UKC

I've done some searching and it's been helpful but thought I may as well get some recommendations anywho as I'm struggling to put it all together if I'm honest!

Off to Austria in July, and I'm likely doing 5 days around Dachstein and 5 days around the Haue Tauern (or another area!).

Aiming to do the Super Ferrata Dachstein, the Grosses Weisbachhorn and possibly Grossglockner.

Would anyone have any recommendations for single or multipitch sport climbing up to around 6a/6a+, and some alpine routes up to PD+/AD-?

Also guidebooks, it doesn't appear to be massively clear what guidebooks to get as they all cover things seemingly randomly. What's my best bet? My german is almost non existent, but my climbing partner is reasonably fluent.

In reply to Kid Spatula:

Wilder Kaiser? Stunning limestone formations, check out some pics on the internet. I was looking at Totenkirchl Express 6a and Duelfer 6a+. Both bolted. They run to about 20 pitches each, so more alpine than multi pitch. Hut: Stripsenjochhaus (2 hours? walk up).

In reply to lmarenzi:

Multipitch sport on dachstein (south side) in your grade range is availlable aound türlwandhütte (summits around 2200/2300 m) and, on better rock, on the plateau (koppenkarstein, dirndl, hunerkogel etc., 2700-2900) The best guidebook is kletterarena dachstein süd by Schall, Fischbacher et al). There's also some single pitch sport, but probably nothing you would travel to from far. Note that on multipitches it may pay off to take a small rack and some slings.

http://www.mountain-unlimited.com/alpinklettern.html will bring you to a selection of topos - choose alpinklettern and grades 5-7 (roughly 5a-6b) and get an impression.

Round the corner is gosaukamm with shorter multipitches, and 300 pitchesof cragging around hofpürglhütte.

Be assured that both areas can keep you busy for more than ten days ...

Enjoy.

In reply to Kid Spatula:

Cheers both! Advice is much appreciated!

In reply to Kid Spatula:

Do the Genuss guidebooks cover the bolted multipitch by the way? I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to trad, but am fine if things are bolted. Probably happy at severe or well protected VS tradwise but 6a-6b sport.

In reply to Kid Spatula:

timely! thinking of going to the wilder kaiser soon. anyone climbed there and has a good knowledge of the area? if so, would love some info, but wont hijack the thread too much, so can pm instead. Cheers

In reply to Kid Spatula:

Hijack away! I'd be interested as well.

In reply to Kid Spatula:
The genuss by panico do - some of it; genuss österreich mitte covers a very small amount. Somehow dachstein seems to get lost between eastern austria covered by the schall guidebooks and western covered by the othertwo publishers.

Well its probably a question what you consider trad and what bolted. Many of the climbs have bolted belays and anything from 4-10 bolts per pitch. Depending on what you happy with, you might or might not want to place a piece of gear in between.

Personally, i usually take a small rack just in case (getting off route, having to retreat becaus of weather). And i dont use it in many outings.

I'm not familiar with island gradings. However, dachstein will offer some decent and rewarding mountaineering routes as well, thinking Torstein where you probably will be on your own in a rather wild settig.

In reply to Kid Spatula:
The eastern regions south of Vienna are very nice for climbing too. It's all limestone You can do a lot of great sports, well protected multipitch or trad in Höllental. There's a dedicated guidebook that covers everything from sports to trad, but it's in German only: http://www.thomasbehm.at/hoellenthal.htm

There's lots of great other places nearby, e.g. Hohe Wand for both sports and shorter (up to 300m) multi-pitch and trad (unfortunately no combined guidebook) or Adlitzgräben for athletic sports climbing.

All the good sportsclimbing of the region is in a guidebook called "Keltenkalk": http://www.keltenkalk.at/

Cheers from Austria!

In reply to jackz:

As my German is practically non existent can anyone help me reading the topos?

I assume the number of X's under Absicherung relates to the amount of fixed gear? And on the topos x indicates a bolt or piton?

In reply to Kid Spatula:

x is normally bolt; pegs are a little picture of a peg.

In reply to AlanLittle:

Sweet. Thanks for the help, greatly appreciated!

In reply to Kid Spatula:

Sure, I'll be glad to. Which topo are you referring to exactly though? Can you show a photo?

"Absicherung" is "protection" and normally, the more stars/x's or bolt-icons you have, the better the protection. And yes, this should usually refer to fixed gear.

Depending on what topo you're looking at, three stars/x's for protection can mean something close to overbolting and two stars/x's will still be quite reasonable.

PS: I forgot to refer you to www.bergsteigen.com. This site has loads of online topos for sports, multipitch and alpine climbing. Some are a bit dated but mostly, they are still accurate enough. On the top menue, choose "Klettern" for alpine/multipitch and "Klettergärten" for sports.