Trip Re****t: Kaiser Franz-Joseph Klettersteig, Austria
Trip with Judit Berta
July 12, 2008
We were planning to do the Konigsjodler Klettersteig, but the forecast
was for rain pretty much everywhere all the way to west Austria and
past Slovenia and the Italian Dolomites, so we had to cancel it.
However, the forecast was that the Steiermark part of Austria should
not experience rain till the afternoon. Judit and I decided that
we'd take a chance and go very early in the morning to see if we could
do the D rated Kaiser Franz-Joseph Klettersteig that is right next to
Eisenerz.
It's the 3rd of the so called trio or triad of klettersteigs that have
been put in around Eisenerz (only there is a fourth shorty, the
Rosslochhohlen), all of them built in the last few years, all with
well deserved double 4 star ratings (well, I've now done 2+1 and they
were all tops). This particular one claims 860 meters of height,
which I consider a bit of an exaggeration since there are two
significant sections of walking on either side of the main part
(middle 'third') of the klettersteig. Even so, it's quite the long
klettersteig with about 1000m of elevation gain from the car.
We left at around 6:30 from Vienna and already there was significant
traffic near Vienna. We went south on interstate A2 till km post 56,
where we took interstate S6. Past Gloggnitz, Murzzuschlag, Krieglach,
Bruck an der Mur, and then we probably should have taken the Leoben
Ost exit to get onto route 116 heading east, which turns into route
115a from Leoben to Trofaiach, and then continues north as 115 from
Trofaiach. Instead (longer distance, fewer lights) we continued on
I-S6 till Interstate A9 at St. Michael, which we took north till the
2nd exit (Traboch) where we followed the signs for Eisenerz / route
115. The road is mostly flat until you go through a very narrow
underpass at Vordenberg, and then it has to gain about 500m to
Prabichl which it then loses just as quickly to get back down to
Eisenerz. There always seems to be construction on the Eisenerz part
of this road limiting traffic to one lane in some sections.
Nevertheless, I've always liked this part of the road.
After the bus station (on the right) in Eisenerz there is a sign for
the Billa (also on the right). This is the road to take to get to the
parking place for the excellent (somewhat easier) D rated Eisenerzer
Klettersteig. However, for ours we continue all the way through the
town. Just after the sign announcing the end of the town, there is a
road to the right leading to the Leopoldsteiner See (Lake). This road
makes a left turn and right away you can see the wall where the
klettersteig is. Very nice. Shortly afterwards as the road heads
down there is a gravel parking lot on left where we parked. The lake
was just below us with the wall on the other side of the lake, shown
at http://www.bergsteigen.at/de/show.aspx?ID=3D1719&Art=3D2
On the far
side of the parking lot where the trail starts is a tourist shop and
grill. This is one of those rare klettersteigs where you can see the
whole route right from the car as long as you park near the entrance
to the parking lot, facing the lake. Plus it's close with a
negligible buy in (20 minutes to the Klettersteig start). Total
distance from Vienna was about 120 miles (over 2 hours).
We hit the trail starting at the tourist stand at about 8:30. Just to
the left of the ordering counter there is a faded map (which is the
map that Kurt Schall has in the update to his book this year) and
there is a more prominent yellow map to the right of the seating area,
corresponding to the map at http://bergsteigen.at
The ratings on
these two maps differ, though I rather agree with the bergsteigen.at /
yellow map. We went across the wooden bridge espying a large duck
family in the outflow from the lake on our right. This is one of
those rare places in Austria where the signs were plentiful. Just
past the wooden bridge is a level gravel road which we took left, and
then shortly afterwards (within 100 meters I think), there is a small
path heading up to the right. About 50 meters up this path, there is
a signed fork with the right fork leading to the bottom of the
klettersteig. The left fork leads to the bottom of the 2nd section of
the klettersteig (about 1/2 hour of sustained walking), and the trail
down from the top of the klettersteig also comes in on the left fork.
It was 12 minutes on the right fork to get to the start of the
klettersteig. Objectively, the first part of this klettersteig is the
most difficult. It consists of a few meters of straight up where you
have to haul yourself up using the cable (I'd rate it C/D to D - I
have seen two persons not be able to pull themselves up here - hint:
don't overuse the arms and don't hang on them; give preference to the
legs), and then a short left lateral traverse. There is an
overhanging part (D rated) as it goes into a long, ascending right
traverse, which traverse has some section(s) where the arms are useful
when purchase for the feet becomes minimal to nonexistent. The arm
parts are generally a step or two at a time. About 3/4 of the way
along, there is an overhanging corner with plenty of pegs. However,
by keeping one's left side close against the cliff and walking on the
pegs, it becomes a C rated section, and the overhanging aspect is
negated. However, for reasons I cannot fathom, most people prefer to
go through by brute force - there are lots of places on this climb
where this technique of facing sideways to the rock is useful. At the
end of the rightward traverse there is a larger white rock patch
(these white rock patches are clearly identifiable from the parking
lot).
