Back to the Martinswand

Uli, Dan and I had a plan to climb the Gerberkreuz above Mittenwald. We worried about snow on the approach, but the rock looked dry and ready to climb. However, when we got out at the parking lot it was damn cold! And it seemed like it might rain. We really wanted to be in "the alpine," but the risk of hiking 2 hours just to get rained out led us to drive south to the Martinswand.

Pretty much the last rock climb I did last year was when Dan and I climbed the first 4 pitches of the Auckenthaler Riss on the Martinswand. We had started late in the day after the Ostriss (VI) and "Flying Grass (VII-)," and just ran out of daylight. So it was funny to go back there now, intent on the same goal. But this time we were starting in the morning!

The Auckenthaler Riss is an old classic, and features VII- crack climbing. It's also quite polished. On the other hand, it's been completely bolted, so the fear evens out!

We scrambled up the rather serious approach. Uli took the first block of three pitches, first climbing a chimney with a cruxy move (V) at the start of the second pitch. Then one more pitch led to the start of the Auckenthaler crack proper. Now I led a block. The first pitch had a dicey face move or two, then offered some jams in the crack. This was as high as Dan and I got last year.

From this point the route is absolutely vertical for the next several pitches. Some grade VI climbing led straight up with crack and face moves. When Uli came up, there was some excitement because he tested a little column of rock on the right to see if he could use it. But it exploded into pieces! Thankfully it all flew away and didn't hit Dan, who was climbing up about 10 meters below. Also, we saw another party had begun the route below, and happily because the route leans leftward for a long ways, they were also safe. Whew!



For my last lead I started up a vertical crack, then knew I was in the crux VII- section because of my shaking "elvis leg!" I remember one good hand jam, although too low to reach up. Then a dime-edged face hold above that. I had one foot jammed in the crack, and the other floating in space. Some kind of forgotten magic of swapping hands and smearing saw me through. "Whoo!" I yawped.

Dan and Uli came up, finding it pretty exciting. Uli is new to crack climbing, so it was especially "evil." :D.

Now Dan led a block of three pitches, the first two continued the "absolutely vertical" theme. The second of those had a set of very delicate crux VII- moves. Dan used a point of aid, as a piton with a fixed sling hung temptingly in the way. When following, I was able to avoid it, but just barely. It was more of a face climb for a few moves, then there was a poor hand-jam, just slightly too high to power up on. You had to be patient and get your feet a bit higher before you could yard on the jam. All the while, the Inn River and highway pull at you from below. I think this part overhung slightly.




Another easier pitch, then we were done! But Uli's book mentioned a 3 pitch grade V variation exit. "Go for it, Uli, it's your block!" So he took off, combining the first two pitches. It was certainly a more fun way to exit the route than the ocean of dirty rock that makes up the normal way off to the left. The route tried to find a way up the most solid rock. Eventually, we reached a little "rescue station" where the alpine rescue team has stashed some gear and some strong anchors for rappelling down along the Auckenthaler Riss. Here we unroped and hiked down in very strong wind.

After the long hike, I still had energy, so we went to the OeAV Klettergarten. We climbed two fantastic pitches as one 50 meter lead. The route was grade V, but felt harder, probably due to the terrible polish on the first slab pitch. But these two pitches had a lot of variety: slab, pockets, cracks, even an overhang. That Klettergarten is quite large, we'll have to go back to it.

On a funny note, I ate "Goo" all day, having recently re-read Mark Twight's "Extreme Alpinism," and thinking I need to pay more attention to how I eat in the mountains. It worked really well. I was so up, and could have kept climbing 2-3 more hours until dark. But the city called us home. Dan was wasted from a transatlantic flight and Uli had dinner with Anna. I got in just in time for dinner with the family too. A great day out!

Fun times in Riva

Kris, the boys and I packed up early Friday morning and drove down to Riva del Garda, a great little town on the north end of the Garda Lake in Italy. It's a good four hour drive, but the trade off is that you get to a place where it's usually warm and sunny. Although I can't complain, the weather in Germany had been great for more than a week.

It was my first week of working at home. Wow, it's too early to break out the champagne of course, but I have to say I really am enjoying it. The boys were home all week because of spring break, but they were very good and never bothered me when my office door was closed. I would start work around 10 am, take a lunch break at 12 or 1, then come back and work until 7 or so. I had no trouble concentrating, and in fact the day flew by each time because the work was so interesting. It's great to be learning about the .NET world again! Lots has changed, and lots is still the same.

The lunch breaks were really fun because Kris, the boys and I would go eat a sandwich outside in a park area.

