Ascents in Große Gans as Onsight

Schöne, sehr gut gesicherte Tour. Am 7. Ring lange an den Monos getüftelt. Links herum ging es dann. Nach dem 8. auch nochmal kurz schwieriger. Eher rechts haltend

Perfect route to end the long weekend with, although I must admit the sand in the second pitch got me a little frightened. But let's start at the beginning. It seems many people start from the left instead of climbing the original hand crack, which is a shame. The crack is the obvious line and it's not hard. You can even protect it quite easily. The section from the first to the second ring is intimidating at first because you can't see the ring and it's overhanging, but the holds are good and you can climb in a controlled fashion. Almost didn't see the ring, had already placed a sling directly next to it. Good sling on a ledge after that, then up over an overhang ("Umgehungsstelle" of "Weinertwand") and via an exhilarating slab section to the third ring, where I set up belay. The second pitch starts off with what is maybe the most technical part of the climb. Didn't place anything up to the fourth ring, though, and just concentrated on the climb. After the ring, a little crack section provides some variation (and we even pocketed a sling that someone got stuck in a rock tunnel, kaching!) and before you know it, you're at the fifth ring. The guidebook said to go right here, "avoiding two chossy overhangs". Apparently, though, most people nowadays go left into the finish of "Weinertwand" instead, so the original finish is neglected and indeed the rock quality is questionable at best. I tried to avoid the "white stuff" as best as I could, found some mediocre rock tunnels and just climbed as carefully as possible to not break anything. It's not difficult climbing up there, fortunately. The feeling of success and relief was all the more present when I reached the summit. It's basically written everywhere but to be sure: the second abseil ring is on the opposite wall, just a few meters below the summit. Don't miss it!

Lower part often damp. Somewhat sketchy to first small thread, then easier to first bolt. Crux after 3rd bolt.

Crispy, but well protected with a V-thread before clipping second bolt. The rest is easy.

The stepover is mellow. Traversing left involves some botany, the remaining part is reasonably protectable.

Reachy to second bolt, crimpy past it. Sandy but easy topout.

#meisterweg

The first pitch (to 2nd ring) is one of the best climbs I've ever done

Quite the endeavour. Already some climbing involved to get to the big ledge, then an easy traverse to the arête where the actual climb starts. Always up a crack/dihedral, quite enjoyable, but getting gnarlier towards the end. It's not entirely clear where to leave the crack to the right and go for the rib. I think I went up too far and ended up in brittle terrain, also felt more difficult than V. The rib is then again easier and you reach the abseil ring after a short while to set up belay. This is where "Perry-Variante" branches from the original route and sets off into the south face; a brilliantly exposed traverse brings you to a short, steeper crack section and then easier climbing to the summit.

Really good crack climbing in decent rock. Looks so much shorter from the ground, I barely had enough slings (you need lots of thicker ones, around 10 to 12 mm) and had to plan ahead carefully from about halfway up. Didn't find the belay bolt on the terrace, so I built a belay myself. The way to the summit from there is a little hard to find, we went up the chimney and crawled trough a little arch, then stepped over to the main summit (the most difficult part for Patrick, as it turned out :-D).

Climbed it as "Übergang", which means we had to downclimb first to a terrace, then even further down the ridge , step over to the other tower, then back up again in a green crack dihedral. Took me a while to commit to the last moves.

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.