Climbing in Frankenjura

Climbing is a vibe-based sport.

Date: June 24th - June 30th
Where: Stayed in Muggendorf ( Wald&Wiesent apartment Muggendorf - a lovely apartment great for 4-5 people and a beautiful balcony!)

I took half days off for a week at work and did a small work-ation with some friends I met through the DAV climbing group from Berlin.

I looked back at some of my older posts and realised that I had been to Franken before, 4 years ago before I even started climbing:

/posts/a-weekend-trip-to-frankenjura/

and in it I said:

Some things on my mind right now: I want to take a beginner’s course in top-rope climbing and lead-climbing, get my own gear (at least the minimum necessary things) and get stronger physically. I want to join the alpine club in Germany …

Since then, I’ve taken both courses, got my own gear and got stronger (a bit? feeling comfortable leading 6s, RPing some 7s and 8- didn’t feel impossible), and here I was back in Frankenjura with some friends I’ve met through a climbing group from the DAV. I have to say, I feel a little proud to have done what I’ve said I wanted to do.

Muggendorf #

We stayed in an apartment in Muggendorf, a small village in the Frankenjura region. There’s a direct bus to the village (about a few bus/train rides and 1.5-2h from Nuremburg).

So many crags nearby, also some historical ruins, caves and hiking paths to explore and there’s a small river that runs through where you can also swim and kayak. There’s a small shop in the village that has pretty much everything you need including fresh bread in the morning, and is open on Sunday mornings.

Even though I was there to climb, I went for a different trail run every morning exploring the nearby ruins. Really nice hills and trails to explore around this region!

Access to the crags #

Crags we explored: Intensivstation, Jubiläumswand, Obere Muggendorfer Wände, Streitberger Schild Leienfelser Pfeiler Dornröschenwand

There were a lot of crags within a few km and within 20-30 minute drive. Many were also walkable, for example. When we missed our last bus, we managed to get a ride by hitchhiking very easily, but maybe bringing a bike next time could be an option instead of a car.

The Climbing #

We all mostly worked half days in the mornings, and then would take the afternoons off and head out around 3/4pm which gave us solid few hours to climb with the long summer days.

To my surprise, I really liked the rocks there(soft limestone), quite soft on the skin but felt grippy too. I finally understood what people meant by ‘pockets’ in Frankenjura, ‘sparse bolting but bolting that kind of makes sense’ and ‘it’s good to have trad gear for placing extra protection on sport routes’.

Thoughts #

Frankenjura is a huge place with over 1000 crags and more than 15k routes, but in the middle of nowhere in a random crag, I bump into some people I’ve met on another climbing trip (what a small world!). It makes me wonder how small/big the world really is. They were here for a festival - Der Altmühltaler Kletter- und Kulturkosmos -, something I keep forgetting to check the calendar for. Maybe something to look out for next year (also Ecopoint festival, the Arcteryx Academy etc)

What’s made this trip especially enjoyable was the people. Just great people. And I really enjoyed sharing a common hobby, cooking together, spending time together, talking about each other’s work and life. Climbing was what brought us together, but I enjoyed the company and the vibe more than anything else.

In my post 4 years ago, I said:

… I’ve been feeling quite lonely in Berlin ever since the pandemic hit. I was doing my best to make new friends despite the restrictions, and I was meeting people (with social distancing of course) and yet was still really struggling to find meaningful connections, to a point where I felt somewhat hopeless. Was I naive to think I could start over, make new friends, build up a life from ground-up in a new city where I didn’t speak the language? Maybe. But this trip made me hopeful. Or at least, gave me motivation to at least give it a try – to connect and really build on relationships I can feel a part of.

Climbing has definitely given me a community and even though this time it was M who organised all of this for us, I’d love to do something like this myself one day. I felt grateful I got to be a part of it. I think I’m relatively a good participant, but it’s nice to be the person to create a space for people to join, to build something that people can be a part of. And maybe that’s my next goal?