UKC

Hey all, I was wondering if anyone could provide some suggestions for nice, easy multipitch routes in Austria? Any ideas about areas that would be particularly good, or (preferably English) guidebooks that would be useful to check out would be very much appreciated.
My girlfriend and I will be visiting relatives there in Spring, so we'd like to head out to the mountains as well; I've done plenty of multipitch trad and sport, but my girlfriend has only lead climbed indoors, so I'm looking for something in the style of Idwal Slabs/Tryfan (ie VDiff-Severe)or even easy alpine-style routes. Sport is also a possibility, so long as it's long and easy, but not something that can be accomplished in a day.

Many thanks guys!

In reply to DavidBoothroyd: I really enjoyed Tannheimer Gebirge. Stuff that we climbed was mostly bolted though, plenty to choose from starting at French 5 and in the low 6's. http://www.summitpost.org/allg-u-alps/154588#chapter_8 has some info. Limestone Austrian alps, nice climbing up to 12 pitches, often finishing on actual summits which are in the range of 2500m altitude. Great food. Actually we chose Tannheimer precisely because it was fully bolted, but those areas in southern Germany and Austria have plenty of trad limestone climbing, check out Wilder Kaiser maybe, although I've never been and it may be harder than VDiff-Severe.

In reply to DavidBoothroyd:
Where in Austria will you be? How far are you willing to drive from there?

This site is in german, but easy enough to understand I think.

www.bergsteigen.com

In reply to alps_p: What guidebook did you use for Tannheimer?

In reply to Removed User: we first got some printouts from the internet, then bought a guidebook in the hut.

In reply to alps_p: Cheers!

In reply to akana:

This raises something that I completely forgot to mention - We won't be driving, but using public transport! So anything that's especially easily accessible is definitely a bonus.
We'll be coming from Vienna by train, if that helps.

In reply to DavidBoothroyd: There is probably something closer, but I'm not too familiar with the Vienna area.

From Vienna it's 3:40 by train to schladming, which is close to the dachstein area. Depending on when in spring you're going it might still be snow and ice here though.

There's also the area of Grazer Bergland about 2:20 from Vienna. Within an hour from station Mixnitz-Bärenschützklamm there are several easy multipitchroutes and it might be more suitable for spring. Mostly bolted routes though.

But like I said there's probably climbing closer to Vienna aswell and bergsteigen.com is a good site to find climbs.

In reply to DavidBoothroyd: You might find some useful info here
http://www.climbers-paradise.com/climbers-paradise/
Some German ability would be helpful but you can find your way around the site a bit without and look up thee odd word in a dictionary or on google translate.

In reply to DavidBoothroyd: I think there is a place or area called the Pielstein quite close to Vienna. I haven't been though and know little about it, but it may be something to research.

Andy

In reply to DavidBoothroyd: peilstein is nice, climbable from early sping, an alpine club hut on top, easily reached from vienna by train/bus, but only has am maximum of three pitches - more than 1000 climbs availlable, and a new gidebook
Next is hohe wand, oriented se/s, hundreds of routes up to 7 pitches, including many good ones from grade 4 UIAA, again various places to stay.
The first 'real mountains' rax & schneeberg offer routes up to 16 pitches, a huge choice in grades 4-6 UIAA and also only take 1:30 hours to get to by rail/bus.
You might want to invest in genusskletteratlas Österreich ost, publisher Schall verlag, that has suggestions for all three areas.
Of course there is more climbing further west ... feel free to contact me for more detailed Information.
Thomas

In reply to tjekel:

The Mixnitz area mentioned above is very nice for climbing with a girlfriend. The approaches are relatively short and I suppose everything will be blooming if you're there later in the spring.

In reply to adnix:

Thank you all for what sound like great suggestions, I'll be sure to check them out!

In reply to DavidBoothroyd: There'll be some stuff at Garmisch in Southern Germany, but the higher bits on the Alpsitze may still have snow. When exactly are you going? Garmisch has good rail and bus connections.