Ascents in Grünbauer Gedenkwand

Didn't go as bad as I had anticipated. Got a new hint for the crux from Torsten. It's apparently sensible to go into a gaston first instead of spanning all the way to the crimp up left. Might give that a try next time.

#warmup

Got my shoulder stuck under the rope so I couldn't do the move to the tiny crimp.

Didn't get my thumb right on the sidepull.

High point! Stuck the moves up to the big pinch, then failed getting into layback position. Important things to remember: a) for the move to the sidepull, the left arm must be under the rope coming from the draw, and b) first take the sidepull with thumb on the left, then while standing up, move thumb to the right onto the tiny nose.

A bit chossy overall, especially in the crux, but other than that it's nice climbing. Unexpectedly nice moves after the suspicious bolt (the one before the anchor; it's an eye screw from the hardware store). The big flake under this bolt moves a bit already, better avoid pulling too hard … #lastrouteoftheday

Dropped off right at the beginning of the crux, as expected. Skipped the one move and struggled again reaching the "ear". However, I found a nice way to extend my reach a bit by moving my right hand up a bit from the pinch to a little edge in the sloper, just enough to be able to bump to the "ear" with my left hand. Also realised that I could use a good foothold quite far down under the arête to be able to shake out my left hand before going to the birdbath hold which I couldn't hold long enough last time. Some of the finishing slopers were damp, so the top section was even more delicate than last time.

Decided to try the lower crux by directly going into the sidepull again, because I hadn't managed to do the fingerlock/crimp version and immediately succeeded. Finally I got good beta for that section! I could link the whole upper part from there now, nice!

Good attempt. Didn't get the sidepull right and fell, but then tried again and got from there to the "ear". Slipped off a foothold on the little arête afterwards, though. But now I'm prepared to just come back fresh and try again, since I'm not "afraid" of any move any more.

The crux in the dihedral at the start felt easier knowing that you just have to use the bad footholds. Fat dormouse in the middle of the dihedral, don't let it bite you, it sounds angry. #warmup

Didn't find a really good way to get into the key sidepull. Helmut's beta didn't seem feasible at first, so I skipped that one move and continued. Found a nice layback beta to the fourth bolt. You can still fall off in the sloper section at the top!

Tried with Helmut's beta again and it worked in the end! So all moves done, now it's just practice. Also climbed the whole crux section without resting!

Wanted to get to the little crimp for the left hand without resting, but fell off due to wrong gripping position on the little blocky thing at the start of the crux: my final solution: index and middle go into the little recess at the back of the crack, ring finger and pinky go into the slot on the right, thumb on the top left part of the block. That's apparently crucial for me to be able to put the foot up after reaching up into the sloper crack.

Felt much smoother today. Put in a green cam after the second bolt, then walked a bit to the left on the ledge instead of trying to go directly to the bolt. Makes it much easier and it's the natural line. The runout after the third bolt is still huge, but since the climbing corridor is vast, just put a nut into the dihedral and extend it quite a bit. Great jams and jugs up top. #warmup #repeat

Cleaned out the way to the bolt (you should make a belay here, because the route winds around the tower) some time ago. No more thorns at the moment. Still chossy, though. But the part after the bolt is quite nice. Almost didn't find the abseil anchor at the top but it's there. No book, though.

2nd go. Sieht nicht so einladend aus, ist aber gute Kletterei!

Nicely protected arête up to a small tree, then funny traverse to the left into the alcove with the book (which is from 1977!). The upper part is easy with good rock quality, but unfortunately a bit vegetated.

Overhanging start on jugs. Not everything seems to be solid, but the protection is good. The third bolt sits in hollow rock, so take care! From there on, it's great wall climbing to a good overhanging finish with long moves.

Serious route with only 4 bolts. Great, but hard crack in the beginning (friend between first and second bolt, big nut after the second bolt), then easier slab to the third bolt (I traversed a bit left and followed the obvious crack line). More slab awaits on the long journey to the last bolt; above that, reachy moves lead to a good rock tunnel. Didn't find a supposed fifth bolt/anchor, so we went left to the anchor of "Finale im Wiesenttal".

Classic route along the massive dihedral. The start was done using a ladder in the old days and is a bit powerful. Interesting technical passage after the first bolt, easy traverse to the left after the second (which should be unclipped after clipping the third; otherwise you'll get massive rope drag). After one more slightly awkward move, the rest is pleasurable dihedral climbing in good rock. Doesn't have an anchor.