Ascents in Schlehenmühle

Don't climb this if you're allergic to apparently weird bolting. I can only assume the first ascensionists used some tricks to do the moves from the first bolt (which was used as a belay originally) bolt-/pegless, like throwing a sling over the protruding chock. Nowadays, a small cam is probably helpful if you don't want to risk falling onto the ledge. Easier middle section, then another dihedral with few holds and the possibility of falling onto a ledge, but less of an issue there. The climbing is good, though, if you can look past that. I had already climbed the start of pitch 2 when doing Friedl Cramer a few years back. My intention back then had been to climb the finish the way we did today, but there was grass in the key hold. I removed that grass and a little dirt when abseiling today, so I could give it another go. But still, I must say that even without the grass, and probably also without the grass in the other holds further to the left, this final wall is quite certainly harder than 7+. The rock quality is perfect, but the holds are bad and the footholds even worse. Even reaching the key hold to start the traverse might already be harder.

Great, long line along what might have been the original "Alte Talwand". I could imagine that it had been climbed with too many pitons back in the day and was shunned for that reason, because the original guidebook describes a completely different line than later ones, and the pegs had been removed. It has a decent amount of bolts now, and it might even be the easiest path through the east face. The overhang might provide a challenge for the average crack-avoiding Franconian climber, though.

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There's actually a few ways to climb this. This time I approached the chimney from the north and stayed inside, last time I went up in the dihedral on the southern end (there's an old peg there, too). The chimney proper is certainly the funnier variant! Quite narrow in some places, couldn't turn my head with helmet on. #jahreserste2023

The other obvious line in the north face. I was quite surprised to see tufaceous rock after a few meters. Passing behind the first chock is the obvious choice (there's an old peg below signalling the difficult passage). After a few meters of stimulating near-foothold-less chimney action, it gets easier, with good footholds and widening a bit. Careful towards the top, there are a few bigger rocks lying around precariously.

The start is stupid (or something broke off). I suggest to climb the direct start of "Alter Weg" instead, the routes merge after the first bolt, anyway, then split again after the second. Good climbing from the ledge along the big crack structure. Lots of choss on the way, the route tries to avoid some of it, but not all. The detour into the wall on the right seems a little forced, but actually makes everything more homogeneous and cover more chossless (is that a word?) rock. The top is quite athletic, but again on dubious structures.

Great layback climbing with a crux before the book case. A small cam and/or nut is sensible before the third bolt. Towards the top, you need to step to the right onto a massive hollow block. Feels a bit weird, but it seems to be solid enough.

The choss is there, no question, but the climbing is pretty elegant and most of the blocky stuff has already been ripped off, so you're left with relatively solid structures. One bolt in the middle sits in a hollow section of rock, though, a little suboptimal but no deal-breaker I guess. The crux comes high up, around the last bolt. Quite homogeneous, nice route.

The bolts sit in the wrong places on this one, maybe so that they're not so close to the ones of "Superschneck" (or the rock quality wasn't good enough further left). Makes it a bit confusing, though, I always tried to go direct or on the right first, then had to back up and succeed on the left. Again the crux is up high, technical wall section with an awesome undercling move.

Long traverse after the first bolt (if you start from the right as intended, the direct start has another bolt), over two bolts around the corner, then two more bolts and up onto the ledge to a belay. Keep left at the next (new) bolt, then up over two overhangs to a final black slab. Well-protected. A little choss here and there in the upper part and some cruxy sections at the overhangs. Worthwhile.

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Nice chimney, second pitch of "Linker Nordriss", but in principle accessible by walking in from the back through the "Felsentor".

Great crack/chimney line. The bolts in the upper part have been added later, but they aren't really necessary if you stick to the chimney in the back. Enjoyable. Second pitch is either of the easy routes to the top, we chose the chimney directly above the end of this one.

Great line along a crack that draws up from the bottom to the very top. Some jams in the beginning, then up a slab to an overhanging section with jugs (crux at the end because suddenly no more jugs!), a layback section and a final offwidth. The upper part is reminiscent of the rock of the lower Pegnitz valley.

Phenomenal overhanging crack dihedral with mediocre jams (my right hand and arm was numb for a while after) lead to a narrow ledge on which you crawl on your belly to a belay. The big ledge that is the second pitch (easy and leads to the finish of “Alte Talseite” is quite overgrown and didn’t look too appealing, so we chose the left-hand finish, but at the very top I went straight up via “Walzerschritt” which reduces rope drag. Fantastically exposed traverse around the arête before the final headwall! There’s an abseil ring at the summit. A 50 m rope gets you down with two abseils (to the first belay after the crawl ledge and from there to the ground).

2nd go

Hard getting over the third bolt (and to the fourth), I didn't find any really good holds to pull myself up at least. Felt harder than 6, but maybe I just didn't find the correct solution? I had fun though and it was cool up to the third bolt, with some great slits and even a little of "traversing" (ok, maybe one or two moves to the side instead of upwards )

Very nice! Great pockets/slits everywhere, the last part was too hard for me, as I hoped for a "rescue jug" but there was none