Chasin the Trane greenpoint in the Frankenjura
German climber Heiko Queitsch has climbed the famous Frankenjura routes Fight Gravity (by Kurt Albert) and Chasin the Train (by John Bachar) without using the bolts but with trad gear.
Greenpoint? OK redpoint, even pinkpoint is tried and tested (i.e. with gear already pre-placed) . But greenpoint? Ay yes, it's the term used to define climbing a sport route without the bolts but using trad gear such as nuts and camming devices! What might at first glance seem somewhat contorted is in fact a movement which is gaining popularity, not only at the cutting-edge like Arnaud Petit showed us with his ascent of Black Bean at Ceuse, but pretty much everywhere and all through the grade scale. In truth this game isn't new, climbers have been doing this ever since the bolt was first introduced, but perhaps what needs bearing in mind now is that there are more and more sport routes which have been climbed clean and there is a growing number of climbers who, every now and then, dabble in this clean climbing.
The latest ascents to catch our attention are the historical Fight Gravity (7b) by Kurt Albert and Chasin the Trane (7c) by John Bacher, climbed in 1981. Both routes marked an important moment in the global rotpunkt movement. And this year they've now been climbed grünpunkt, or rather, greenpoint, by Heiko Queitsch.
