Cragging at the Gallerie Amden

I had the strongest day of climbing in a long time at the gym on Friday. I onsighted a 7a and a bunch of 6c and 6c+ routes. Even at my best I have not been able to climb much better than that. Considering that my climbing time has been reduced significantly since we became parents this made me feel pretty good about my climbing.

Lake Walen and the village of Weesen.

Luigi and Christian.

Me.

The next morning Christian, Luigi and I went to the Gallerie near Amden above lake Walen. The weather forecast predicted thunderstorms later in the day, so we chose this convenient and non-committing crag. It's very well frequented which means the limestone tends to be a bit polished from all the wear. It's also steep and the climbing on small ledges with few big features. Whatever ego boost I got from climbing in the gym the night before was quickly eradicated by climbing on the rock. I only had enough energy to try three (long) routes and the hardest one, a 6b, rejected all my attempts at progress. Quite humbling. One soothing factor was that Christian, who'd been at the gym with me, wasn't faring much better. Only Luigi had a strong showing and burned through a bunch of routes.

Luigi.

Luigi attempting the optional 7b extension of a route. It's a boulder problem of just two moves, but none of us could figure it out.

Luigi in cruising mode.

This is a weird crag as it is literally on top of a road. You are standing on the avalanche/rockfall protection for the road.