UKC

Anyone know if there are any via ferrata / bouldering in the Czech Republic / German border area?

In reply to Andy Fielding:

Do you have a bit more detail? It is a very long border. (815km)

 

In reply to scott titt:

I'm looking at the area around Bohemian Switzerland National Park. 

 

 

In reply to Andy Fielding: There are a couple of via ferratas on the German sandstone but they are very simple & relatively insignificant. There is bouldering on both side of the border, note chalk Is completely banned on the German side. The Czech side bouldering is more extensive. Sorry we cannot name any of the areas but we are in the Alps at the moment.

Tony & Sarah

 

In reply to Tony & Sarah:

Thanks for the info. I'm looking at summer holiday options so will look into it. 

In reply to Andy Fielding:

There are few via ferratas inside the town De?ín but not important

Here is the link with some bouldering guides on the Czech side of border

http://cs.euroclimbing.com/?page_id=511 (lano means rope)

For some overview

www.skalnioblasti.cz/

/www.horosvaz.cz/databaze-skal-cr/

In reply to Andy Fielding:

There are a couple of easy to medium difficulty ferratas near Zittau, almost at the end of the Czech/German border, near the border with Poland. If you are in the Elbe sandstone area it will be an hour's drive to get there. There are a bunch of places worth visiting in the area, so it may merit a day trip. 

However, I would recommend to try some of the "Stiegen" (literally stairs or ladders) in the Elbe sandstone, which can be anything from long stairs to scrambles with short UIAA II section and one proper ferrata, the Häntzschelstiege ( https://klettersteig.de/klettersteig/haentzschelstiege/6 ).

My favourite, though, is the Rübezahlstiege, which climbs a chimney with the help pf some iron bars, and then ends in a cave that you have to climb through first horizontally and then upwards to reach the exit ledge.

Both are in the most scenic bit of the German part of the sandstone, roughly an hour south of Dresden and maybe a couple of km from the Czech border. 

When I was living in Dresden my training round for the Alps was to connect all of the Stiegen around the Affenstein area, resulting in a 1500m height gain round trip.

Further down in the Elbe valley there is a sports ferrata in a quarry, but I have not tried it myself.

Closer to the other end of the Czech/German border in Bavaria there is a very nice ridge scramble to the top of Kleiner Osser. No idea about ferratas in the area, though.

CB

 

edit: if you are in the area you should go climbing, not waste your time on the ferratas! I know it has a scary reputation, but there are interesting and safe objectives at almost any grade, e.g. in Bielatal.

Just across the border from there is Tissa, which even has good top roping anchors and importantly proper bolts. (even though pavelk will pop up and tell you top roping is banned, the place is full of Czech climbers who do nothing else....).

The main bouldering area I know of is near Sneznik, just a couple of km from Tissa, but I have not done much there.

In reply to cb294:

Really, in the last version of Consent to mountaineering for Tisa issued by the competent authority (CHKO Labské Pískovce) top roping is not forbidden. It´s just mentioned in the paragraph that bans abrading the rock by the rope. If you are able to prevent it, you are alowed top roping though it´ s not considered an ethical. Chalk is forbidden anyway

In reply to pavelk:

Thanks! We had this discussion before, and I am glad this issue is now officially clarified.

I totally agree that it is important to rig your top ropes so that rock abrasion is avoided. This should be obvious and is anyway in the interest of the climber, as abrading the rock also damages your rope!

 

CB

In reply to pavelk:

Partly related: 

In Pfalz chalk is allowed on hard routes, they say UIAA 7 and above, obviously it’s harder rock than in the east. People seem to use it regardless though, saw chalky holds on a 3! And loaaads of people were top roping. 

In reply to Violinist:

There is something similar here in Czech. The official rules for sandstone climbing allows the use of chalk above IXb (about 7+) but chalk is often forbidden by nature conversation authorities. Some people dont care anyway. But there still are quite traditional areas there you can get even a blow from the locals when they see you "dust"