Last year we climbed Weibelkante, part of Ettaler Manndl, with friends. Returning to the same area Masha and I went to climb a nearby route but it didn’t go exactly to plan.

Weibelkante Blog Post.

new hiking shoes

morning in the mts

two helmets

base of crag

Going off the following image of map we selected the Rockzüpfel route as a nice easy Sunday multi pitch. After hiking up the same route we took the year before we arrived at the base of the crag. Hmm where does the route start?

guide book

We found the start of Weiblkante again. It is even marked with a plaque. But why is it on the right side of the map and not, as we see it, on the left? Ohhh. “Nordseite” the guide book is for the other side of the ridge. We are on the south wall.

weiblkante

New plan. Go up Weiblkante for a pitch or two then lower down the other side and climb the top pitch of the Rockzüpfel route. Off we went.

valley views

After the first pitch we could not see a route or bolts below on the north side so we continued up. Finishing the second pitch of Weiblkante we were basically as high as the route goes, the rest being a traverse. From there we could see bolts on the north wall.

masha belaying stance

Trying to setup a belay to lower me down the north wall was not straight forward. Ideally the belayer stand on a comfortable ledge, the rope would go up to the anchor, through a redirect carabiner, and down to the climber. Here there was no ledge to be found so with Masha clipped off to one anchor we built another one a few meters to the side above the climb and redirected the rope through that. With this setup there is more force on her so she sat in a way where that load was transferred to her anchor.

topped out

The result was a slow but smooth lower, via our giga jul belay device, to the start of the shoulder width crack section of Rockzüpfel. The route was fun and I hope someday we return to do the entire thing from the north side.

kneippbecken

After the hike back to Ettal we cooled our feet in an ice cold pool. Learn more about this German tradition here. Also here is more info on the Ettaler Manndl area.

Until our next climbing adventure, stay safe out there. 👋🧗🏻‍♀️