Climbing Beyond: The World's Greatest Rock Climbing Adventures by James Pearson & Caroline Ciavaldini

Author:James Pearson & Caroline Ciavaldini
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aurum Press
Published: 2017-03-17T04:00:00+00:00

Rätikon The Alps

Grade variation: 5+ to 8c

Perfect vertical limestone, green hills and snowy mountains: this is the Rätikon.

Fact File Rätikon

TYPE OF CLIMB: Multi-pitch

TYPE OF ROCK: Limestone

GRADE VARIATION: 5+ to 8c

CLIMB LENGTH: Up to 400m

BEST TIME TO CLIMB: Spring to autumn

OTHER NOTABLE CLIMBS: Galadriel, 6c+; Intifada, 7a+; Lilith, 7c+

1 Antihydral

2 Silbergeier

3 Hannibal Alptraum

The Rätikon region is a perfect example of typical Swiss Alps scenery. Long dirt roads are surrounded by fresh creeks, green fields and a lot of cows, leading you to one of the best places you could ever imagine for climbing.

Located on the borders of Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, the Rätikon range was once the cradle of European multi-pitch free climbing. The smooth walls of the Kirlichspitze towers have stopped many people in their tracks, and once upon a time inspired the best local climbers to push their limits by setting new standards in alpine climbing.

The most prominent name in the history of Rätikon climbing developments is, without a doubt, Martin Scheel. Scheel pioneered many of the area’s early test pieces, and is especially renowned for developing a unique style of opening new lines that not only influenced the local climbing community, but spread its way across the sport. It is a style most linked to alpine multi-pitch climbing: no prior viewing on abseil, always ground up, hooks used only for placing bolts and always climbing free between them. Those were the rules of the game that now, thirty years later, would probably make most climbers nauseous. Some may consider it an old-school approach, but others will call it ethics: either way, it is a forgotten notion for most of the modern generation of gym-raised climbers. Among the climbers that Scheel’s approach influenced was an Austrian called Beat Kammerlander, a climber from Vorarlberg who has become a living legend.

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