Unfortunately, on this her first climb of the year, Judit somehow
completely used up her arm strength by the time she got past the start
of the rightward rising traverse. Fortunately, she was able to finish
off the rest of the section (just past the rising traverse, there is a
prominently posted 1 on a small yellow sign, the first of 10 marked
spots on the klettersteig). Now followed a nice walk through the
woods. There is an exit path "Abstieg uber den Kaisersteig" clearly
posted, at which point we felt the first rain drops, and then a little
further on is posted a "Blick zur Kaiserstiege", shortly below the
start of the next and main klettersteiging section. This start is
marked by a plaque naming the klettersteig and by a small yellow sign
with a 2. By now, there was no denying that it was rain and that the
cable was wet. It would have been irresponsible to continue up at
this point, so we walked back down to the car. On the way, we met a
pair coming down who said they did both the klettersteigs in 4.5
hours, top to bottom and back. Nice.
Judit went for a swim in the lake, while I had a(n undeserved) soup,
and then fell asleep. I awoke just as Judit was coming back, and the
clouds had cleared over our little corner of the world, and it was hot
and sunny, and why the heck shouldn't we have another go at it? So we
went back up the path we had just come down to reach the bottom of the
main klettersteig. This took 35 minutes, and I was sweating bricks on
the no nonsense walk back up. Definitely I would recommend two
liters of water for this klettersteig, especially as there is no Hutte
at the top.
We started off in the fabulous weather. The first part starts off
rounding a corner before the route settles down to business. If I
remember right, there is a steep section, then a Spreizschritt (where
one must step over a gulley), and then two vertical sections. There
are iron pegs aplenty to go around, and I would rate these vertical
parts as C, with a brief C/D section near the top of the 1st vertical
part. The vertical parts culminate in an absolutely delightful rest
point. It's large, earthy, and protected. And there's a 3 on the far
side to remind you that you've barely started the climb.
The onward path, especially the upcoming wall (sections 6 and 7),
looks different to me from this rest place (Schwalbennest) than from
how it is pictured on the photos. First there is a gully to ascend to
a prominent tree. This gulley starts very easy with a bit of B/C near
the end (Schalls' book shows the 4 marker here, but it's not). Then
the ridge line bears a bit to the left and the path follows the ridge
up, eventually jogging left (this is where the 4 marker is) to circle
atop a protrusion, where there is a delightful rest spot and the
number 5 marker. For my money, the part from the prominent tree to
the 5 marker is B/C to C.
The route drops just a bit to a white splotch on the cliff, then heads
almost straight up to the line where the cliff becomes sheer. There
are zillions of pegs along the way, a bit reminiscent of the wall on
Der Johann. At this interface of almost sheer and sheer, the route
does a straightforward lateral traverse - one can even imagine a very
narrow footpath here, only ruined by the occasional slight
overhungness of it. Past the number 6 (hurrah!) and then a bit of a
bob in the route, the route heads straight up the first of two columns
(there is a good neutral standing point on the lowest peg right at the
bottom of the column). Again zillions of pegs.
As far as I'm concerned, there's an easy way and a strength way up
these sections 6 and 7. Admittedly, these are not overly hard
sections (C and C/D), but the verticalness and exposure of it all may
be a bit daunting. The brawn way is to face the cliff, which forces
your center of gravity out, which forces your arms to do more work to
keep you plastered to the wall. If you're in good form, then this
should be no problem. However, if you are running out of strength, or
just wish to exert yourself minimally on principle, then you can turn
sideways on the pegs so that your feet and body face the cable. Then
you can sidestep up the vertical walls with minimal effort. When the
peg goes to the other side of the cable, I place the ball of my foot
on its end (that is, onto the protruding end of peg on the other side
of the cable) so that my foot pivots as I step onto it, so that it
and I will be facing the cable again as the foot gets full weight.
There are lots of op****tunities for this on sections 3-5, too.
There's a place right near the end of the 2nd column on section 7
where you have to haul yourself up, and then you are done with the
wall.
