Wegen des instabilen Wetters fand der Kurs statt in den Lechtaler Alpen im Donautal statt, und weil beide Teilnehmer englischsprachig waren, war auch der Kurs auf Englisch. Deshalb kommt auch der Bericht auf Englisch.
Initially, the course was planned for 3 days. However, due to the bad weather forecast for the last day of the course, we agreed to shorten the course to 2 days. Nevertheless, 2 days was enough to learn the necessary basic techniques and mindset for Alpine climbing.
On the first day, we started by getting to know each other and arriving at Ebingen Haus. Our teacher was Michael Brugger who had an immense amount of alpine climbing knowledge and mountaineering experience. Upon having a general introduction into the main aspects of alpine climbing and getting to know our goals we approached the climbing area at Stuhlfels. At the foot of the climbing route, we practiced the techniques for 3 person multi-pitch climbing. After we learned the techniques, Michael lead our first climb of Gotzmannkante (3+) and we climbed in belay. After feeling a bit more confident with the new multi-pitch techniques, we decided to lead our own climb, Irisweg (4, 4). It was a sunny and warm day so we finished with a refreshing swim in Danube and ate tasty Swabian pizza (Flammkuchen) at a restaurant of a nearby campsite, discussing and recapping all we had learnt in the day.
We had a very good sleep in the Ebinger Haus this night, dreaming about climbing mountains.
On the second day we were awoken by (relatively quiet) roosting crows and started the day with a self cooked tasty breakfast at Ebinger Haus .Following breakfast, we walked to the foot of another climbing route, learning rapelling and abseiling techniques in a low and comfortable setting. We then climbed Normalweg (3, 3+) in lead and then challenged ourselves at more difficult final pitch – Rissausstieg (1, 5+). With blood pumping and adrenaline flowing, Michael explained the situation at hand, as rain was starting to settle in, which can happen on alpine routes. Michael always kept his cool, which made as feel reassured and trusting of the process. We then focussed on the task at hand, which was to safely rappel down the rock. Finally we setup our starting point and completed a multi-pitch abseil from top of the rock back to the starting point. We walked back to the Ebinger Haus and further discussed climbing materials and techniques over a well deserved bottle of Spezi.
We had a really amazing course with our teacher Michael, learning Alpine climbing, required equipment, techniques, mindsets and more. We enjoyed all the climbs and time we had together over the two days. We are also very grateful for the opportunity that the DAV enabled and we look forward to the next time.
Bericht: Yuliya und Alex
Bilder: Michael und Yuliya