Ascents in Schlehenmühle

Fantastic wall climbing with two little drawbacks: the dirty blocks/ledge after the first bolt (I went a bit to the right because it felt safer), and the runout to the final headwall (especially because the massive flake you use to get up to the bolt is moving …). Other than that, impeccable rock quality, tricky moves, not a single speck of chalk on the holds, pure onsighting terrain. Challenging and certainly not 8- due to the tough crux in the middle.

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.

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).

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.

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.

Super compact slab. An old toprope boulder by Flipper Fietz. Super scary on lead. There's a relatively new bolt at the start, but the one (and only) bolt in the upper part is quite high. You can (and should) thread a rock tunnel on the ledge, though. However, the runout above the bolt is still huge. And despite it getting easier step by step, the rock quality diminishes at the same pace. There is, however, the possibility of putting in a tiny but decent nut after the crux. I didn't have that size on me, sadly. Still, falling at the top is not an option.

Great classic, quite technical in the upper part. A nut after the first bolt protects the way to the ledge. On the way to the next bolt, it's also sensible to place gear. I used a pink dragon cam and extended it with an alpine draw, then also put a long sling into the next bolt to keep rope drag at bay. The traverse is tricky, best approached quite low. Brilliant position on the final little ledge, then up to the very top (the route originally went around the corner to the right before going up and has been straightened).

Long wall climbing with great finish and crux on small holds in the slab in the upper part. Take small nuts for the runout to the second bolt. After the last bolt, a massive piece of rock broke off some time ago (you can still see the crater on the ground), but the remains seem to be safe. Nevertheless, some loose stuff here and there, so better watch out.

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.

Had to work much harder than 6+ here. But it's really nice and well protected.

Fantastic top section through the overhanging crack. Climbing to the first bolt is a bit daring, but once you got the jugs it's okay. Apparently the left finish is also really good, need to come back again and try it.

High first bolt and brittle start, but the undercling dihedral makes up for that. Nice moves out of the dihedral. Same finish as for "Lasalle Gedenkweg".

looks quite hard, but everything works out fine

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.

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.

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.

Great rock texture in the dihedral, much more solid than it looks. A tricky traverse under the roof, then easy to the ledge with the fourth bolt. If you go on to the top section (better don't if nobody wants to second it), better put a long sling in that one. The last few meters are in brilliant, juggy, compact, dark black rock.

The climbing is okay, but the rock is brittle all the way. It's like playing minesweeper.

I think I made this harder for me than it had to be, because it felt really powerful. There's some cool hand jamming, and it's the most solid rock quality I've seen today.

Quite pumpy for the grade

Crack/dihedral with splintery start, but the rock quality increases steadily. Interesting moves, not easy for 5+, but merely technical, not athletic. Easy after the third bolt, but still nice climbing.

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.

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

Take care to not touch the huge stack of flakes above the start of the route. If you yank on the smaller one at the bottom, the whole thing will come crashing down, resulting in certain death. Other than that, solid rock and very easy. No anchor on the summit! #jahreserste2021