOrkkQ3YtBZ/s400/2007-09-02_15-32-59_dolomiten.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341347773884217474" border="0" /></a><br />Not much more than 200m of IV+ looked like a nice way to finish off our holiday in the Dolomites, so five of us - Nerida Stores, Anthony Woodrow, Maria-Joao Cruz, Mario Pulquerio and I - took the chair lift up from Corvara to the Boe cirque in order to climb the Castiglioni-Detassis on the Boeseekofel. After a not very hurried start it was getting on for lunch time by the time we got to the via ferrata leading to the bottom of the SE Face, and later still by the time we sat at the bottom of the route looking up.<br /><br />The weather was not all that inviting, and clouds swirled around us. Sometimes it was possible see the top, and sometimes it wasn't. There had been a few other parties on the via ferrata, but no one else seemed to want to go rock climbing that day. We held a brief conference on whether to go on, and then continued.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Ga9Yd4V6bQsDsMD-dpEOvZfgMncVLhh89PdzQEoeg9NfgwdjoTCs3RYsDHqbiTTLptyoTdIj1W1dm7Ivq1iZVOL-0YGcAo4AlakCfku194SK01J6GIZGp-snd0nJUiR-UlpcEDLsb0DA/s1600-h/2005-08-13_11-37-18-dolomites.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Ga9Yd4V6bQsDsMD-dpEOvZfgMncVLhh89PdzQEoeg9NfgwdjoTCs3RYsDHqbiTTLptyoTdIj1W1dm7Ivq1iZVOL-0YGcAo4AlakCfku194SK01J6GIZGp-snd0nJUiR-UlpcEDLsb0DA/s400/2005-08-13_11-37-18-dolomites.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341346240302300738" border="0" /></a><br />The first few pitches are easy, leading up to a large jammed block and then a broad ledge where it is necessary to walk left for maybe fourty meters to the start of the upper face. This is where the fun starts.<br /><br />The main part of the route ascends a wide chimney that reaches from the ledge to the top in 5 pitches, with a dog-leg bend in the middle. The chimney was black and in its depths wet. Added to this, not only could we only sometimes see the top, we could now only sometimes see back down again. For August it was not warm either. I set off with Maria and Mario, and Anthony and Ned followed.<br /><br />The climbing was surprisingly good fun. Although the depths of the chimney were wet, the right hand wall where the climbing went was dry and solid, and by any standards really nice to climb. It was steep and rough with big holds, and protection was also frequent enough for the difficulty of the climbing.<br /><br />Unfortunately the cold put paid to the second party first. Anthony climbed the first pitch from the big ledge, but Ned's hands were so cold getting over the difficult step in the middle of the pitch that she didn't think she would be able to manage the rest, and they decided to retreat. As it turned out, this was the technical crux of the route, but we weren't to know that at this stage. It should be noted that Ned's first ever rock climb had been fewer than two weeks earlier.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4lQUOcDAPDzxYT_XK_Ei8lHFrd3pCgxSFPwNPQ9VMxYMRPZuFOyFCMNZms6t_fnEXwI844tpm_g-6q9IKqS8GvVOsbMa27-Syngr4xJ4N6G0vCMpP8Ree4RUwNNVkTp-3l5xyD0un88S7/s1600-h/2005-08-13_16-12-41-dolomites.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4lQUOcDAPDzxYT_XK_Ei8lHFrd3pCgxSFPwNPQ9VMxYMRPZuFOyFCMNZms6t_fnEXwI844tpm_g-6q9IKqS8GvVOsbMa27-Syngr4xJ4N6G0vCMpP8Ree4RUwNNVkTp-3l5xyD0un88S7/s400/2005-08-13_16-12-41-dolomites.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341345180140435042" border="0" /></a><br />I asked Maria and Mario what they fancied doing. One of the first times I had ever been climbing had been with Anthony and Maria on an autumn day eleven years earlier, on which Anthony and I survived dressed normally while Maria huddled behind a rock in her down jacket and moaned plaintively "It's so cold..." So it was that I was more than expecting to follow Anthony and Ned back to the chair lift. However, being eleven years older and having trekked around Annapurna in Nepal seemed to have changed her, as she was not at all interested in going down, and nor was Mario. Thankfully, considering how the weather would turn out later, both were sensibly dressed in Goretex jackets, which was more than could be said for me.