My personal best 2012/2013 - a subjective Frankenjura selection.

Okay, first of all, I´m not that qualified. I´ve seen a few, spending a year up here working as a teacher but anyway, if someone feels tempted to actually try them - I enjoyed them! Of course I´ve climbed more, those twenty however make the top list. They´re not ordered by difficulty and not ranked, just a very general list. I do think however that my descriptions actually are quite accurate.

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Dumbo / Klinge / 7b : Starting with a fun campus section, this one gets you a little pumped before a first crux on small holds - things get slabby here - leads you to a good shake out. Recompose and climb the final headwall, which is gnarly since you´ll have to pull some small holds. I call that a classic. Oh, the rock quality is amazing and the protection bomber.

Chicken Modul / Klinge / 7b+ : After a serious campus entry, a vertical section on amazing pockets leads to a good shake out. Use it, screwing up the overhanging but easy top part would suck. Actually, the top´s not that easy since you don´t have a lot for your feet. Except a heel hook. Which I´m good at.

Abseitsfalle / Püttlacher Wand / 6c : Obviously uber classic and it deserves to be. Vertical, techy and fingery...and run out! It´s not dangerous but falling before the second bolt has been clipped is not an option. Which is why many people leave it pre - clipped. Which I don´t condone, it´s an easy walk up to that clip (6a max!) and if you´re trying a classic, do it the classic way - or leave it! As soon as the second bolt has been clipped, you´re home free!

Jumanji / Andeltodrom / 7b+ : Short but surprisingly pumpy - and a new school classic. Why? Good pocket moves, steep, good protection and a frustrating crux up high. It´s a tad sharpish but that´s all that can be said against it! You can even out in your draws from the neighboring 6c warm up. The only downside is that you maybe will need to queue up - yap, new school classic!

Knupper Ged.-Weg / Rote Wand / 6b : Old school classic and hard as fuck! It´s just big holds but quite a number of those in a row. You can safely assume you can climb 6b if you can do this one. Almost 30 meters long and quite overhung, this one reminded me of classic enduro routes in France! It´s run out in the beginning - easy section here, you can use the first two bolts of the neighboring 6a to have some extra protection - but well protected on the upper part aka the business section. Full value!

Jonathan / Bandstein / 7a+ : Three stars in the book and I´m writing a description? Well, it makes sense!
The guide doesn´t tell you the following: the first crux comes between the second and the third bolt and if you feel like onsighting this, bring a good belayer. After that it´s pretty much just pumping on okay holds before you get to the ledge after more than 3/4 of the route. Oh well, crux coming up! You can quite easily clip the last bolt but making it past that and to the final chains clip turns out to be quite cruxy after more than 30 metres of pulling.

Beavis & Butthead / Diebesloch / 7b+ : Ultra steep, ultra powerful and more or less pumpy. Oh well, and notoriously wet. If it´s dry, it´s amazing. Too bad it isn´t dry too often!

Kalypso / Loreley / 6c+ : A slightly more obscure crag - with amazing routes! All are pretty run out, pretty much not chalked up and offer an interesting mix of crimpers and pockets. This one´s the best of all of them - imho! I didn´t even try the crag´s 7c+, it was wet and locked like a good opportunity to deck on a ledge, which I´m scared of.

Strohdach / Weissenstein / 7b+ : Uber classic. Polished. Not well protected on the first 6 meters - that´s when you get to clip the first bolt. Bring a strong head or a pad. Or leave the first bolt pre - clipped as I did. From that point onwards, it´s simply put big moves on good holds. Oh well, John Bachar got the FA. Here´s to you, Johnny Rock! RIP!

Rocky´s Home Zone / Lichtenfelser Dach / 7c : Okay, I might be biased. Roofs just rule my world! This one is fun - if it´s dry! Apparently, it seldom is! A three bolt intro leads to a fun and very tension oriented roof boulder on slopey holds. Heelhooks might help - they actually do! Again, I might be biased, since I was the only guy heel hooking on that thing out of three people trying it that day! I was the only one to send though, so I guess I was right! HAH! The top needs some resistance, the last pinch drop knee is a potential heartbreaker...

Saus und Braus / Klinge / 6b+ : Well, another Klinge one...for a reason! This one´s pretty classic since it starts with a fun campus problem, gets you pumped, offers some monos in the middle part and presents you with a mean shut down crux right at the top - I like that pattern! The route´s two neighbors, Bärway to Heaven and Basic Instinct could be on the list as well. Oh Klinge goodness!

Muskelprotz / Stadelhofener Dunkelkammer / 7c : Okay, it´s a traverse. But: it has a route grade and climbs like one, so it makes the list! Steep, good holds, burly moves, pumpy! I like!

