This summer has been hot and sunny in Austria. We have mostly climbed at Hohe Wand, which is in the shadow after 3 pm and is actually pretty nice to climb at in the evenings. Still, we have waited for some cooler weather to climb again at Stadelwand. When the temps suddenly dropped to below 20, it was time to head towards Höllental.
Des Kessels neue Kleider (UIAA 7, 650m, 17 pitches) goes at the right side of the "kettle"
Anu on the nice slab in the beginning. Our plan was to simul climb the route with two stops to collect the gear.
The slab gets steeper
The route goes mostly on solid rock
Lost in the sea of limestone
Some traffic on the wall
Aiders and a bailing maillon suggested that the team ahead of us was not in a hurry…
Waiting in line. But this happens when you try to simul climb popular routes on a Sunday.
Anu on the crux pitch. This was quite tricky, and it was actually a relief that we “had to” belay normally.
Tired? Have some sugar!
Starting the last block. We waited a short while for the other team to reach easier ground where it was easier to pass them.
Richterweg seen from our route
Finally on the top. Despite of the traffic, we managed to climb the route in 4:45.
Last time we found some water on the way down. Now there was just a dry hose. Anyway, this wasn’t a big problem...
…as they sell beer at Kaiserbrunn
Our gear:
50-meter rope
34 draws, (8x60cm long),
7 extra biners
4 x 60 cm slings
2 x120 cm slings
1 x 200cm slings
5 ropemans
3 tiblocs
Link-cams 1 & 2
offset alien green/yellow
C3 #0
(Trad gear was not really necessary, one link-cam would have been enough)
