FILM.

Saxony’s

magic

sandstone

was

calling

me

Sandstone, as a rock, has a magic all its own. No matter if it’s the red sandstone striking above the Utah desert, or the finest grain of Fontainebleau blocs in a mellow forest, or a legendary sandstone tower on the German-Czech border. I definitely feel like, while climbing on sandstone, there is the deepest connection of your fingertips with the rock. Sandstone has the coolest shapes, and it’s nice to touch.

Despite my fondness for sandstone, there was one crag, despite being one of the biggest climbing areas in the whole world, with a huge impact on the history of climbing, that I have always neglected. Thousands of routes scattered on towers above the Elbe River, 150 years of climbing tradition and still blank walls with potential to host even more routes!

I adored when parents talked about Saxon sandstone, about stories they got to experience on these rough rock faces of these towers. My parents actually met on one of their weekend trips to this paradise. Still in the 80's, when oppressive regimes in Czechoslovakia and East Germany governed the states, climbing was the ultimate freedom.

That weekend in cold November 1983, my dad climbed Direkte Superlative IXc, one of Bernd Arnold's masterpieces, the living legend of sandstone who developed hundreds and hundreds of routes. The name itself, Superlative, was invoking my imagination, how cool this line has to be!

I always like the ethics of local climbing - big runouts, opening routes ground-up, extra protection with threads and knots, but no chalk policy was always the reason I did not want to go. I like my chalkbag and the chalk in it. I like to feel sticky with my fingertips on the rock. I like climbing with good conditions. Sweaty hands on sandstone is the very opposite. I always thought that a no-chalk game would be annoying and not very fun... But those LINES!!! They are calling me... It might be worth trying.

Some years ago, I invited Robert Leistner to do routesetting for me. He was an IFSC routesetter with a lot of experience and it was useful to climb with him while I was preparing for the Olympics. But he is also an experienced sandstone climber and Saxony is his home playground. He showed me his masterpiece called Vertreibung der letzten Idealisten on photos and I was hooked.

Some years later, I finally called him and I told Robert that I would come! And the very first day, we went together to see this striking line. When it comes to single-pitch climbing, sandstone in Saxony is hard to beat in terms of the beauty of its lines.

Vetreibung der letzen Idealisten (Redpoint grade of XIIa, French grade 8c) tackles the very middle of the west face of Nonnengärtner, this amazingly aesthetic thin tower. I did not even think of trying this climb onsight or flash. I knew it would be impossible. All I wanted was to try to redpoint it. But this is not a regular sport climb, just like Robert opened this route ground up, I had to go ground up too, climbing from ring to ring, taking some decent falls, before I was able to get over the main difficulties. Doing it all without falling, without chalk, with sweaty hands felt like a very difficult thing to do. But without chalk, you have to be even more strategic with your skin and I could not waste more tries. I waited until late afternoon for some clouds and I set off for the red point try.

It’s a privilege to be on the wall like this. Every meter you gain more exposure and the climbing would have been so enjoyable if I hadn't been thinking constantly about my sweaty hands. Some moments, I felt like it wasn’t actually a problem, only to find myself very sweaty two moves higher and fighting to stay on the wall. But a little rest on better holds, a little breeze and here I was again, continuing along this beautiful journey.

I started ignoring the state of my fingertips, enjoying the climbing itself as I was getting higher. The only recipe is: if you are sweaty, you just try and mostly crimp harder! And it worked to get over the crux and finish the climb! It was emotional and I knew that Saxony really got me, since I knew it was actually possible to climb hard without chalk, and you can enjoy it, as soon as the holds are incut, no matter how small they are.

In the remaining days, I got to climb some classics from the masters of sandstone climbing, Rübezahlstiege VIIIc from Herbert Richter (1960) or Ausflug ins Nirwana Xa from Bernd Arnold (1983). It was awesome to climb these routes and be impressed by the courage of the first ascensionists who opened them so many years ago.

The last day, it was time to look at the Circus Maximus, the hardest route opened by Robert Leistner, which has yet to see its first redpoint. This was perfect last day as I made the first repetition (all-free repetition with falls and rests, but no redpoint). This is truly one of the best lines I have ever seen. Massive, 60-meter rock face, and perfect line just in the middle. The first 10 meters are less difficult and then it is constantly difficult in its entirety, combining small pockets and crimps with very slopey feet and no rests. Redpoint without chalk will be so hard and so cool, and I would love to come back one day!