Exploring the crags of Western Germany
Honestly speaking, climbing is not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about western Germany. Still with a local guide showing me around I did experience quite a wide variety of different climbing styles and rock types in a very short amount of time.
Basalt cracks, conglomerate chaos and quartzite edges west of the Rhine
After several trips to the Alps and visits to Mallorca I took up Jochens offer to visit him on the banks of the river Rhine to take a look at the different crags in the area. With only four days available for climbing the plan was to hit as many different areas as possible.
Day 1: Jumping head first into the crack in Kottenheim
Having flown in at the crack of dawn we still went out to the basalt area of Kottenheim on the first day. I learned two things quickly here: There is mostly cracks climbing here that demands split jamming technique (which I definitely do not have) and bolting is very sparse (you can protect most climbs well with cams - which we did not have either).
Still we got in some solid climbing and I pushed myself to choose routes that forced me jam the cracks to mixed success.
Day 2: The secret and mysterious quartzite wall somewhere in the Ahrtal forest
After having suffered on the crack climbing the day before Jochen chose a fairly unknown „locals“ crags for the second day: A hidden wall in the shady forest above the Ahrtal valley.
The climbing here was very different from the featureless basalt in Kottenheim: Sharp often oddly angled holds make for pumpy routes that need some smart body positioning.
Day 3: Vertical potato fields in Nideggen (aka conglomerate rock)
Spread all over the (again luckily shady) forest close to the down of Nideggen are a few dozen conglomerate towers and formations. This time we had a good heads up on the sometimes laughligly bad protection of the routes - unfortunately on this kind of rock cams will not work so you just have to deal with it.
The day started out with a pretty exciting free solo up the easier side of the towers to set up top ropes on the more serious climbs. Luckily with some creativity and maybe a clipstick you can avoid most of the risk. Still the day ended with a bold-ish corner climb with two bolts on 15 meters.
Day 4: Back to Kottenheim for another beating
Before traveling to Germany a buddy on Mallorca who knows the area very well had given us some tips on specific routes to try. So back to the basalt cracks and on to try „Lauras Stern“: somewhat of a highlight and test piece. Funnily the crack training if day 1 might have already helped a little as I did flail as much - but still grunted and screamed myself up that thing.
After ticking „Lauras Stern“ we went on to sample a few more face climbs - but even on those you do not get by without the cheeky jam here and there!
To sum up: Four days of new rock, new skills and good company!
Adventurers: Jochen and Bengt