Climbing in Löbejün 2025

Date: 2025.04.19 - 20 (sat/sun) Osterwochenende
Weather: Rainy the night before on Fri, sunny on Sat

Logistics: We went by public transport this time using the D-Ticket (On the way there, we took the train to Nauendorf(Saalkr) + 30 mins walk, on the way back we took the 301 bus from Löbejün village to Halle, and took the train back. Both took around 4h each way) We stayed at Zeltwiese Löbejün (10 euros/person) where I stayed last time for 10 EUR/person/night.

I wrote about visiting Löbejün last March — last time I was there mainly just to hang out, watch people rig high lines and climb a few easy routes. This time around, I really wanted to climb harder, but ended up not climbing much mostly because I was in a weird headspace (probably lack of sleep the night before) which seems to be the main problem for me these days.

I climbed Alzheimer and Inkontinenz in Altherrenwand, both grade UIAA 6 (5c) as a warm-up, or was supposed to be and really struggled mentally. I remember climbing the Flying Fox close by and enjoying it last year so I was a little frustrated. Need to learn to not show that though, to prioritise having fun over anything else.

Then I tried Ernster Witz in Lässig (which apparently translates to ‘casual’) on top rope because the runout looked quite scary. It made me anxious (and again, I let it show which kills the vibe). I don’t think I would’ve tried it if I had known it was a 7+, but frankly that in itself is a problem.

On Day 2, I felt a bit better and seconded Hangelmarathon (6/6-) which we rappelled down (I had forgotten how to rap down since it’s been months since I used it. I felt like a hypocrite knowing that I don’t like it when people don’t know how to use their own gear) I felt comfortable but still over-gripped everything. Then I tried the Midsummernightfever 7+ on top rope and couldn’t figure out the moves - as soon as it becomes slightly overhangly with no feet to smear on (or so I think) I’m useless. Need to train core + overhangs (systemboard?) in general and stop avoiding overhangs.

For the last route, I tried Kalte Spalte 7- where there was one hard-ish move I fell on like 5 times. It was a few big falls and I’m happy I did that. At least I tried. But then if I had relaxed more, gone a bit more dynamically and trusted that I could hold on, I wouldn’t have fallen.

The theme of the trip seemed to be “doubt & fear” and “negative self-talk”.

• Fear of falling: If I could improve my head game, I think it would improve my climbing (and enjoyment of it) significantly. Wherever I felt scared, I kept telling myself “it’s ok if I fall here” — as if falling was by default. I need better positive affirmation. I think it’s important to differentiate knowing that I can fall without injuring myself, and allowing/almost expecting myself to fall. If I overcame my fear of falling, I will stop over-gripping, can focus on technique more. So how will I train for this?
  • Stop clipping in the anchor in the gym and always take a fall (and then don’t clip two draws and fall etc)
  • Positive affirmations
  • Try harder routes (try grades that are beyond my comfort level)
  • Always clip at the hip (especially in the gym)
  • Stop saying stuff like “oh, I’m still a beginner so I can’t xxx” - like why does that matter? I keep doing this thing where I
• Overhangs: I like crimpy vertical walls because I simply haven’t trained for overhangs and have no idea how to use body tension or feet.
  • System board sessions once a week?
• Sleep: I have to remind myself how detrimental sleep is to my wellbeing - to be someone fun (or at least tolerable) to be around. I was so underslept, that I was in a cranky mood letting negative thoughts affect how I was showing up. I had bad cravings all day and kept tripping over, sprained my knee a little which got me really anxious about injury.
• Doing my own research, being more active in trip planning on group trips: I went with two more experienced climbers who knew the crag very well so I didn’t do enough research on my side or knew what I wanted out of it which is never good. I was passive about what I wanted to climb, less than enthusiastic and also beat myself up internally for not being able to follow their German conversation after having lived in Berlin for over 5 years.
• Confidence - what is it even? why am I just so full of self-doubt?

In general, I felt quite disappointed with not only my performance but state of mind and my attitude/the way I was showing up to the world and around people during the entire trip.

A big trigger that kind of overshadowed everything during this trip was me not being able to join German conversations. I moved to Berlin more than 5 years ago on a whim, thinking it would be temporary. Then covid happened when I lost the momentum. That temporal mindset has never changed. I’ve been in this ambivalent state of rootlessness forever which resulted in me not putting effort into learning the language or the culture. Committing to friendships, groups and communities. And every time someone switches from German to English out of kindness so I can understand them - is almost like a reminder of my rootlessness & directionlessness and it hurts. Need to do something about that.