Ascensiones en Rofanspitze

After bailing from "Spiralweg", we had to rush a bit to get a route done before the risk of rain got too high. The first pitch is quite good, but really hard for the grade, a steep dihedral, sometimes overhanging with unusual movements for the average Frankenjura climber. I used a single cam before the belay, the rest was relatively well-protected (3 bolts and a few pitons). The second pitch is easier, but also relatively exhausting due to the chimney action. Also, the backpack gets in your way. Again, only needed one cam. Pitch 3 contains the best and the worst climbing of the route. The well-protected crux at the beginning has fantastic rough rock and good moves, then the rock becomes utterly crappy and basically everything you touch threatens to crumble under your grip. The fourth pitch is a nice exercise in slab climbing, and the last pitch is an easy chimney (careful, some wet bits). I terribly underestimated the descent. The guidebook (Panico) also doesn't really tell you that you have to cross steep grass along the edge of a 100 m cliff without a path. In addition to that, it slowly started to rain, so we needed to get off the grass quickly. We did the final section on a short piece of rope with cams placed between us.

There were 4 people in front of us, which we only realised when talking to two of them at the first belay. They were terribly slow and when I had just finished the bulk of pitch 2, sitting uncomfortably mid-route on a chockstone waiting for them to clear the next belay, it became clear that this wouldn't happen any time soon. So eventually I climbed back down to the belay and we abseiled down since we didn't have too much time on our hands …

To the route itself: the first pitch was actually meant to be climbed in the chimney, but I didn't spot some of the hidden pitons and threads, so I climbed the pillar on the right and then traversed back into the chimney at a good piton. Interesting, but a bit scary. The second pitch is quite short with a funny tunnel section (you don't fit through with a backpack!) before the belay.