Ascents climbed between 2022-06-01 and 2022-06-30 in World as trad or sport by Christoph Rauch having cleanbst

Great wall climbing on pockets. Crux in the middle before the break. Devious little undercling: first you spot it from below but you can't really do anything with it. Then you move up so it's just in front of your belly. Remembered about it just in time, but then almost botched the onsight because I hastily slapped up to the break, hoping for a jug, but just hitting a sloper. Had to do a few insecure moves to get out of that conundrum. The upper part is easier, just stay a bit on the left and you're good.

Might have been bolted just because the lines to the left and right were already polished, since it uses a lot of holds from both. The dihedral at the start is independent and quite challenging, reminded me to stretch more … Afterwards it's lots of crimps, sidepulls, and a crux on some water drop dimples or whatever you might call them, which I solved with a high heel hook on the left and a delicate mantel using the thumb on the dimples. More crimps and a few slits towards the end.

Endurance beast, mostly on crimps and sidepulls with a nice rooflet start (kneebar to clip the first bolt :-D). Already a good deal of polish, but still manageable, with a few committing moves. Struggled a bit seeing what was ahead of me because the sun already came around …

Interesting steep slab with lots of underclings (hence the name). The massive hollow flake in the middle is a bit dubious, though. Good moves.

New route on the far left, good rock and nice moves in the middle part, with some sidepulls along the cracks.

Intimidating, but manageable. Good nut placements after the sling, the bolt distances afterwards aren't dangerous. Currently there's a piece of rope in the last bolt. Didn't find an anchor past the shabby sling in the rock tunnel at the lip of the finishing roof.

Might have been a classic once, but then it got polished to oblivion; in addition, the locals tried to fix it by sprinkling concrete on some footholds. In the original state it might have been a (hard) 6b+, but now it seemed more like a solid 7a. Nice moves on tufas at the start (the only ones at the whole crag), then a devious little section out of the tiny cave, followed by crimps, pockets, sidepulls and finally lots of baked-on concretions. Hard until the very last move. Worthwhile despite the polish, might still be one of the best lines at the crag.

Nice climbing along big features in the lower part. Short difficult passage at the end, just before the first chain, then suddenly super hard boulder crux on small holds to an easier finish.

Brutal boulder for the grade. Actually relatively big holds, but quite athletic and the section directly after the second bolt is nasty and powerful. Decent finger jam in the crack afterwards, but you should definitely place a nut in that slot once you repositioned yourself. You can use the anchor of the routes on the right.

Tricky in the upper part, high feet are helpful. The polish doesn't help. #lastrouteoftheday

The start was dripping wet, so we pre-clipped the first bolt. Interesting, but easy slab traverse into the east face, then steeper along the arête to the top. Quite nice, actually.

Classic traverse, but astonishingly easy. Just follow the horizontal lines of pockets up to the northeast arête, then walk up to the ledge. The next two moves are the crux (originally done by pulling the gear, of course), then again easy to the ledge.

Wall climbing in good rock. Crux is in the lower part in the yellowish rock on smallish crimps. Juggy to the top.

Started via "Weg für Verklemmte", which joins the original line quite soon (at least there are rusty old pegs next to the glue-ins). Had to set up belay on the small ledge below the roof because I didn't have any draws left. Easy traverse around the corner, leaving WFV, then up on the right via the crack. Had to struggle quite a bit with that one. Some of the holds also crumbled beneath my hands, because it's not climbed often. Quite dusty all in all.

Enjoyable friction slab in the lower part, greasy crimps towards the end in a short vertical section. Felt brutally hard at 30 degrees in the sun.

Difficult, strenuous passage over the first bulge, then easier but a little splintery runout (bigger nuts possible). Good rock and nice pockets to the top.

To the right after the great dihedral and via a short difficult passage to the top. Not as good as the original on the left.

Unfortunately, the route stops right in the middle of the brilliant, rough crack, with at least 5 meters of perfect, natural rock above. Such a waste.

The guidebook got it wrong, saying that the start is 6b and the short pitch after the first chain is 4a or so, while it's the other way round. Delicate friction moves towards the end, all in all quite enjoyable.