But anyway, back to the story. As we started to leave Munich Kris saved us by asking me if I had both tents...I didn't! Whew...easily fixed. Then, at the lake we were worried that the campsites would all be full, but we found a spot. It is "high season" there, full of Germans, who seem to outnumber the Italians by 2 or 3 to 1. We made friends with some of our campground neighbors, meeting a nice couple from Munich with a son that Rowan and Elijah really loved playing with. There was a playground just 50 feet away from our tent, and we would let the boys run over there and play furiously.

We also brought climbing gear, as I hoped to gently introduce Rowan and Elijah to rock climbing. This area is one of the world famous climbing destinations, generally named for the town 3 miles north called "Arco." There are thousands of rock climbs on the walls above the lake and further north. We found a very easy area on low-angle slabs, and after an adventure of squeezing our car through a very narrow alleyway, we walked up a short steep trail to reach the rock. I climbed up, clipping several bolts while Kris belayed, then lowered down so the boys could try the 30 meter long slab climb. The key is that there is nothing for your hands to grab onto, you just have to trust the friction of your shoes.

Elijah and Rowan both climbed it so easily! They just have no fear. Kris climbed it too, but her feet haven't been in rock shoes for so long they it was kind of grim duty! Then I climbed up and belayed the boys from the top. Here are some pictures. Of course I was a proud dad!


Elijah at the top


Elijah climbing up


Rowan at the top

Afterwards, they obligingly posed for a portrait:



Camping was good fun. Our Thermarest pads seem to be kind of leaky. Kris woke up groaning every day, and I was always nonplussed to see how much air had left my Thermarest. Hmpf! But tent life was fun. Here, we are watching "The Incredibles" after another very full day:



One day we went up to the castle above Arco. The boys and I had been there once, but it was great to show their Mommy. We had a nice picnic and lazed about. Elijah was keen to make sure we got this picture of him with his mouth full of M&Ms:






Here is what Arco looks like. Really beautiful, IMHO!

Later, during nap time, I went on a hike of my own, climbing up 3700 feet, sometimes via long vertical ladders on the "Way of Friendship" special route above Riva. At the top, I found ankle deep snow, which slowed my return trip on the steepest "trail" I ever saw. It was so steep and narrow that one mis-step could be a disaster. In my opinion, the more technical "ladders" were much easier than the seemingly benign return trail down the north side of the mountain. Here is a scene looking down on Riva and the lake from the top of the last ladder:



On Sunday evening we did some more climbing, enduring a rather nerve-wracking walk through a car tunnel with no sidewalk to reach the area. But it was right on the water, and the light was just perfect:


Elijah climbs the crack!

There was a great finger crack to aid progress up a somewhat smoother and steeper slab than before. Elijah and Rowan both had fun again. Here you can see the angle of the slab:



Later I climbed the route that the person above is standing on, it was about 5.8 YDS, a pretty fun slab with a few tricky moves! The boys climb was about 5.6, I think.

Finally Monday came around and it was time to go home. I made us stop for a picnic near Scharnitz, Austria because the sun was so nice. We got these pictures of happy kids:





Kris made a delicious pasta dinner with Olive Oil from the fields around Arco. It was incredible. Somewhat lighter than normal, but very flavorful.

Thanks to Kris and the boys for an amazing little trip! Can't wait for the next one. For all the pictures see my Flickr set here.

A trip to Belgium

So I just had my first week of work at my new company, Advanced Medical Diagnostics. I flew up to Brussels early Monday morning, and came home Friday night. I was lucky that there was a training on use of the HistoScanning device Monday, and then a great dinner at a local restaurant that night which gave me more insight into the company.

In between asking lots of questions to set up my machines, get passwords, etc., I even managed to help out with some .NET memory management questions and SOS/Windbg debugging. Maybe one of the bigger accomplishments of the week was refreshing my brain on the whole gamut of minutiae involved in that work from the CLR days. It's cool to be a customer of .NET technology now!

The weather in Belgium was amazing. The office is in Waterloo, a suburb of Brussels and the site of Napoleon's famous defeat 200 years ago. I went for a jog one evening, cutting across fields just outside of town on bike trails. The land slopes gently at times. There was a great sunset, surprisingly late. I couldn't be sure, but it looked like clouds were coming back in as I left Friday night, after 5 days of blue skies.

The people at the company are really friendly folks too, I'm looking forward to getting to know them. Oh yeah, Wolfgang and I went to a climbing gym Thursday night. The grades were French, so I didn't really know what I was climbing. The hardest were a couple of 6a climbs. Enjoyed lots of great food too: an Ethiopian food place and an Indian food restaurant in Wolfgang's neighborhood were the best. Wolfgang also took me on an evening tour of the city, including the famous Manneken Pis. I bought some chocolate, but not the best...too sweet.

This next week will be working from home. I've already got a handful of projects, but so much more to learn too.

Next time: gotta try Belgian Waffles!