Smashing Frankenjura!

So, finally Germany has warmed up! After some strange weather including a full-on blizzard, it was time to head away for my 30th Birthday. Where else than Frankenjura? ;-)

Finally! A week out of the city

Starting our trip over a Bank Holiday weekend, this means camping in the wild and avoiding the tourists in the Southern area of Frankenjura. This ain't no concrete parking however, it's luxury wild-vanning!

Your own personal meadow hidden deep in the forest....

With the weather still a little brisk, we started our trip down in Steinberg. Here we were all alone deep in the forest, getting back in to the spirit of things.

Steinberg

With Jen's shoulder injured we kept it pretty chill, although I did manage to fall off a horizontal roof problem which gets a whopping 7- (Fr6a+). Classic start to the week! I made up for it however with a quick send of Geisterfanger 8- / Fr6c+.


We then popped over for an evening look at Ankatallwand to try the supermega classic Computerspiele 8 / Fr7a. I found it really polished, and my total anti-style, crimps and selective high feet. Jen loves the place however, so I am sure we are going back.

Computerspiele and some harder stuff at Ankatallwand - nicked off the internet

After a night in the forest we headed over to Plecher Klippen, and old-skool and a little neglected crag where we mostly fell off 8s and 8+s in the sun. At least we ticked Wurzelsepp 6+.

Time for a break and over to our favorite animal park. 2.50EUR and you can hand feed the deer, what's not to love!

Some of the locals

Native Goats

And to top off a long day, a couple of burns on Top Tour 8/Fr7a at Foehrenstien. After a morning getting smashed at Plecher Klippen I was too tired to send it. But an early morning visit soon sorted that out. Jug climbing hidden in the forest!

We then continued to avoid the bank holiday tourists with a visit to Affentheater (Monkey Theater). to try the aptly named Hypersupermegatgaturbottittenaffengeil. (Stick that in Google Translate!) Unfortunately my redpoint was cut short by some extremely pushy Polish who had clearly got their heart set on the route, got lost on the way up, and couldn't quite handle someone else already being there. After a disagreement with them taking my quickdraws out so they could top rope it I had enough and we left. It was a bit of a reminder that while I'm feeling a lot more open to European culture, I still can't fully appreciate the way some Eastern Europeans come across, was it something lost in translation or simply rudeness? who knows. maybe both.

Lesson learned, don't leave Jen alone with the camera whilst climbing

We chilled out by a very steep walk through Kathedral, which reminded me a bit of Cathedral Caves in the Lake District, to a beautiful crag hidden deep in the hillside called Jonny Cash Wand. It was super dry and we sent a couple of 6a+/6b's in the evening sun.


Tuesday it rained. Hard. Something like 30mm. So we escaped to one of the Bayreuth classics: Obermain Therme

Hot Tubs and Whirl pools, a good escape from the rain

The day after the clouds departed leaving some very wet rock. We took a chilled out morning exploring some new crags, and the Rodelbahn! Jen took a phone interview for a job - from the Van! in the afternoon.

Escaping the rain with a game of cards and local brew

Rodelbahn Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnn!

Later that afternoon the rock dried up and we got straight back to it.With a visit to Amerikanische Botschaft. I love this crag. It's perfect 15m height, gets full sun, loads of feet, loads of hands, technical interesting moves and packed full of 8's Fr 7a / 7a+'s.

The Botschaft - it's a bit cheddary!

After an evening send of Desert Storm (8), we came back the next day to send some more. As well as me getting a 1st RP of Burger King 8+ / Fr7a+, Jen was also fully back on form including an onsight of Agent Orange 8-.

Warming up at the Botschaft - with some harder routes on the right wall

Then it was my Birthday! Whoop! Jen took my to Burg Rabenstien, probably the best place you can stay in the Frankenjura. It isn't cheap, but it is a real castle, and you get wined and dined in front of an open birchwood fire. Plus they have Falcons. It's awesome.

Cheesy 80's advert for "The Berg"

Not a bad living room

After being fully fed we head out to Zwergenschloss to get some awesome bday sends, including an 8+ called Berti Vogts Ged Weg . A great crag including a massive cave full of steep and juggy 8's to 9's (Fr7c) hidden in the back of the cave and requiring a head torch. It was a little like Gollums Cave on rope, and 10x the size!