Strahlentod / Hintere Stadelhofener Wände / 6b : As good as it gets. Classic! An easy intro, followed by a hard traverse section with the route´s crux hold, a two finger pocket. Pull it and climb to glory! 6bs don´t get better than this!

Käptn ` Nemo / 7a / Jules Verne Wand : Used to be the easy warm up on the wall...quite a good one at that. About 15 meters of 6c climbing take you to a good shake out, from where on you have to climb an overhanging head wall. Clip the chains, look down and be amazed. That´s called a line! Oh, rock and protection are superb.

Woodcocks in Time / Hintere Stadelhofener Wände / 6b+ : Okay, you can deck. Okay, you could find easier 6cs, quite a few actually! So why climb it? Because it´s classic and damn good. It´s not over until you´ve clipped the chains. Routes never are! But this one remains straight in your face. I climbed it slightly wet...this might have contributed, but I had to pull for this one! And damn, it was worth it!

Back to the beginning / Altes Schloß / 7a : This one´s for boulderers...a hard traverse section from the first to the second bolt, from that point on it´s a cruise to the top. That´s what I thought. Turns out I was wrong. I´ve never shook out so much on a 7a! It was the last route of the day but hey...IT FELT HARD!

International Bolt Conspiracy / Rote Wand / 6c : Full Value. Easy intro to a hard vertical section to an amazingly overhung headwall! Long, sustained and what a line! If you want to put in your draws for a flash go, you need to do Knupper Ged.-Weg. Which can be found in the list as well. Yap, two amazing ones right next to each other. That´s called a quality crag!

Blutspur / Diebesloch / 6c+ : Wanna get pumped? Wanna climb a roof? Wanna be fooled by all the comments on climbing.de? Well, it´s not over after the first bolt. It´s about to get hard! I might have missed a few tricks since I onsighted it but that didn´t feel too easy!

Westwand / Rotenstein / 6c : Yap, techy, vertical and fingery can be cool! What does it need to have? Old school protection on bomber glue ins, a few monos and a fun shoulder crux move! Oh, let´s not forget the easy mantle!

Wishing on a Star / Terrarium / 7b : Well, hard as fuck! Maybe because I´m keeping the proposed grade despite it being nonsense but anyway. Pockets in a 45° overhanging shield. Sharp ones. My beta sucks, I have two goes until that damn right hand pocket slices my finger. Oh well...AMAZING!

Projects...

Well, I´ve always been a project climber. Today, I took the opportunity to work on two of them, one, the one in the picture I bolted last year, the other one about two weeks ago. I knew that the one shown above was hard but kinda hoped the other one wouldn´t be and more of a sendable-in-a-day thing. Turns out I was wrong. It climbs amazingly, both actually do, one being really overhung, pinchy and slopey - the one in the pic, the other aka the new one essentially boiling down to a really crimpy traverse section. Challenge accepted. I reached a new high point on the overhanging one today, so it was a good day. I´m hoping for some cooler weather...
We´ll see what happens tomorrow. I´m Zillertal bound, projects there as well...time to finish some off!

Wrapping things up...

Well, that was a fun year. It wasn´t all fun, life never is, but on a general basis, I couldn´t have asked for a better year in Hollfeld. Simply put, I really grew to like the classes I taught, even though at times they probably struggled with my style, that puts an emphasis on enabling kids to ask the right questions rather than displaying answers on the quick. I don´t think that we can provide all the answers - what we need to do in school is enable teenagers to ask the right questions and come up with ways to answer them on their own, supervised, coached, monitored, whatever. I don´t believe that handing out check lists is the right thing. I don´t believe that grading everything is the right way. I think that we carefully and measured by common sense have to help young people realize that they indeed know something - and if not, they should feel welcome to ask.
Enough of that. I can spew all these things out in my thesis. For now it should be sufficient to say that all my classes rocked, we got along well - I think so - and that some pupils improved in a major way. Not just skill wise but also personality wise. That´s all I can ask for.
In terms of climbing I didn´t get to climb as many projects as I wanted to. That´s life. My preferred rope partner broke her foot and my other rope partner blew his shoulder. I climbed a ton of boulders though, sent a bunch of ultra classic Frankenjura lines and thus won´t leave with a bad feeling at all. I didn´t get any pics, didn´t see lots of visits by my friends - talking about going somewhere seems all the rage these days - but had fun anyway.
I guess that´s what matters in the end.

Some of my most memorable boulder achievements can be seen in the following short clips...

http://vimeo.com/58125772
http://vimeo.com/54098868
http://vimeo.com/53609734

Signing out.
Peace!

Frankenjura Pics...

Okay...so I have been mailed some of the pics that were taken last weekend and here there´re some. I managed to pull of a second go ascent of an ultra classic, steep pocket pulling fest faed by John Bachar in 1982. Psyched. I woulnd´t have bet on myself after I almost froze my fingers off hangdogging it, so I threw a round of cappuccinos later that day! Officially psyched! After a tedious day of prepping for my upcoming exam next Thursday, I´m allowing myself a break! Counting down the days... Out!

