Frankenjura

So this was the second time I had visited the Frankenjura in Germany, basically it is a massive area with thousands of little lumps of limestone sticking out of the hillside. The rock is really pocketed and generally overhanging oh yeah short as well. Seeing as the routes where short I didn't really expect to climb really hard because the routes where so hard but I was psyched to do lots of low 8's.
So first day it took us ages to find the crag, not a good start. But when we found it, we were awarded with 15m high walls of solid limestone and some sketchy bolting. Two 7a's to warm up and falling from the second bolt meant a deck-out scary stuff! Then did my first 7c onsight of the trip! Felt good on it and this spurred me on to try an 8a called Links Trumm which went easily on the second go. Having such a good first day got me really excited and I knew this was going to be a good trip.

Next I went to a crag called the Nackendorfer block which had a roof 8a, after getting all the moves really quickly and starting the redpoints I realised it was really hard with a massive slap to a blind pocket and I fell on this move every time. Not feeling as strong as I thought. At the end of the day we went to climb Ergo 7c+ which was an amazing arch close to the ground. It was the first proper arch I had climbed and I wasn't disappointed it had crazy moves loads of spinning! Made my day!

After a days tanning and a rest day, it was time for more crushing! We warmed up and then went to Soranger wand, there we met a polish guy who had climbed 9a! He was seriously strong, cruising the 8a's we were struggling to do but we did get two 8a's there both really cool and at the end of the day I did a 7c+ which felt harder than both of them but that's probably because I was so tired.

Misery

The next day was epic. Went to have a quick warm up then I climbed Chasin' the Train 7c which was a super classic put up by the legend John Bachar. I felt good to climb such history, but that wasn't the real event of the next we went to a small cave with two 8a's The Flow and Ludwag. The Flow was really weird with hard moves on gastons, I got it third go. Ludwag was a groove, smooth with only small crimps and crap footholds to keep you in it. I don't really like grooves and hadn't really done anything like this before so I was surprised when I could do all the moves and was ready for a redpoint attempt. After doing the first weird shuffling bit out a chimmey which really tired you out, I pulled out onto the overhang and did the first move into the groove. Once again the feet felt crap and moves hard and I slapped desperately for each hold, using my shoulders so much I thought they would pop out, I kept fighting and slapping. I had done it! I climbed the easy groove at the top and clipped the chains! My first 8a groove! Then we were all really tired, except me so I was out voted to go back to the campsite. Fortunately I managed to persuade my dad to give me a belay on another 8a called Inquisition, this was a power endurance route right what I needed at the end of the day, but I wanted to get three 8a's in a day. After 4 attempts I was getting really tired, but on the fifth I cranked out the crux and got to the top although I thought I might fall from the 6b top section because I was so pumped! That was such a manic day and I was so tired after it, rest day I think.

Ludwag

After the rest day, we warmed up at a wet crag with some real awful routes but it was fun and we weren't fussy, today was the day we were going to try Misery 8a+ one of the routes we wanted to do before we had even arrived in Frankejura. It didn't disappoint! Really steep through an awesome arch, Luke did all the moves and came down saying it was really hard, I didn't doubt him. I climbed the first easy section and took a rest to work out the moves, after trying ever different way and failing I found a way! So redpoint attempts, Luke sent it second go! What a beast he was proper pulling it was crazy, then it was my go, fluffed it my heal popped before the crux, dam. After falling from the crux, a couple times, I finally stuck the crux and cranked through to the top, so good. The feeling of clipping the chains on a hard route will never get old. Next we went to try Funk beyond the call of duty, pretty cool name, which was another 8a+, I tried it and it was really soft just a boulder problem, I did it second go, good day.

The next day, we went to the super steep Grune Holle, the history was defiantly there, with the eloquently named Bastard 8a+ from Jerry Moffat! After warming up and pumping out on a 7b which was seriously hard I flashed a 7c+ and tried Bastard, basically it was the crappest route ever, with chipped and seekered holds, but still fun with a massive dyno that I was really close to but just couldn't do, what a bummer. Then we went to climb Glaspatronenmatch, a classic 8a, it went pretty quick, psyched to be able to do 8a just casually. We then climbed a massive roof called Orang-u-tang it was crazy and really pumpy!

So last day, we warmed up and went to teddy wand, which had Sacktreffer 8a+, this was what I had been looking for in Frankenjura. Really powerful on fingery pockets with long moves. It turned out to be pretty soft although there was a hard climb at the top, which Luke missed and could have decked from 14m! Scary! On my third go I sent it, to me it was the route of the trip and I loved climbing it. To finish of the trip we did Homeboy 8a and a couple 7bs.

Frankenjura hadn't disappointed again, with hard routes and good crags, I would recommend it to everyone who wants to do some serious pulling and avoid the endurance crap of France and Spain! Hopefully it won't be long before I get back there!

Homeboy

Pete

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