The Zwergenschloss - The Dwarves Castle! - nicked from online

That afternoon we head back down South to set up camp for the arrival of Bill, Pei, Sasha, Patrick, Jan, Tom, and Gabrielle. It was super awesome to see and climb with these guys on my 30th, in particular the weather finally broke and it turned out to be a beautifully warm weekend.

Working hard to set up camp.... van life is easy.

With Saturday upon us, we headed over to Stienberger Gemsenwand, a somewhat traditional crag, full 30m height and with the 6- being more like HVS with some massive run outs.

Stienberger Gemsenwand has an almost Alpine feel...

Jen, Tom and I head over to Sorangerwand for a play on some steeper stuff in the Sun, while the rest of the guys checked out some other local pinnacles. Kudos to Pei for his first climb!

Soranger Wand

Pei on his first outdoor climb - Jan's photo

Getting in to the holiday spirit - Bill's Photo

Sasha and Patrick enjoying hot weather  - Bill's photo

Finally we topped off the trip with a visit to Wiesse Wand. It turned out to be further from the motorway than we thought. But it was awesome. Properly rural and properly great climbing in the mid grade. One of my fave Franken crags.

Perfect top-out views from Weisse Wand, not a concrete road in sight!!

Thoroughly smashed we left for Berlin. An amazing 9 days in the Frankenjura.

Route Listing

Fr 5/5+
5- Daniel (Wiesse Wand)
5 Unknown (Stienberg)
6- / HVS Weisse Verschneidung Stienberger Gemsenwand
6 Bauchtanz (Wiesse Wand)
6 Flucht nach Oben  (Zwergenschloss)

Fr6a/6a+
6+ Am Rauschenden Bach (Stienberg)
6+ Wulst (Wiesse Wand)
6+ Himalaua Muller (Jonny Cash Wand)
6+ First Lady (Amerikanische Botschaft)
6+ Wurzelsepp (Plecher Klippen)
7- Fairplay (Wiesse Wand)
7- Hards Weckla (Wiesse Wand)
7- Ronald McDonald (Amerikanische Botschaft)
7- (RP!) L'Allpinist (Stienberg)
7- Louobba (Affentheatre)
7- Rotkappchen.... (Zwergenschloss)

Fr6b/6b+
7 Kasper Brigitte (Jonny Cash Wand)

7(/7+/8-) Paranoid  (Soranger Wand)

7 Verfassungsbechwerde (Wiesse Wand)

7 Lady Domina (Wiesse Wand)

Fr6c/6c+

7+ (Jen) Big Mac (Amerikanische Botschaft)

7+ (Jen) Im 27 Jahr des Zwerges  (Zwergenschloss)
8- (Jen) Agent Orange (Amerikanische Botschaft)
8- (RP) Geisterfanger (Stienberg)

Fr7a-7b
8 Top Tour (Foehrenstien)

8 Desert Storm  (Amerikanische Botschaft)
8+ Burger King (Amerikanische Botschaft)
8+ Berti Vogts Ged Weg (Zwergenschloss)

Early Season Van Tours

Last year I didn't do a very good job of blogging. There's two reasons for that, 1) we were having waay to much fun and that plus the mountain of organizational (paperwork) and other such international affairs meant little time. 2) we spent a lot of time in Frankenjura, which is haaarrrd to photograph, as it's all in beautiful forests, but  armed with a new 180deg Fisheye lens, this year will be different!

Armed with a new Fisheye in the Czech Republic

We started the year with a visit over the Czech border (with Jen's friend Nick), to Pravčická brána, a beautiful sandstone arch just over the border. Despite some initial "fun" with the police in both directions, and running out of coolant halfway up the mountain it was a really peaceful weekend.

The famous arch... packed with tourists over summer

I had underestimated quite how much snow would still be on the ground in February, despite it all being gone in Berlin. There was a lot of snow bashing and slipping and sliding, but on the otherhand a usually-packed tourist destination was left all to ourselves!

Jen going for an early season dip.....

opting to keep my feet dry....

We were rewarded with a beautiful sunset at around 3pm

In March, Jen, Bubbles and I headed out to the Harz for the weekend, which is only just over 2 hours from Berlin, for a couple of days walking and exploring the Bodetal Gorge. This time the snow was off the ground and it was great walking temps.

Jen happy with our new Van Guest....

Bodetal Gorge

Harz isn't far from civilisation but feels remote very quickly. We were too scared to venture in to the big town!

