We managed to leave reasonably early and headed back down to the Plombergstein crag near St Gilgen where we were yesterday. The plan was to have three rope teams on each of the three multi pitch routes that we knew about. Once we got there we realised though that there would not be enough time for Brendan and Domi to climb as they needed to leave earlier. Instead we decided that I would go up the middle route (Flipperl) with Sebas and Sam while Ari and Johannes would go up the rightmost route (Juniperus).
So we set off. Johannes did the first pitch on the right and I lead the first pitch on our route. Both Brendan and Domi climbed up the first pitch too to say hello before descending again and heading off. Sebas climbed up next and then Sam. We tied Sam in the middle attached to both their rope and Brendan’s rope and then I lead the next pitch. I belayed Sam up on top rope from the anchor and then she belayed Sebas.
Then it was Sebas’s turn to lead and we repeated everything in the reverse order. We caught a glimpse of both Ari and Johannes on the route after our second pitch but then they were gone. Thinking they were probably much faster and already at the top I opted to join the last two pitches together to create one long easy 60 m pitch. I arrived at the top and belayed Sam up, and Sebas followed. The others weren’t there so we sat around on the handy bench at the top and started packing up our gear.
We heard Johannes and shouted over to him. He was looking for a bolt. I tied back in and Sam belayed me over towards their route just as Johannes reached the top and secured himself on an old sling tied around a tree. He seemed to be pumping adrenalin. It had apparently not gone completely to plan. He put Ari on belay and it wasn’t long before she appeared.
Apparently Johannes had lost the route and had climbed up high above a bolt in search of it before having to clip somewhere off-route and be lowered back down. He then had to rescue the rope by securing himself and pulling the rope back down. Luckily there were some experienced climbers that were coming up behind and could help.
But there were other problems too. Ari didn’t have enough carabiners and neither of them had slings that were long enough. At one point Ari had to clip into the anchor with a string of quickdraws. It all sounded like quite an adventure, an adventure that both of them would have preferred not to have had. Still, nobody got hurt and it made us think we should be more prepared next time.
We sat at the hut at the top for a bit before walking slowly back down stopping for an hour or so on the way to explore the cool limestone structures. Then it was a quick meal at a restaurant overlooking the Wolfgangsee and we began the long drive back to Lindau. When I say we I mean Ari.
