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marshallq
Dec 21, 2006, 10:22 PM
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Hi there,
A friend and me wanna go climb (sport) in the upcoming summer (july/august) and i was wondering what will be the best area for us.
A bit of info on us, i've started climbing about 9 months ago and right now i'm at 5b-c indoors. We've been climbing outdoors in niedeggen (eiffel, germany). Currenly i'm reading freedom of the hills and i'm working on serveral practical stuff in the hall. My climbing partner climbs 6b in the hall and he's more experienced then me (basically he knows his stuff).
So to get to the main question, we orginally wanted to go to les ecrins for some multiptich routes. Now i've heard from some customers in our climbing hall that arco is fun as well.
i've looked for information on this and in a old google cached topic (from rc.com) i've found a bit of info but not enough.
One quote:
"Arco has routes up to ~40 pitches (1000m), but these are exceptions, some of them are aid routes. You see, north of the town of Arco there's the Sarca Valley, which has a lot of bolted and trad multi-pitch. But again, last year in June we had 35°C, and a lot of the stuff is south- or south-east "
So will june / august be to hot?
Any other areas we should be looking at, anywhere in europe is fine?
One note: everything should be bolted (and pref. not every 6-7 meters like in the eiffel :P). Also we want to do some multipitch.
(This post was edited by marshallq on Dec 21, 2006, 10:23 PM)
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overlord
Dec 22, 2006, 7:48 AM
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arco will probably be hot in just/august, but if it will be too hot, its up to you to decide. i suggest going a bit further north, like zillertal, austria or some other crag in the alps.
climbing 6b indoors means absolutely nothing, especially for multipitch routes. i say this as a warning so you dont get in over your heads. i suggest first trying some singlepitch stuff. and as you live in germany, go to frankenjura, its a sport climbers heaven.
to clarify further... most multipitch routes are climbed at least one grade below your single pitch grade. and i mean solid grade, not that 7a+ you once sent after 6months of projecting. retreating off a multipitch route is generally much more difficult than from a single pitch routes. while you can just lower off a single pitch route and leave some gear, you will probably need to rappel from a multi pitch (assuming there are rappel anchors (or normal anchors) close enough together to rappel with one rope, otherwise youll need a second rope or use doubles/twins), plus rescuing if you get injured is much more complicated (again, just lower the injured leader off a single pitch, but you will need quite a lot of knowledge to get off a multipitch route). and arco is known for its science-friction slabs. meaning that theyre polished, technical and bolts are scarce enough to make a newbie leader get at least a serious case of elvis leg, if not brown underwear... if you follow my drift.
so, in short, my advice is to first gather some experience on single pitch routes nearby and then worry aobout multi pitch.
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uasunflower
Dec 22, 2006, 2:53 PM
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overlord speaks the truth...the choice between Arco and les Ecrins seems a bit strange to me - Ecrins is a rather remote mountaineering area, like the backwaters of Chamonix if you will. The approach can take you several hours and it's more of a trad spot, although you can find bolted climbs 5min from the road too. Arco is less remote and even less of a mountaineering spot - no altitude problems at least, although hot. Ecrins will def. be colder and those are the top months to be there - although beg. of june is ok for Arco too. You have to be in shape for some strenuous approaches though, and bring your ski poles with you. North of Arco you've got Dolomites, but that's the same deal as for Ecrins, mountains - and climbing in the mountains is one more (BIG) step from climbing multipitch sport routes. So beware.
If i were you, for your first serious climbing trip i would consider such places as Callanques or Ceuse in France, Arco doesn't sound that bad either - hot weather might still be a problem there too. If you want more mountaineering, then go to Chamonix, Ecrins or Dolomites - but be prepared to what it means too.
ps - try to know more about your friend and what his 'knows his stuff' means - climbng in the gym is VERY different from climbing outside, you don't want to find out he pisses in his pants each time he's 1m over a bolt or a hold moves in his hand...Do you know how to use doubles? How to prussik? How to escape if you're off route or if a thunderstorm hits you? If you go to Ecrins, you should have a set of nuts with you and know how and where to use them...some things to think about, not to discourage you. Also, going to the mountains, it's always good to be able to rely 100% on yourself, and not only on your partner, trust me...
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marshallq
Dec 22, 2006, 5:34 PM
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Thanks for the extended replies guys, great stuff to read and ofc. safety should come first.
I'll let my friend read this and we'll see in the summer what we're going to do. Perhaps a trip to some other germany rock areas to check out our game.
If anyone else wants to say something about this please go ahead, every opinion is welcome.
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tisar
Dec 27, 2006, 7:35 AM
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marshallq wrote: Thanks for the extended replies guys, great stuff to read and ofc. safety should come first. I'll let my friend read this and we'll see in the summer what we're going to do. Perhaps a trip to some other germany rock areas to check out our game. If anyone else wants to say something about this please go ahead, every opinion is welcome.
Juli/August would be a perfect time to climb in Germany, though the weather is totally unpredictable and it can be rainy for weeks. At least it won't be too hot. Hopefully. As said, Germany proved to be a capricious bitch lately.
Best sports climbing you might find in the Frankenjure. Few multi pitch routes though, mostly short routes in perfect limestone, many of them overhanging (for the rainy days). For the long routes I'd recommend the Danube Valley. You might need a nut or two, but the view is incredible.
I'm just about to write a little on the different areas, but it may take me a while to get it all down. Just check the German route db once a while.
- Daniel
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