Good #warmup, if you stay a bit left of the bolts, it's fine for the grade and not too fingery, the upper part is nice.

Tricky slab with a difficult section at the overlap in the upper part.

While there is a crack in the end, it's still basically a slab. The crack just makes the final section super easy, there's just one move at the beginning which uses the crack to get over a tricky passage. Nice and long.

(The rating is just for the original start, the crack itself is really good, if you're up for some alpine adventure.) After the little groove, you're supposed to go left just below the crack; I tried that but turned around because of the choss and lack of protection, then traversed left two meters lower. The traverse into the track turned out to be a nightmarish game of peeling off prospective holds, then brushing off grime from the remaining mediocre crimps. Technically, this is probably indeed around 6+, maybe 7-, but you'd need to work the wall with a pressure cleaner before. The upper part went well, though, but the thorn bush above the last bolt is back. Since we didn't have a long enough rope anyway, I stopped there.

The "easiest" way to the summit from the plateau … or so they say. In fact, it's a little boulder problem to the ring, quite powerful. Afterwards, you're just laybacking up the big flakes, but a cam is sensible.

Quite the adventure, even more so (of course) compared to "Frostfinger" due to the traverse over the ridiculous flake (no idea how that thing is attached to the wall). I had not forgotten how delicate and bold the rest of the route was, but even though I knew what was coming, I hesitated a little in the runout to the last bolt.

Good climbing, funny "protection" up to the first Bühler bolt. Some pegs connected via steel wire … quite weird. The V-profile peg after that doesn't look any better. Decent placements, though. The climbing is great, mostly laybacking on big flakes. The top section is completely overgrown, unfortunately.

Disclaimer: the rating is only valid for masochists. Traverses through the whole crag. It's already a bit sketchy to the first bolt, but the real treat awaits on the way to the second. I basically kneeled on the sandy, sloping ledge with my left leg while selecting the most solid footholds on the right. The second bolt is at least 5 to 6 meters away from the first, so falling there would get you very close to the ground in a big swing, scrubbing against the brittle rock. From the second bolt on, the rock quality improves drastically, also due to the fact that the traverse crosses the sport climbing routes, so the middle section is really fun and reminded me a bit of "Die Gelbe". Set up belay at the original belay bolt before the merger into "Karl Diener Gedenkweg" because it would have been a close call in one pitch with a 50 m rope. The second pitch is then quite short, but still enjoyable despite the rock getting dirtier again.

A tad longer than its right neighbour, also a tiny bit harder, but similar in style. The beautiful rock tunnel towards the end is a plus.

Short pocket pulling game. Avoid the obvious deep, brown pocket, it's full of shit (literally) and there are enough good holds around.

Great line that takes the easiest path through the whole face. Its only fault is the second pitch, which is quite overgrown these days, therefore it's hard to even find the easiest path, which is why I navigated into some fragile structures and loose blocks and ended up at the abseil belay at the start of the route "Tridarat". This is fine, though, you can just climb down a meter to the big rock tunnel and continue with pitch 3, which draws up in a nice arch along the obvious features. Crux is an open crack with jugs but bad (or missing) footholds on the right, followed by a short, well-protected (lots of pitons) traverse to the left under a little rooflet. Pitch 4 starts with a few nice moves into the dihedral before the funny aid traverse (quite certainly, it was originally climbed using rope tension from a visible old ring further up the dihedral) along a steel cable. The short dihedral afterwards is tricky, harder than it looks. Best enjoy the view from the belay of pitch 3 if you plan to abseil, because the last anchor is behind the trees.

Looooong 45 degree slab, getting a tad steeper at the end and with a little step in the middle. Quite entertaining. There are chains somewhere on the way, but it's certainly better to just finish to the top (and not really any harder).

Variant that starts like "Holzbergerriss" and then crosses to the left onto the ledge of "Nordwestkante". The traverse is interesting and well-protected.

Still a little damp, so I had to climb really carefully. First bolt is hard to reach. Didn't feel too easy, didn't find any good jams in the crack. After the second bolt, the vegetation takes the upper hand, unfortunately, so I cannot really recommend this one.