Section 8 is a cakewalk to the logbook. Judit had me write that "Der
Johann and the Skywalk were nothing compared to this", but it was all
due to the inauspicious start that she'd had. However, it is no
contest that this D is significantly harder than the likewise super
excellent Eisenerzer Klettersteig, which ridge route is visible from
this klettersteig. Judit wanted us to hurry along on account of the
time (which implication didn't really sink in) so I had to cut my
logbook novel short. We now had a very pleasant 25 minute walk to
reach the number 9 marker, indicating the final klettersteig section.
It starts with an excellent photo op as you turn the corner on some
pegs (and from here you can see the wire bridge at the top almost
the entire rest of the way).
The way up is straightforward till you get to a C rated wall. Getting
started, Judit went up the left side, I climbed up the far left side
of it to rejoin the cable. On the middle of this section we found the
final marker, number 10. After this the route has one final hurrah, a
short part with a C/D or D move, and then you are done. That is to
say, we were at the wire bridge.
This was really a funny surprise for me, because in originally reading
the description, the eyes saw 'wire bridge', the brain translated this
to 'fun', so there was clearly not much point in processing the rest
of what the eyes were reading. It's a bridge that goes nowhere! That
is to say, there is one bridge that goes across, and then a 2nd one
immediately comes back to the other side about a meter away. These
builders must have come in way under budget and had a lot of extra
time and materials on hand. On the way up I was thinking that
although I could see the bridge (singular!) I couldn't reconcile all
those wires I was seeing, and more im****tantly, I couldn't make out
the exit on the far side. So it was quite the funny surprise for me
when I got to the top and saw the actual situation. In any event,
a great place for relaxing and photos.
There is awesome klettersteig above this one, the Rossloch-H=F6hlen.
As you get onto the trail from the wire bridge, a few meters on you
can exit the trail right and scramble up to the Rossloch in about 10
minutes, staying just a bit in from the ridge. If you want the
official way, you follow the trail down to the other side of the gate,
continue going down as if heading back to the car and you will come to
a T junction in some minutes where you can go right for the
Rossloch-Hohlen and left for the car. This will probably cost you 10
or 20 minutes extra. But that is for another re****t.
Back at the wire bridge, it finally dawned (or should I say dusked?)
on me that we didn't have so very much time as it was now around 7:30
and it would be getting dark soon. More worrisome to me was that
starting from when we got to the 9 marker, a cloud was starting to
settle on top of us, blowing down into the valley - not a good sign.
We had to hustle our buns, only Judit's ankle was hurting. The ankle
I'd broken last October was hurting, too, from the log book on, but
it was only hurting going up. Judit's was going to give her trouble
going down. The top half of the trail down is delightful, a truly
nice forest path, soft, cushy even, descending but not too steeply,
everything you could ask for in a trail. But then its evil brother
comes out in the bottom half as it becomes gravelly and uneven,
dropping fast. On the bottom third it started to rain on us, but we
were prepared and anyways, considering that we'd given this
klettersteig up earlier in the day and then been able to finish it
off anyway - what mattered a few drops? So despite the rain, Judit's
bad ankle, and the dark closing in on us, we still made it down 15
minutes better than the 2 hour estimate.
A last little foot soak for Judit while I busied myself about the car,
and then we were off in the rain, with a quick fill up at the BP
(47.06 euros for 36.51 liters of 95 octane gas at 1.289 euros per
liter). Man was I hungry. Since the route 115 -> 115a -> 116 took us
all the way to Leoben (I thought it was Bruck an der Mur, only a month
later coming back from the Wiesbachhorn I was happily shown to be
wrong) without me noticing a turnoff sign for the I-S6 to Vienna, we
stopped at the McDonalds, in Leoben, shortly before the junction with
I-S6. That 9 piece McNugget meal sure hit the spot, as would have
anything. It's not so far, but I was just too sleepy to drive and
needed to snooze about 40 miles out of Vienna right where the I-S6 and
I-A2 junction are. Took me about an hour before I came to at about
12:45 and then finished off the drive. Judit had remarked earlier in
the day that one time she'd like to come with me on an outing where we
get back to Vienna at a normal hour. Maybe next time...
Happy klettersteiging,
Csaba Gabor from Vienna
=A92008 May not be published, nor included
in a work for sale without permission
The excellent 'triad' of Eisenerz Klettersteigs:
Eisenerzer (320 m, D): http://bergsteigen.at/de/touren.aspx?ID=3D1263
Franz-Joseph (860, D+): http://bergsteigen.at/de/touren.aspx?ID=3D1718
Rossloch (70 m, D/E): http://bergsteigen.at/de/touren.aspx?ID=3D1719
Kaiserschild (270, D/E): http://bergsteigen.at/de/touren.aspx?ID=3D1522
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