UKC

Anyone has been there and would like to comment?
Here's what I found about it:
vimeo.com/106265007
http://www.horosvaz.cz/trad-climbing-meet-2012/
http://www.summitpost.org/adr-pach-and-k-i-k-bohemian-sandstone-climbing/63...
http://www.letsbewild.com/wild-world/rock-climbing-adrspach-teplice-czech-r...

I'm interested in the nitty-gritty. Did you make your own knotted pro. Was the Czech guidebook easy to find/buy and then use?
Cheers
Erick

In reply to French Erick:

another film on it:
vimeo.com/105125679

In reply to French Erick:

bump

In reply to French Erick:
Hi Eric, I spent about three weeks there. I stayed in the camp site. I met up with local climbers while I was there. I had a mixture of knots some I made some given( they are very simple to make) The most important thing is to have wooden nut key to stuff the smaller knots into place!

In reply to French Erick:

Hi Erick I climbed at Teplice (and Elbsandstein) a couple of decades ago. It was odd but very good climbing (maybe not so odd if you're a gritstone or southern sandstone climber?). I was taken there by a Czech friend so no book needed. The knots took a bit of getting used to but they work really well. Can't remember if chalk was allowed or not.

For interest, I had a German flatmate a few years back who was from the sandstone/knotted rope tradition and when I took him to Northumberland he was appalled that we used nuts on the sandstone. He would only use his knots there and they were very effective (he was a trier and fell off quite lot).

In reply to OP:
God I feel old.
Anyway, yes went there around 20 years ago. Had a great time but didn't really get a huge amount of leading done. Each of us lead 1 route n 10 days. Mine had 2 bolts on it and felt completely nails. We took loads of knots but didn't really trust them a great deal.
Camp Stransky's son took us out a few times and did some great seconding and bouldering.
They were starting to put more bolts in at that point, 4+ per route and allowing a bit of chalk.

But like I say, it was about 20 years ago so probably completely irrelevant. But since you've had so few replies I thought I'd chuck in my thoughts.

In reply to TheGeneralist:

This is making me feel positively ancient then.

Went a couple of times in the very early eighties so can’t really add much to the topic other than its a great place & the beer was amazing.

At the time everybody used to climb in carpet slippers, kids brought up on the rock used to climb as hard as nails & sandbag you all of the time..
A apprenticeship spent on gritstone or southern sandstone is definitely an advantage.
Sure that the locals will take you under their wing whilst there & show you all the tricks needed to have a good time, enjoy..

In reply to French Erick:

Was the Czech guidebook easy to find/buy and then use?

I found it easy to find the guides about three years ago. They are in two volumes for the climbing in the park - one for the Teplice rocks and the other for Adršpach. There is also a third volume for the rocks on the otherside of the road outside the park. Hudy Sport shops definately will have them if they are still in print.

Are the guides easy to use? They are entirely in Czech and so useability will rather depend on your ability to decode the language! Also, they are largely text-based and don't have much in the way of topos or diagrams.

You may see that my profile says that I live in Teplice......but it is the other one in the North West of the Czech Republic.

Chris

In reply to Chris Shorter:

Thanks to all. Continue chipping in folks.
I am really curious about this place. Sounds like an exciting venue and could be less expensive than a trip to the US.
I fancy myself as a crack inspired climber and I am mainly rubbish.
Would likely climb with a British partner I think so being able to decode guidebooks would be paramount.

In reply to French Erick:


It will certainly be cheaper than the US - outside Prague, the Czech Republic must be the cheapest place to eat and drink in Europe. Last week I took some visiting business colleagues out for dinner and the total bill was aroung £30 for 4 of us......and it certainly wasn't one of the cheaper local restaurants. Beer is around 75p for a big one in most pubs.


What you need is a confident, solid crack technique. Poorly protected cracks commonly exist there and, without chalk, they can feel very insecure. On gritstone, you'd probably have to go back to early 1960's protection for a similar experience. Imagine something like The File with a large ring-bolt at 25 or 30 feet, with not much before it, and you will have a picture of the sort of thing you can expect. If you can adapt to this, you'll have a great time.

Chris

In reply to Chris Shorter:


Hi,

The Adrspach/Teplice guides are also available in German, if this helps... Don´t know about English versions.

CB

In reply to French Erick:


The guidebooks are absolutely terrible, unless you happen to have a paraglider with you. Your best bet is just to walk around and try something that looks feasible. Or has more rings in it. I've climbed at both venues and didn't do much under British E3. Unless you're comfortable on E5, expect to get very scared! That said, the Czech is one of my favourite places - the lines are incredible, it has a lovely feel to it, the beer is great, it's cheap and the rock is generally good (though sandy after rain, so you have to wait a couple of days). Teplice feels a bit more 'accessible' than Ardspach. We just took a load of 11mm and made our own knotted slings. Smaller diameter rope doesn't exactly instil confidence.