Bielatal Day 1

Go back to Saxon Sandstone.
Go back to Decin And Family.

Chinesischer Turm

Chinesischer Turm.

A 45-minute drive the next morning along progressively narrowing roads; one particular section near the end was overgrown with bushes on either side and featured a road sign showing a fat red circle with a white interior which I think is Euro for “stay the fuck out.” Nevertheless, we persisted and finally emerged in a tiny village on the German side. Helmut and Sophie (who’d serve as an interpreter for this first day) met us at a parking lot and we hiked up 10 minutes to a cluster of small towers. They looked at our assortment of pretied monkey head knots and only shook their heads. The main issue is that for cord of 7mm or less, it needs to be Kevlar or it’s just not strong enough when placing the knot as a nut. Instead, we borrowed a handful of Czech-made “ufos” [oofos] from Helmut – canvas protection which works a bit like a very large slider nut – to supplement our slings and cords. We did two very easy, single pitch routes (Winkelriss and Löschnerwand, both on Daxenstein Tower) to get used to the highly unusual protection. After that, we climbed a slightly harder Alter Weg on the small but proud looking Chinese Tower (Chinesischer Turm). This gave us a nice preview of a couple more towers for the following day.

Photos

Czech Republic

First day commute to the climbing.  Germany on the left; Czech Republic on the right. The tiny road shadows the border for a few kilometers here (August 2021).

Winkelriss

Leading Winkelriss route on Daxenstein Tower. Photo by Helmut (August 2021).

Winkelriss

Higher on Winkelriss (August 2021).

Daxenstein

Views from the summit of Daxenstein (August 2021).

Winkelriss

Shirley on Winkelriss. Photo by Helmut (August 2021).

Winkelriss

Shirley nearing the top (August 2021).

Winkelriss

Shirley on the summit (August 2021).

Daxenstein

Daxenstein summit (August 2021).

Daxenstein

More summit views (August 2021).

Daxenstein

Unknown climber on a next door tower (August 2021).

Winkelriss

At the rap ring on Daxenstein (August 2021).

Bielatal

Waiting out a brief rainstorm (August 2021).

Loschnerwand

Leading Loschnerwand on Daxenstein (August 2021).

Loschnerwand

More Loschnerwand. Photo by Helmut (August 2021).

Loschnerwand

Nearing the top.  Photo by Helmut (August 2021).

Loschnerwand

Shirley starting up Loschnerwand. Photo by Helmut (August 2021).

Loschnerwand

Shirley on Loschnerwand (August 2021).

Loschnerwand

Shirley topping out on Daxenstein again (August 2021).

Daxenstein

Not sure what the pointer thing is (August 2021).

Daxenstein

Rapping off Daxenstein (August 2021).

Bielatal

Moving over towards Chinesischer Turm (August 2021).

Chinesischer Turm

Starting up the Alter Weg route on Chinesischer Turm (Chinese Tower; August 2021).

Chinesischer Turm

Leading Alter Weg belayed by Shirley. Photo by Helmut (August 2021).

Chinesischer Turm

Higher on Alter Weg (August 2021).

Chinesischer Turm

Almost there. Photo by Helmut (August 2021).

Chinesischer Turm

Shirley starting up the Chinese Tower (August 2021).

Chinesischer Turm

Views from the summit of Chinesischer Turm. Leftmost tower in the distance is the Kleine Herkulessaule; on the menu for the following day (August 2021).

Chinesischer Turm

Unknown climber on the Big Hercules tower (August 2021).

Chinesischer Turm

Shirley on Chinesischer Turm. Photo by Helmut (August 2021).

Chinesischer Turm

Shirley making progress (August 2021).

Chinesischer Turm

Shirley nearing the summit. Helmut and Sophie are on the small tower across the way (August 2021).

Chinesischer Turm

Shirley arriving on the summit (August 2021).

Chinesischer Turm

Summit register (August 2021).

Chinesischer Turm

Shirley at the rap ring (August 2021).

Chinesischer Turm

Shirley rapping off the Chinesischer Turm (August 2021).

Tisa

In Tisa, looking for a climbing shop (August 2021).

Tisa

Tisa, Czech (August 2021).

Tisa

Tisa on the Czech side (August 2021).

Go to Bielatal Day 2.
Go back to Saxon Sandstone.