Entering a Chalk Free Zone

Dahn Region, Südpfalz – exploring one of the local sandstone cliff crags.

Having just moved to Germany from the United States and still in the juvenile stages of friend development, it is monumental when you meet a fellow female who like you, climbs! This beautiful moment occurred last week and I quite eagerly made, borderline obsessively encouraged, plans to climb for the upcoming weekend. A few communication failures later, I eagerly met up with my new friend at 4pm on Sunday. Rather late for me who obsessively starts climbing days at an ungodly hour, but with six hours of sunlight left and my need to stay awake for an 11:30pm airport pickup of my boyfriend returning from the Verdon there was plenty of time to basque in the glory of the sun (an oddity in Germany) on a beautiful sandstone wall.

My new friend had brought a friend of her own. Thus making us a climbing party of three which also added to the excitement of not only climbing with one new partner, but becoming comfortable climbing with two new partners. After working out some logistics on a practice run partially up Pfeilerwand (6-, 5.8) we worked out the kinks experienced when climbing together for the first time and began our three person climbing adventure on the 55m (180 ft) Nordverschneidung (7-, 5.10b).

Nordverschneidung (7-/5.10b) – Dahner Gebiet, Südpfalz
The route is approximately 55 m and can be broken into 2-3 pitches. I chose to break it into 2 while keeping in mind a comfortable belay at the top of P1 and limiting rope drag for P2.  The line is on the north side of the Jungfernsprung formation and is two lines to climber’s left of the prominent arête – a mindblowingly aesthetic route I will be back for, Franz-Seiler-Ged.-Weg (7+, 5.10d/5.11a). The route has mixed protection, so bring a rack of friends with some draws (I believe there were 6 bolts).

• P1 – follows a beautiful crack with a few jams and some happy stance stemming to a comfortable belay ledge about 20m up
• P2 – easier climbing with a mantle exit to a comfortable stance before entering into a beautiful lieback sequence with a small rest before a few happy finger jams to a spectacular jug. One more rest before the strenuous crux traverse to the top.

Quick Reference Guide:

Location: Dahn, Deutschland

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Guidebook: Kletterführer Pfalz, by Jens Richter and Sabine Tittel. It is in German, but is still very useful to us non German speaking climbers with its full color pictures and topos with UIAA ratings.

Climbing Ethics/Red Tape:

The Power Bucket, Chalk – Generally there is a moral, no chalk rule in this region. The reason behind this is that the magnesium, what your chalk is made of, mixes with the sandstone to create a slippery mess when exposed to moisture. If you must use chalk, do so sparingly only at crux sections on routes that see limited moisture (i.e., overhung).

Area Closures – due to bird nesting and breeding there are some areas that are closed from Jan 1st through July. A full list of area closures can be found on this German website (or the google translated version).