Climbing

Sun 29 Jul 2007
Djuke Veldhuis



In preparation for climbing Trisselwant at some point (YIKES) the four of us set off on a slightly cloudy and humid July morning. Via an absolute fluke we got to the carpark we were aiming for: right underneath the Burgstall (874m; take first right after avalanche tunnel) just by Purg. So there we were, 4 numpties in sandals ... and then it went wrong when we turned left half way up a via ferrata and then tried right over an extremely shoddy path which was nicely exposed. Anyway we got to a face about 5m wide with a "path" running across the front on which you could fit 1 sandal at a time which made belaying really fun;-)!

Whilst Nial set off on something with Dave L, Stuart climbed up a 4+ at a corner. well the climbing bit was fine until he took a lead fall, his first. Climbers seem to talk things up, but after trying to also get up this thing and failing, I too was convinced it must've been harder, or at least more shiny than when it was first ascended. Stuart's lead fall was interesting for me as well as I flew into some briers and Stuart landed in a tree shortly followed by his ankle hitting the ground at a dodgy angle which led to consistent "au"'s whilst walking.

So after the rubbish section that made us feel weak and feeble and getting me more and more lethargic in hot, sticky, lethargic weather myself and Stuart eventually toddled back down the dodgy "path" and after aimlessly wandering for 1/2 hour or so we found 2 backpacks and 2 pairs of sandals underneath some staples. Nial and Dave were nowhere in sight. It seemed sensible to have lunch and follow the staples up as we didn't have the guide book and were sorely hoping they had chosen a route we could actually climb rather than the tat we had seen earlier.

As they say, up is the only way ... sure was as we soon realised we were doing a superb multi-pitch route. Stuart started and soon we were in a fairly smooth rhythm of alternating leading and seconding. Well, "smooth" except for when we would realise (whilst leading) we were on the middle of a slab of rock with no belay opportunities and no quick draws left :-(. Loose boulders, wasps nests, falling rocks, crossing via ferrataists and 2 very thirsty climbers we got to the top where Dave was sitting, grinning, rock boots off having previously done mainly indoor climbing.

We were exceptionally happy when it absolutely started rodding it down ... not so much because it was raining but more so because it was raining whilst we were NOT on the climbing route. Nial and Dave had the highly intelligent idea of taking their rock boots off whilst walking back to the car/bags which was fine until they go to the gravel path down past a railway station (!). Crossing the railway tracks we didn't have a dry piece of clothing left on our bodies ... indeed the Austrian climbers sheltering under an overhang looked most bemused at our antics. We decided to spare Tony R's car a bath and pretty much stripped off before getting in (Dave L in his underpants, me driving with a bra on, shirt off, etc). Despite our repeated offerings Dave L rudely refused to let us drive straight to the station in Bad Aussee to pick up his girlfriend who was arriving that same night.

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Survex files on this date:
    caves-1623/148/148-2007
    caves-1623/204/deepsouth/entertheflagon
    caves-1623/204/deepsouth/silkworm
Wallets on this date:
    2007#37 newbit ['notes']
    2007#38 flagon, silkworm ['flagonnotes2', 'silkwormplan', 'flagonplan', 'silkwormnotes2', 'flagonnotes1'…
Logbook trips on this date:
    Climbing
    148 - final trip
    204 - Razordance -> Far East
    Via Ferrata - Loser Klettersteig