Chinesische Mauer, climbing in Austria

The massive wall forms part of the Öfelekopfes in the Wetterstein mountain range and suddenly springs impressively into view from the beautiful and lush U-shaped valley as you drive north. Despite its ease of access the first routes were established surprisingly late, namely at the end of the 80's. Tyrol activist Reinhold Scherer spearheaded further development in the summers between 1992 - 1994 and left his mark with the 8b testpiece Future Shock. Much Mair upped the ante a decade later and while in 2006 Jorg Verhoeven established the crag's hardest, The Great Gig in the Sky 8c/8c+ , Alexandra and Matthias Robl concentrated their efforts on developing the somewhat easier sector Hong Kong circa 15 minutes left of the main cliff.

The climbing at Tyrol's Chinese Wall is extremely varied, sporting crimps, pockets, long stamina routes, short cruxy testpieces... Technique though is the name of the game at this Austrian crag which is well worth a visit.

	CLIMBING AT CHINESISCHE MAUER, AUSTRIA