Europe Trip 2019: The Birthplace Of The Redpoint

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For those who don't know: REDPOINT was invented in Frankenjura by Kurt Albert, a local climber and now a climbing legend. For more info google out...

                                                              Photo Credit: rockandice.com

Coming to Frankenjura from the Elbe Valley makes for a dramatic twist. If there is a single word to describe the climbing style in Franken as compared to the Elbe sandstone, it is just DIFFERENT.

 

Jura provides mainly shorter, overhanging routes on pockets and bad footholds. But we know places where to take our climbers for almost 40-meter long routes. Some of the climbs can get a bit polished. Good bye nice sandstone friction. Hello painful pockets. Strong fingers required. 

On the Elbe Valley sandstone we were working mainly on better footwork. Jura provides a great terrain for improving one’s maximum strength and power endurance. Climbing in different areas helps one in developing all the complex skills required to become a better climber. 

Everyone on the team took advantage of what there was on offer in Jura. Karina, Alexandra and Tom were fighting hard for their first leads, improving a lot as climbers. Sandra worked on her fear of falling, took a few falls and did many redpoints she would have thought of as beyond her limits. Sylvia and Alex, who are staying with us for the whole trip, kept on postponing their restday and just kept on crushing it. Another Alex, a young, strong boulderer, redpointed his first 7c. Daniel fought as a real warrior for each of his redpoints. Matt has found a great project for his next visit and sent many routes of different styles, working on various facets of his climbing skills. Mariña, again, went for all there was to climb and seemed totally resistant to fatigue of any kind.

I hope everyone enjoyed the week as I did. Thanks for coming!

Photo Credit: @pernikphoto (unless stated otherwise)