Gaisberg Crag & Rif Climbing Tower

The easier routes to the right of the main compact wall on the Gaisberg crag are not found in any guide book. The area has been used for more than fifty years as a training area by alpinists, long before the first hard sport routes were bolted on the main compact wall.

Stefan, Sabine and I cleaned, re-bolted or put up six routes a couple of weeks ago. All the new or refurbished routes are equiped with standard expansion bolts and new anchors. The bolting is friendly and will protect the climber from a ground fall

This is the first step of a process that we hope to complete this fall. We are planning on establishing some two-pitch lines of about 40-45 meters, bolting some extensions, creating a rope technique practice area, and putting up some easy multi-pitch routes.

This project is a private undertaking from the Kletterhalle Salzburg / denkundstein. I will post more details about the crag as we continue working on the routes. Information will also be available at the website of the Salzburg climbing gym / denkundstein.

The climbing tower at the University Sport Center in Rif has also been equiped with new sport-climbing anchors. The anchors are standard two-point anchors with chains connecting one normal and one screw gate karabiner. This much needed improvement will all but eliminate the number one cause of climbing fatalities in the last years at the tower due to errors made while re-threading the anchors. The new anchors make the tower much more user friendly for private climbers and courses.

Kletterhalle Salzburg Terminplan

Neue Terminplan für Herbst 2009

Kinder

Kinder Einsteiger

Mi., 15-16:00, 7, Okt.-9. Dez., 2009

Do., 15:30-16:30, 22. Okt.-04. Feb (Semesterkurs)

Kinder Fortgeschrittene

Mo., 15-16:30, 28. Sept.-07. Dez., 2009

Di., 06. Okt.-8. Dez., 2009

Jungend

Jungendlich Einsteiger

Mi., 16:30-18:00, 7. Okt.-9. Dez., 2009

Do., 16:30-18:00, 15. Okt.-17. Dez., 2009

Erwachsener

Erwachsene Einsteiger

Mo., 17-19:00, 14. Sept.-23. Nov., 2009

Erwachsene Fortgeschrittene

Do., 17-19:00, 15. Okt.-5. Nov., 2009

Private Kletterkurs (ab 3 Personen)

Kinder-, Jungend-, oder Erwachsene Gruppen, Familien, Eltern mit Kinder, usw., auf Wunsch organisiert

Outdoor

Outdoor MultiPitch

Fr.-So., 18.-20. Sept. 2009 (Kletterturm Rif & Blaueis Hütte, Berchtesgaden)

Personal Training

Indoor oder Outdoor, Multi-Pitch (Mehrseillänge), usw., auf Wunsch organisiert

PT für Jugendlicher: Mo., 19:00-20:00

Probe Klettern, Schulklassen, usw.

auf Wunsch organisiert

"The Life of Joe"

The title description comes from one of my wife’s favorite tongue-in-cheek phrases to describe how lucky I am to be able to do what I do. I haven’t written anything here now for two months. What have I been up to? The following is some of what I have been fortunate to do in the last few weeks:

Sport climbing in Kalymnos for four weeks

Kids Climbing Week, Salzburg Climbing Gym

Multi-pitch routes: “Gosausee-Triathlon”, 560m/V+

“Mezzo Rosso” / “Deierweg”, 240m/V

“Strada del Sole”, 400m/VII

“Hochalm Express” / “Im Reich der Zwerge”, 230m/VII+

Bolting new routes on Gaisberg

Sport climbing around Salzburg

Climbing courses, personal training, etc.

September is always a transition month for me. New courses start up, training shifts to getting prepared for the winter season, and I re-evaluate and adjust my training plans for climbing.

Hopefully, the fall season will be dry and settled so that autumn climbing will dovetail nicely into the first ski tour and ice climb.