<br /><br />The climbing went on just as well as it had started, and pitch followed pitch of wonderful, steep, black rock. A lot of the time we could see about one pitch up and one down, but thankfully the route-finding was so straightforward that this itself wasn't a problem, other than that we were a bit nervous about hat the weather might do.<br /><br />Round about five o'clock, the time at which the last lift for the valley leaves, I got to the top of the last steep pitch. It was possibly also the hardest to lead. For whatever reason I had managed to run low on quickdraws and protection, while still managing to get lots of rope drag. I had carried a Tricam ("good for the Dolomites") up the whole route without using it once, and now I found a hole in the rock through which I was able to thread it to make a belay. As Maria and Mario started to climb, it started to rain.<br /><br />And then hail. It poured for the entire time that they were climbing that long pitch, for what seemed like at least the first twenty minutes with a mixture of hail and rain, which then gave way to steady rain. If I had had a sensible Goretex jacket on like the other two I might have had more sympathy with them struggling up a steep, dark chimney pitch in the wet. As it was, my sensible Goretex jacket was safe and sound in my tent in Corvara, and even my Montane wind shirt was inaccessible in my rucksack. (I didn't have a Reverso at the time, so couldn't just take time off from belaying to start taking my rucksack off.) By the time both arrived dripping wet at the top I was soaked through, frozen, and shivering. Just to one side of my belay was a small overhang with space for three to sit in relative shelter as we struggled out of our rock shoes and into our trainers (in my case) and sensible walking boots suitable for the Annapurna circuit (in Maria and Mario's case). Even then it looked over the top of the chimney somewhat uncomfortably. I wouldn't have wanted to sit there unbelayed.<br /><br />From the top of the climb it was necessary to walk up to the summit of the Boeseekofel and from there back down to the chair lift... then from there back to the valley, since the chair lift would be long closed by the time we got there. Meanwhile it started to thunder. I was frozen and getting wetter by the minute in any case, so was not in the mood for enjoying the summit. Maria, on the other hand, was pleased at having got to the top and felt safe and sound in her Goretex jacket. Mario was thankfully quicker to realise that thunder on top of a 3000m mountain is not just an enjoyable spectacle, and, grabbing Maria by the hand, almost dragged her over the summit and down the other side.<br /><br />From the shelter of the roof of the chair lift station we sent an SMS down to Anthony and Ned in the valley saying that we were safe and sound. Unfortun<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwhMtZ-l3vswp7FsMzdhImOqSNSCrqUuEDy3n9JKHdvxIsQjgVfWzZ6PBWgODXnp7tJmATee2yul1g4mlhNwm_jSLmlKRmJcEQLiLlHyQU1irqPKwBPgT-kTcWsWoy5MljiyVpwkj5sKZm/s1600-h/2005-08-13_23-33-14-dolomites.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwhMtZ-l3vswp7FsMzdhImOqSNSCrqUuEDy3n9JKHdvxIsQjgVfWzZ6PBWgODXnp7tJmATee2yul1g4mlhNwm_jSLmlKRmJcEQLiLlHyQU1irqPKwBPgT-kTcWsWoy5MljiyVpwkj5sKZm/s320/2005-08-13_23-33-14-dolomites.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341343847251268050" border="0" /></a>ately the walk down from there was still rather long, and although the heavy rain had given way to steady, lighter rain, I was already cold enough that I wasn't warming up again. On the way through the wood something green hopped out of the grass and Maria was instantly transformed from mountaineer back to biology postdoc, crying "Frog!" in Portuguese and chasing after the poor creature, capturing it expertly and attempting to identify it.<br /><br />It was just starting to get dark as we emerged from the wood into the village of Corvara. One quick warm shower later and we were sitting in a warm pizzeria.Alexander Thorphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08958924539007111344noreply@blogger.com0