After some research, this is probably identical to "Direkte Ostwand" up to the last bolt, then pulls to the left via the diagonal crack. The guide books indicate that the route goes up further to the left, but that's quite certainly nonsense. Currently there's a wasp nest at the end of said crack. I didn't see any wasps when passing it, so I thought it abandoned, but my second got stung twice and I had to lower him, then somehow retrieve the cam and nut placed right next to the nest …

This is the original second pitch of "Alter Gemsenweg" and indeed a fantastic finish. Spectacular, airy, but easy crack climbing.

Stretching the term "onsight" for this one a little due to the unpassable tree. Swung around on rope tension, then immediately continued climbing. Not 100% sure we climbed the line correctly, but since there was an old ring before the arête, it was at least a "popular" variant. Apparently, the first ascensionists originally traversed further left to the end of the chimney, then went up and back again to the arête, but this detour didn't make it into later guide books.

Traverses left at the second bolt, which turns out to be the crux. Afterwards it gets easier, but you have to add some protection, the last bolt is a little awkward to get to. The top is nice and easy in good rock.

Good line along the crack dihedral with nice laybacking. A bigger block at the end of the crack is brittle, but fortunately there's a nice, thin, but solid sidepull to the left of it. Finished via the right-hand exit, which is supposed to be the easier variant, but quite tough for the grade; a few balancy slab moves to the jug, then through the greenery to the summit.

Starts as "Alter Gemsenweg", but then draws up over the little overhang. Easier than "Alter Gemsenweg" in free climbing terms, but felt a bit more powerful all in all.

Cool logical line. The eponymous flake is juggy on the right, but extremely dusty in the crack on the left, which spiced up even more the fact that there's no fixed protection in the lower part of the route. The lonely bolt in the dihedral before the finish is still sensible, though.

Great dihedral, the hardest part is one slightly awkward move about two thirds up the dihedral. Easy, juggy traverse to the arête. The book case is missing its lid, unfortunately. :-( Back to the right onto the pillar and up on jugs. It's best to set up belay at the bolt on the right.

Quite solid layback climbing, one of the harder summits in the Frankenjura. Looks more intimidating than it is, though.

Easy slab with a luxurious amount of holds, all of which you can omit, just using your feet and leaning against the wall. Can be a good way to test your slab skills.

Nice chimney with a slightly powerful start. The two bolts are in the right places.

Short wall to a no-hands rest on the ledge, then steep jugs on the fridge-sized block. It seems like the whole chunk has moved down a few centimeters over the last years, judging from the absence of lichen and broken rock shards between the block and the rest of the wall. That seems to have caused the smaller block on top to become loose. If you pull hard on it, it tilts towards you … this could end deadly. From there, it's quite a hard boulder with high heel hooks and kneebars left and right. Once you've clipped the fourth bolt, it's basically over but the moss keeps the rock damp, so it was still a challenge …

The good fingerlock in the crux makes it relatively easy for the grade, especially compared to the rest of the 8s here. Careful on the way to the second bolt. Good line along the overhanging crack. Ends on the ledge, you can either finish with "Berglustweg" or "Südwand".

Boulder problem from the ledge, a few moves in good rock, the rest is a little awkward.

Good climbing, the third bolt is a bit too high in my opinion. Interesting pocket puzzle from the ledge in perfect rock. Unfortunately, as for all routes here, the top is a little overgrown.

Quite the Franconian jug showpiece. Nice line, needs to be done much more often to get rid of the lichen on the holds. A little runout with a shoelace through a rock tunnel to ease the mind.

Hard to read. Small holds in good, black rock. Not easy for the grade, but that might also be due to the dust on the holds.

I was quite nervous giving it a go without a warmup, but fortunately the first half is quite easy. Didn't make a single mistake and had plenty of time hanging the draws. Even realized there was a different solution for the top section (quite reachy but involving one or two moves less). Happy to have sent this on the last day.

#repeat Still demanding. Great route.

Didn't feel as desperate as I remembered it, but the first few meters from the ledge are quite intense.

#repeat Such a good line. The sidepulls under the first roof were a bit slimy today, but they're large enough. Love the airy jug finish.