Scream from the stone - Big Wall in the Tannheimers

Small but mighty. That's how you could describe the Tannheim mountains near Reutte. They are known for their not-too-long multi-pitch routes on the sunny side. What is less well known, however, is that there are also massive north faces in the Tannheimers. You can enjoy a whopping 750 meters of climbing fun up to the ninth grade there. Header image: Shadow play Sarah Stenico with the last of her strength in the last light and on the last pitch of "Schrei aus Stein". Behind her is the Köllenspitze, at 2,238 m the highest peak in the Tannheimer. This mountain used to have the beautiful name Mätzenarsch.

Arecollectors happier people? At first glance, this question has little to do with climbing and even less to do with the people of Tannheim, or does it? Even the Neanderthals collected objects that they did not need to survive, but that were supposed to make life itself more beautiful, such as corals, fossil shells or amber. But what actually makes life beautiful? Ascetics would claim that renunciation is the philosophy of life par excellence. Only the credo "less is more" makes us happy.

Taken literally, it contradicts the mountaineering. Because on the mountain, we always want more and higher. Maybe that's why nobody really wanted to climb mountains for thousands of years? After all, what were we supposed to do on these agriculturally useless and dangerous mountains, except perhaps hunt chamois or collect special herbs and gemstones? The necessities of life, and therefore happiness, must therefore lie in the valley. It was not until the 19th century that a new species of man began to emerge: the summit collector. Now it became fashionable to hunt for first ascents instead of chamois. Mountaineering developed from a means to an end - to an end in itself. Just a few kilometers north of the Tannheimer, one of the first female summit hunters ever lived: Queen Marie of Bavaria, the mother of the fairytale King Ludwig II. Born in Berlin, she was nicknamed "Bavaria's first alpinist". Part of the reason for this passion was the view of the Tannheim mountains from her residence in Hohenschwangau. When she came to the Bavarian court at the age of 16, the young adventurer from the big city absolutely had to go up there. In fact, she then collected almost all the peaks in the Tannheim mountains, even the Mätzenarsch - what a strange name. That was the name of the Köllenspitze, the highest peak in the Tannheimer, until 1854. How did this renaming come about? Mätzenarsch was the popular name for the buttocks of a prostitute, and the young noblewoman did not want to be subjected to such frivolity, which is why the mountain was renamed after a neighboring cirque called "in der Kelle".

In the 19th century, a new species was added to the Tannheimers: the route collector. Now that all the normal routes had been climbed, more difficult ascents had to be sought through even steeper rock faces in order to stand out as exclusive collectors from the common summit collectors. In a way, these rock acrobats heralded a new Stone Age in the Tannheimers. For just as the Stone Age people were interested in hardly any other activity than collecting stone hand axes, the climbers developed a passion for collecting stone handholds, which allowed just as little time for other preferences. One episode from the early days of this new Stone Age is described here: in 1896, the west ridge of one of the most famous climbing mountains in the Tannheim region was to be climbed for the first time.

This project involved famous names from alpine history, such as Bachschmid, Weixler and Christa. A summit in the Wilder Kaiser, the Christa Tower, is even named after the latter. In any case, the three gentlemen outwitted the key section with the help of a climbing tree and, after the first ascent, painted a cheeky message at the start of the slippery section: "Take courage Johann!" The three jokers had left Johann at home with his wife because he didn't feel up to the adventure. Johann's supposed cowardice went down in history because the West Ridge has been known as the Pinselei ever since. Even among the sport climbs in the Franconian Jura, there is now a route with this name. Who would have thought how far Johann has come since then.

So if you like collecting routes or peaks with amusing background stories, you'll find what you're looking for in the Tannheimers. But other types of collectors will also find what they are looking for. Now that the Seven Summits and all 14 eight-thousanders have degenerated into a banal collection, people are looking for new challenges. This gave rise to the type of ornithological summit collector. These are people who collect Alpine peaks with bird names. These collectors have to climb the Hochvogel in the Allgäu Alps, for example, which perhaps really does look like a huge bird with outstretched wings from some angles. Or the crow in the Ammer Mountains, the Falkenstein in the Bavarian Forest. Or the bullfinch in the Tannheim mountains.

The 2,173-metre-high Gimpel is the most prominent and striking peak among the climbing peaks here and has nothing in common with the small, somewhat chubby bird. The route described above

 

"Take courage Johann!" leads to its head and it is also reported that the Gimpel, with its difficult normal route, is the only summit in the Tannheimer mountains that Queen Marie did not make it to.

 

The Gimpel, whose name is derived from Gumpe, "Gümpel", plays the main role in our collecting story. Because here there are not only sunny, short and well-secured south face routes, but also the collector's item par excellence in the Tannheimers: the north face with the "Schrei aus Stein". Collectors can be accused of using their passion to gain social status and prestige by collecting things that not everyone can collect: Ferraris, for example, paintings by Van Gogh or the longest yachts. Or even longlines. These are the longest routes in the Northern Limestone Alps.

Adi Stocker has collected 40 of them in a book. Since then, there has been a real "buzz" about these routes, which - as Adi writes - "make a common promise: a yield of experiences and impressions that lasts far longer than the length of the climb."

For this reason alone, this collection offers much more than just material. Whereby "Schrei aus Stein", with its difficulty level of 9-, certainly has what it takes to raise social status in climbing circles. And we all need a bit of social recognition, don't we? Back to the beginning and the question of whether collectors are happier people. You don't have to believe the scientific studies that answer this with yes, just ask Stephan and Sarah after the ascent of "Schrei aus Stein":

 

"Longline collecting makes you happy. Definitely!"

 

LIMIT #2: Alpine climbing in Tyrol - the hot off the press issue!

In this issue, we have dedicated ourselves entirely to alpine climbing in Tyrol. On 136 pages, we present the impressive vertical diversity of Tyrol. With exciting stories from 15 climbing spots that offer a deep insight into the history of alpine climbing in Tyrol.

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