Ascents as trad by Christoph Rauch having Distinct route

A great, but airy classic. Quite demanding overall. Easy to the first ring, then down and left a bit to good holds around the corner. Up onto the pillar (good knotted sling, but apparently most people use long webbing around the pillar) and further up to the ring. Cruxy passage above the ring, then slightly to the right and up. Great, but runout finish with a spicy overhang bit.

Nice and easy along the rib at the arête, then slightly left over the rooflet and up into easy terrain.

Nice wall climbing on big sidepulls. The ring sits a meter too high for some reason, so you have to do the hardest moves without protection.

Nice introduction to sandstone friction slabs.

Beautiful black sandstone with lots of jugs and good placements for slings. Difficult section over the ring, then easier but more slopers than jugs to the top. Felt like I was almost blown off by the strong wind that suddenly came up when we arrived, but the climbing was still very much enjoyable.

My quality rating is for the start in clean condition. Unfortunately, it was utterly full of sand for us. Otherwise nice boulder start to get into the dihedral, easy wall climbing along iron knobs to the ring, a nice traverse under the roof to the ledge and a slightly bold short rib to the next big ledge. From there it's chimneys and easy slabs to the top, still a bit dirty.

Great climb through the south face. Crack up to a sort of ledge, then traverse to the right and up onto a delicate slab which runs out onto a ledge with a belay ring. From there, the route goes left a bit and then up on good holds to the summit via a big terrace.

Impressive climb. Interesting and rough start followed by a great dihedral. I climbed most of it as a shoulder crack, in hindsight there were many good footholds on the right side, but of course this wouldn't feel as safe. Fantastic jug haul in great position in the second pitch. A few sensible slings after the ring. Nice one to finish the first day.

Lots of big holds on the sides of the crack, but also some good jams. Many solid slings. It is probably best to bring up your second at the ring due to rope drag, or at least extend the ring with a long sling. The ring would not prevent you falling onto the ledge, anyway. Nice line and varied climbing.

Basically free solo to the ring. Not too hard, but probably not easy to downclimb. Nice finish, first to the right of the arête, then to the left, on good holds.

Easy for Franconians. Overhanging jug haul with a ring. Nice, but unfortunately quite short. Great evening light, though.

Wonderful route through the narrow south west face. Two cruxes, one after each ring. The first is rather powerful, to get over the bulge, the second is a balancy slab problem. Solid slings in the upper section. Beautiful summit and a gorgeous view!

Might be better without the vegetation (lichen above the ring, shrubs from the ledge to the summit). Small holds from the ring to the ledge.

Nice chimney to a big chock (sling underneath and sling to the right of the chock). Stood on the chock for quite some time thinking about the consequences of a fall, but then found another position for a sling in the chimney above the chockstone. Nice moves from there (and thankfully two more slings) to the col and the ring and further up the wall to the summit.

The fourth "Údolní cesta" today and probably the best, although it took us a while to find it. I think the description in the Kittler guidebook is wrong, as it makes no sense to traverse to the arête on the right at any point; also, the description in the book on the summit says to go left and up, too. To sum up: difficult start to a small ledge (I clipped the ring of the hard route next to it), then left and up to a ledge (sling) with huge flakes. Above the flakes (good sling!), merge into "Severní cesta" (nice climbing but unprotected) to the big ledge (sling). Short wall with good slopers to the top.

Was supposed to be the #warmup but turned out to be quite a challenge. Well, I'm not surprised, this is Würgau after all. Had to back up a bit when I was already standing on the flake that I had haphazardly draped a sling over - well, at first; I added a knot after I had second thoughts - to add a big cam and a nut before I dared to rock up into the alcove below the overhanging crack. That one looked easy enough from the ground, but turned out to be quite off-putting, but at least protected by a bolt.

Nice classic from the 1930s. Interesting passage to the first bolt and over it, then easier along the crack, with a nice finishing dihedral.

Difficult, bouldery start if you go directly over the first bolt. Then straight up the crack with good nut placements, diagonally up towards a bolt of "S' mou gei" and then back up left onto the big pillar (seems like I climbed it a bit more directly than it was done originally). Nice rock structures!

Terrific rock quality, smooth climbing, really enjoyable, could go on like this for a few hundred meters.

Might have become easier after the flake fell out? I'll never know. Now it's a fine chimney/dihedral start in spiky rock. Easy traverse and juggy finish. #lastrouteoftheday

Interesting, classic route. The traverse into the chimney is the crux. Quite exposed, but nicely protectable with a nut and a cam. The chimney is tricky in the first half, best climbed with your face on the right side when looking in. Easy top, a green cam eases your mind.

Awesome shoulder crack with an easy chimney on top that looks intimidating from the ground. The shoulder crack can of course be climbed frontally without any crack skills, but you shouldn't! Good but tricky nut placement after a few meters, a good sling shortly after.

One of the more exciting chimneys around, with lots of air beneath your feet if you bridge it up on the outside. I didn't place any gear, but it should be possible to protect the thing, at least with medium to large cams and one or the other sling.

