Climbing

The Beginning

The first time I was exposed to climbing was 2008 in an indoor rock climbing facility where we went as a part of the social event after our team won the ClusterChallenge. I was completely exhausted at that time, so I didn't like the rest of the event (Bowling and "Laser Tagging") - I would have preferred to sleep or hang out at the bar. But then we went into this big indoor rock climbing gym. After I climbed up the wall the first time I was hooked. I liked it so much that I climbed until I couldn't control my fingers any more. Which happend really fast. :-) Afterwards Jupp, who was a member of the TU Dresden part of our team, told me that he is climbing regularly, even outdoors.

Hoosier Heights

After we came back to Bloomington, IN I told the other guys in the lab about our trip to Texas and also about the rock climbing thing and how much fun it was. And so Andy told me that he was also climbing regularly and that we could go to a indoor climbing gym in Bloomington, together with a friend of his who also worked in the CS department. So we went there once or twice a week for the next few months until I had to return to Germany. Below are some pictures of me climbing there at the Hoosier Heights gym.

Schusterweg, Falkenstein, Saechsische Schweiz

After I was back in Germany and the weather became better, Jupp asked me if I wanted to go climbing with him in the beautiful Elbsandsteingebirge. I sure did! This would be my first outdoor climbing experience. Jupp selected a beautiful route for us, the "Schusterweg" at a rock called "Falkenstein". It was a lot of fun! And also quite different from indoor climbing: I was used to 15m walls and overall climbing not longer than 1 hour - now we climbed several hours in five pitches. Also the technique is a bit different - for example I never did chimney climbing before, so I had some trouble in one spot - luckily there was another guy after me who gave me some hints on how to move and also some motivational words :-). I also was worried about climbing without chalk (it's usage is prohibited in this area) since I tend to get slippy hands in the gym - but it turned out that the sandstone is really rough so it wasn't a problem. Below are some pictures, the top and bottom halve of the rock and Jupp and Jule('s backpack).