A few blustery weekends and a visit to the UK (Cheddar! Portland!!) with the boys kept us out of the van for a while. However we had a great visit to the Spreewald, a UNESCO world heritage site only 1.5 hours from Berlin. It was supposed to be a bike ride, however halfway round with a puncture and it turned in to a lovely sunny walk.

Exploring the market town of Lubbenau

Hot and Sunny start to April!

The closest thing to a Tufa in the Spreewald

Easter came around eventually and this meant...... Frankenjura!!!! I was excited, can you tell? The weather was unsettled to say the least, and most sensible people would have avoided a 4 hour drive. We are not sensible people.

Risking the long drive in hope of some dry rock...

We were rewarded however with some sunshine amongst the clouds, and the countryside is just beautiful. It would have been worth getting out even without the climbing. We did climb however, and got 3 days of great mid-level mileage under our belts. Nice to get some sends in before warmer days allow for projecting!

Still not over the water tank problem.... but great to be in the countryside

Some warm and dry rock

A visit to Wildpark near Plech

"do not handfeed the animals" (don't worry, they are allowed the food)

Jen making friends

Amazing bivvy spots tucked deep in the Krottenseer forest

A huge suprise on Easter Monday was waking up to a bright light shining through the van. I had heard the patter of rain stop at about midnight, so thought we were in for a bright and dry day... Nope. As it turned out the patter had stopped as snow started to settle on the roof, and we woke up to a blizzard! No climbing today, but at least we kept the winter tyres on and could escape the hillside!

Waking up to a suprise!

Home time.....

Ticklist.....

Hetzendorfer Wand
7- (6a+) Schwester Fuck
7- Bruder Tuck
7 (6b/+) Robin Hood
7+ (6c) Ninja Turtle (RP)
7+ Tanz Der Teufel (Jen)
7+ Unnamed
6 (5c) Vogelwild Jon did not finish!!! ;-)

Schoene Aussicht
7 (6b+) Schoene Absicht

Betzenstiener Sportkletterwand
7- (6a+) Abstauber
Tried some harder stuff....

Grune Hoelle
8- (6c+) Solid Rock (RP)

Neue Heimat
5+ (5b) Franken plaisir
7- (6b) Kaum Zeit Zum Furchten
8- (6c+) Neue Heimat * (RP)



Next up? A whole May week in the Frankenjura, fingers crossed for the sunshine!

VW Conversion Part 2. - Ready to Hit the Road!

Last time I wrote about "Project Oscar" - yes the name has stuck, it was pretty much a well developed idea and 100 bits of wood. That was 3 months ago. What have we been up to since? Well, pretty much finishing the van, and living in it!

It's all there, just needs assembly!

After getting Germany's finest DIY store, BAUHAUS to cut all the wood for us, the next step was to revisit the CAD model and make it a reality. I liked this part of it, as with the Transit, as things move really quicky...

Turning model into reality!

Next comes the detail. Keeping things simple the specs are as follows:

• "Sauna Style" wood paneling with pull out super-king bed
• Storage space with fold out doors
• Space for a cooker and gas bottle
• Nice thick Hippy curtain to replace the ugly bulkhead
• Carpeted walls and floor (shoes off van!)
• Super bright, super efficient LED strip lighting
• USB Charging point (phones etc.)
• Voltmeter for battery %

Of course, to use the cliche, the devil is very much in the detail. These things take time to get right, and the next few weeks involved a lot of varnishing, PVC-ing and cleaning. It's so hard to be patient when the idea of taking it travelling is just around the corner!

Extra storage space

Getting it all bolted down

Varnish!

4 Way switch of USB, Strip Lights, Voltmeter, and Master

LED's in action!

Next the soft furnishings! - really important to give the homely feeling

Carpet Cutting a'la'Opinel

Carpeted walls - just for Skelhon!

(Warming Up Outside too...)

And soon enough all the hard work comes to an end.... A couple of brand new foam mattresses from IKEA (50 EUR each) make for a comfy sleep. All in all the conversion came to about 400 EUR.

Just the bedding to come!

Makes for a sofa / rest spot during the day

Huge, comfy bed!

Travel time! (sleep time?)

And ready to hit the road....

Sit down cooking.... Jon's speciality!

Van in action!

We've certainly made the most out of the van over the last 3 months. Visiting Dreseden, a mega tour of south Germany, a brief visit to Austria, Poland, and lots of time down in the world famous Frankenjura.

A blog on the adventures to come!!!