Incredible feat for 1912. I can imagine they used some wooden chocks back in the day? Would be interesting to know how they climbed this. It's basically a big round flake in the back of a chimney, with fist sized to offwidth cracks on both sides. The first few meters are fine, but then the chimney gets narrower and the footholds worse (at around 10 meters off the ground). Tried a few things to get past that narrow bit but failed to climb it safely, and to make matters worse, got my foot stuck in the right crack. I had to find a no-hand position (still free solo!) to get my foot back out. I already wanted to give up and start downclimbing, when I realised there was a rusty old ring (which looked fine, though) just a meter above me. The biggest cam I had was a blue one, which I then optimistically placed in the narrowest section of crack I could find, and then carefully climbed on, reached the ring, and started to breathe again. Recovered the cam for later after clipping the ring and placed a sling around the only chockstones I could find a few inches higher. From there, the climbing first gets a bit easier, and you can place slightly smaller cams (blue, yellow) safely, but the finish is still challenging regardless!

A classic mountain adventure, just like "Rauer Kamin", which has the same start up to the crux. From there it's pleasurable, airy chimney stemming up to the top.

Fantastic, long classic line. Starts off like Bäumlesweg through the narrow chimney inside the crag, then traverses to the right along the ledges to the actual "Talkamin". Up this to just past the bolt, then to the right to a good belay. Again around the corner to the right into the next, comfy chimney and up this to the summit. #jahreserste2023

Brilliant, airy classic. The section where it leaves "Bayerlandverschneidung" to the right felt hard for the grade. From the next ledge, it's also a bit bold because there aren't too many good options for additional protection. The traverse back to the left of "Bayerlandverschneidung" is stunning. Exposed and very worthwhile.

Really good. The difficulties are over a few meters above the single bolt, then it's just a leisurely stroll up to the anchor.

Another fantastic line that I had passed by before without noticing. A long, diagonal crack, perfect for some trad training. Perfect rock, nice hold shapes, good jams.

Nice classic. Some polish in the beginning, but quite rough later on. Quite run out, so bring some nuts if you don't want to solo half of it. Had the most beautiful light when the sun went below the clouds just before sunset.

Terrific line, amazing terrain for the grade. Tricky to get over the overhang, then relatively easy, but still delicate. A bit chossy shortly before the abseil ring.

Traverse around the whole rock from the south to the north via the west face. Just one little section of actual climbing which is a steep little boulder, the rest is relatively easy. The start is a little overgrown but it's not a problem.

Fantastic, long route, much better than "Linke Talseite". The vegetation isn't too bad, the rock quality is good and the line pretty awesome. The bolts are old rings; the lower one can be backed up with a cam in the crack on the left, the upper one still looks good. Bring slings and nuts, too!

Nice easy route on jugs. If you go to the summit directly at the ring on the ledge, it seems a bit harder than 5, but it could be that the original route goes up on the right, slightly around the corner (was wet today).

One of the funniest routes I know. Starts by climbing the big staircase-like needle in the middle of the ravine, then turn around and climb onto the rock beam, walk across to the other side and climb a few meters more to the anchor. Highly Recommended!

Airy but easy chimney at the top. Worthwhile! The difficulty is to get into the “Hundebahnhof”, same as for “Linke Kaminkante”.

Marvellous rock with ergonomic holds, really enjoyable. Take some gear for additional protection.

Good line along a fist crack. Better backup the sling after the first bolt. I didn’t have a thin enough Kevlar sling with me, otherwise I would have swapped it.

Wonderful crack climbing with plenty of bomber placements.

A funny ride! The slab climbing along the rib almost felt like sandstone due to the lichen crumbling under my fingers and feet. More than enough friction, though.

Short pocketed wall, ever so slightly overhanging. Used a purple and a small silver Dragon cam in pockets for protection.

The original finish of "Neuer Gemsenweg". It's best to have some protection somewhere on the plateau before stepping out onto the arête. Nice position!

The rock was almost completely wet due to the warm temperatures. Didn't exactly make the traverse easier. Nice second pitch up the pocketed slab.

A seemingly forgotten line which is mentioned in the oldest guidebooks. Up through the chimney like "Alter Weg", then even further up onto the huge chockstone. From there, straight up along the north-west arête (no fixed protection, but nuts and slings possible). #lastrouteoftheday

One of the oldest routes here. Drives out left from the third bolt of "Seelendoping" into "Vergissmeinnicht". The original line then goes up and left into the dihedral (rusty peg) and through the crack to the top. Climbed up this way, but there's no anchor and it's quite mossy, so I backtracked and went up the pockety finish of "Vergissmeinnicht" instead (maybe a little harder this way).

Nice #warmup on an almost perfect layback flake. Can be climbed as a dihedral, though, but still great fun. Used a yellow and blue dragon cam, a sling and some medium nut.

Left out the two bolts and did it clean. Loads of good placements and a really wonderful climb.