Tag Archives: sport climbing

Doing it on our own

After our last climbing course, Kay wanted to buy a set of quick draws and some more carabiners so that we could go climbing on our own, but we still had the problem of how to get there. Most climbing spots in Switzerland are only accessible by car and Kay just has his motorbike.

Kay was worried that if we would leave our bike gear by the bike, it would get stolen, yet it would really be a lot to hike up with to the climbing areas.That’s when I came up with the brilliant idea of buying a Pacsafe bag to attach to the bike. I’ve known about Pacsafe for years since reading about them in my subscription to Outdoor Photographer years ago, and it was the perfect solution for us to take all the gear off and safely lock it up while we hiked and climbed.The weather was so beautiful this weekend. Sunny, warm, but not hot, and with a cool breeze running along the hills sometimes.After a short hike, we reached the climbing area around Mythen where there are several routes from 3a-7ish climbing grades. We stuck to the 3-4 levels to get used to doing it on our own.Kay at the top of the second route above. Below was the view when I climbed up myself.Some succulents growing near our last route.The last route was actually pretty tough for us. Kay started first and got stuck at one point, and when I went up a little while later, I almost didn’t make it past the same tough point. But I kept thinking, “Kay can do it, so can I!” 🙂

Here he is at the top. The view was definitely worth it, even with the weather closing in.Selfie at the top too!Kay preparing the rope to abseil down.View from up there looking down on Vierwaldstättersee. It was pretty breathtaking.I went down first and Kay followed. I am getting the hang of this abseiling by yourself thing.In fact, abseiling might be one of my favorite parts of climbing. It sure is the laziest part. 😉

Back down again, Kay was pretty smiley. And handsome. Don’t forget that!One last selfie and it was time to head back on the bike. The ride back down the curvy hill was certainly easier than the way up. On the way up, I felt like I was in danger of falling off because of the heavy backpack, but on the way down I just needed to make sure that I did not dive into Kay.We are hoping that we’ll be able to get some more climbing done this summer, but things are starting to get tight. Only a couple more weeks until Kay is off for the army and weekends are filling up left and right.

Sport Climbing Course 2

After an exhausting week, I was not at all looking forward to our climbing course on the weekend; I actually wanted to stay home and sleep. The weather forecast was not promising, but after Kay checked on Friday evening, we were told chances were 50/50, so we still had to prepare the climbing gear. Sigh.

The next day, Kay got up at 5:55am to call and check if the course was on before our 6:30am train to get to Solothurn on time for the 8am course. I was not a happy girl when Kay came back to bed to tell me the course was on and it was time to get up. I was a grumpy, grumpy, tired Katie. But we got ready, caught the train, and arrived at Bergsport Bordogna in Solothurn just in time.I was still not in the greatest mood as we drove to Farnern. It was 9C/48F and COLD. I did not bring enough clothes for it to be this cold. I was not really a happy camper as we started our first ascent. But, by the time we climbed all the way up and were taught in Schwiizerdütsch how to abseil down, the sun was shining some and it had warmed up to a brisk 13C/55F. It was at least warm enough that I could feel my fingers on the rock again.

And look at me there, abseiling down like a rock star. I was terrified to do it by myself the first time, but it was quite fun!

As this is considered “sport climbing” in English, where the route is set up beforehand with anchored bolts, Kay and I would climb up in turns using express quickdraws while belaying each other as the other person climbed.

It’s always a little confusing for me to explain it in English because I am learning the climbing terms directly in German and they are not words I am familiar with in English. Everything in the climbing world is new to me and because our courses are in German, I am actually more comfortable giving all the climbing commands and information to Kay in German.

We climbed two multi-pitch routes. Since I was feeling a bit more nervous, I usually had Kay do the lead climbing and I trailed behind picking up the quickdraws on the way up.

There was one route that was hard to make ground for the mid-point and I didn’t want to climb past him and keep going up, so we switched mid-route and I had him continue. I’m glad, because just after the grounding area was a very tricky part and I completely lost my footing and fell, which always scares the bejeezus out of me, but it was right by an express, so I didn’t have anywhere to fall and did not hurt anything more than my nails.

They say with climbing that in order to progress, you need to push yourself to your limit and that falling means you have pushed yourself to that limit and that you will learn from it. So while it is scary to slip, it means that I am trying hard to become better at climbing.

Below is Kay starting his descent and some of the group waiting at the bottom.

It was our first time using our new climbing shoes on real rock outside, so that was nice, but a little tight after awhile.

My mood improved a lot over the day and while I had some, “Oh shit, what am I doing here?!” moments on the rock, I was happy that I went and proud with what I accomplished.

We have our own shoes, belts, rope, and helmets; now all we need is our own express set, belaying device and break, some locking carabiners, and a belay station sling so we can start climbing any preexisting route, which we have plenty of in this country.

I still really recommend the climbing courses through Bergsport Bordogna because they are great value for a whole day of climbing. For beginners, you pay just 90CHF and the course is from 8am-5pm and includes all your gear. You would easily pay 300CHF for the same service in a climbing hall and would probably learn less.

For course level 2, we paid 110CHF and they provided all the gear we did not have ourselves yet. It’s not often you find an all day activity like this in Switzerland for so cheap!

This is the rock formation we climbed up to from the parking area.

It’s always insanely beautiful in the countryside. There’s also something really calming about being in the wilderness with only the sound of the cowbells jingling in the background.

So now Kay is buying the rest of these items for us so we can go climbing outdoors. Our only problem is transportation, as most of these routes are very faraway from public transportation and we just have Kay’s motorbike. We are looking into buying a pacsafe bag so that we could lock up the bike gear to the bike and avoid schlepping it up the mountain with us.