Soon...

Soon...the season will begin! It actually started this weekend, with a few of my friends visiting, which made for some fun days cragging. I wasn´t feeling in top shape due to a minor cold - small wonder, considering the weather this "spring" so far - but nevertheless, it´s all too obvious that spending the winter bouldering in my beloved Frankenjura caves has left me quite in shape! I have an important exam to pass on April 11th and then it´ll be on! The past weekend I actually managed to second go send one of my lifetime wishlist routes and even got some pics taken, which was nice! They´ll be up as soon as I get them! Out!

Bring your Guns!

Okay, I brought mine. Early in 2012, Tom and I put up a slew of new problems right next to the road...turns out, those were some hidden gems we hadn´t checked out all the years. One of the problems put up soon became a nemesis of mine. I tried it once in good conditions but then gave up to save skin for Yankee Bayonet, of which I got the FA that day. All other attempts either occurred in bad conditions or were marred by my increasing frustration about the problem which felt harder every time I tried it. After drinking a bit too much celebrating New Year´s, I hiked up around noon on Jan. 1st and...just did it. It took two goes. Admitted, it was cold and sunny aka prime conditions but anyway, the epic is over. I can finally walk up to that boulder and not feel instantly compelled to try it despite being annoyed the moment I set my eyes on it.

Honesty in Death or A line´s history...

Some of these days I actually find the time to write a blog post, not for a general lack of time but rather related to the fact that I chose to spend my free time in a different manner, that is either climbing or hiking in my new home, the Frankenjura region of Germany. This night brought generally miserable sleep and a cold, so instead of being in school teaching I´m sitting at my desk, drinking coffee, pondering chicken noodle soup and busying myself about school I have some time on my hands. Go back in time a little more than a week. A friend of mine was planning to celebrate his birthday and since he´s a good friend, I decided to make the drive, despite being not psyched to drive at all. I had something on my mind besides just attending a birthday party, something that I had invested some time into during the summer. Go back in time a notch further. This spring, my landlady died of cancer after battleing it for a long time, died at an age where death is unfathomable and even more tragic than it usually is. Around that time, I showed a line that to a friend that had broken and hence deemed not climbable anymore by me. Considering that Tom climbs 8A/V12 on a regular basis, things would maybe look different from his point of view. Tom climbed the line, pulling the small holds and making the desperately long reach after a couple of tries the exact number I have forgotten, stepping into the upper wall section and making the FA of the problem since the breakage. In memoriam of my landlady, who was one of the most modest and honest people I´ve known, we renamed the problem to Honesty in Death. Honesty in Death originally is a Paradise Lost song. The song came out this spring and would soon become my song, actually became my song of the year 2012, since it helped me and sort of emotionally channeled me in a year that was - retrospecting from this morning´s point of view - to be a year of death, redefinition and preservation of core values I have chosen to hold on to and will more aggressively hold on to in the future. I tried the line for about three days in summer, coming close on my third day but ripping a huge hole in my finger. Since the line´s holds are really sharp and aggressive, particularly the starting crimper and the left hand pocket you stab to, I also didn´t have a lot of goes each sesssion. Frankly speaking, I also was overpacing things. I really wanted it. I gave it too many attempts in too short a time, always splitting my right hand tip in the end. Then I moved. Did a lot of bouldering in the Frankenjura, sent some hard stuff, found out how to improve after close to 12 years of climbing and vowed to return. I hiked up two pads. Gave it too many goes in too short a time. Saw myself walking home without the problem again. Had a Rockstar energy. Chalked up, pulled on - had it but slipped, this time without ripping my finger. Chalked up again, hit the pocket exactly right and climbed it. Done. In amidst the anguish, my only prayers are to myself... To me, Honesty in Death is the epitome of bouldering and one of the best lines, if not the best line, in the area. It would be classic in every area I´ve visited so far - and I´ve seen some. The line starts with both hands matched on a crimper, busts out a hard move to an intermediate glassy crimp which allows to gather what core strength there is and then stabs for a good three finger pocket. After that, you have to hold the swing and then negotiate the best BRCM topout. To glory. To relief. To whatever. It´s a proud line, it was demanding for me in particular because of its crimpy nature and a psychological process as well. I´ll return for pics. It won´t matter much but I just want some. Tom has climbed it about 40 times for training purposes. Some of Tom´s friends from Innsbruck have done it and all put it at the grade now known. I don´t know if I did the 5th, the 7t or maybe the 4th ascent. I don´t care. I wanted to climb it and did it. There are a few lines up there I really want to do. The BRCM were my playground from 2007-2011 and a part of me lives and stays up there. I´ll return. Peace!