UKC

Heading to Berchtesgaden near Salzburg (in Germany) next Wed-Sunday; a group of 6 hikers/3xclimbers including two pregnant (but fit & strong) women.

Plan is to try to make it up to Watzman via the walking trails, will wait on the weather report to see how long that will take us.
We'd then love to try some climbing - there will be newbies present, so a crag with the full range would be nice.
The german websites I've scoured have many nice looking multipitch routes, that I hope to get on - but what about more family friendly crags?

I understand Thomas Huber lives there - is that a good sign or should we be intimidated and stick to walking?

In reply to Removed Usermartym:

Lots of good easy multipitch around the Blaueishütte - topos on the hut's website. Check the weather carefully though. It's great at the mo' - sunny, low 20s at valley level. But it it autumn and could get cold/icy very quickly higher up.

In reply to AlanLittle:
Great, exactly what I was looking for - any great pitches at about 6a??
Thanks a bunch

In reply to Removed Usermartym:

English or French 6a? Assuming the latter: there's lots of multipitch in the 6a to 6c range on the north side of the Reiteralpe - but all big approaches and nothing easy/ family friendly in the vicinity. North facing too - would be fine right now, but not fine if the weather becomes normal again for the time of year. Forecast on the radio today was that the indian summer we're having will last another week.

In reply to AlanLittle:
>Forecast on the radio today was that the indian summer we're having will last another week.

-6a French, I'm Australian and still haven't gotten the grip the multiple grades over here... Are you in Germany then? We're in Czech Rep. - equally enjoying the amazing weather, hence the belated trip over to Watzman territory.

Thanks for the heads up - we'll have 5 days, so hopefully we can sneak off for at least one epic.

Have you checked about snow + ice higher up on the Watzmann?
There was a lot of snow last weekend -- to down below 2000m -- I'd be surprised if it had all melted off the top of the Watzmann, but it would be nice to be proven wrong.

The Watzmann has three summits along a ridge -- the one ("Hoch-eck") closest to Watzmann-haus hut is the lowest. Traversing the ridge to reach the Mittlerspitze (even with some fixed-cable protection) might be kind of exciting if there's snow + ice around).

(I climbed the East face of the Südspitze last week, on the last really full day of good weather before the precip hit.)

Another multi-pitch option near Berchtesgaden with less single-day approach work than the Blaueis hut to consider might be on the Untersberg / Salzburg Hochthron, where you can take the lift up, then abseil to the base of a climbing route, then walk over to the lift top station after finishing the climb.
(Other climbing routes on the Hohe Brett.)

Ken

In reply to Removed Usermartym:
Suberb via ferrata in that area too. Fantastically well signposted and in immaculate condition

In reply to kenr:

Cheers for the advice, we had a great week. The crossing of the Watzman "via Ferratta" was quite exciting, especially for my friend's first time using the lanyards... not quite the protection I had expected!
Unfortunately one friend hurt his knee, so only three of us crossed the three summits (a 12 hour day to the Wimbachbrucke as well!) and we missed out on Blaueis Hutte.
We found our way to Karlstein, a very nice little sport crag near Reiteraple, which is definitely on the "next time" list - some amazing looking climbs out there.
Strongly recommend the area though, we had perfect weather every day, unbelievable!