ATTENTION STEEEEIN-erweg Dachstein South Wall

After an eventful week on the highest mountain in Austria with all sorts of accidents, crashes and helicopter incidents – thank God – others, I realized again: A hot August is not necessarily ideal for tours in the glaciated Mountains. A large crowd in difficult conditions has a very negative impact on accident statistics. That’s why I was all the happier to escape this situation and put my bare hands on perfect Dachstein limestone.” Partner in Crime” was, as is now so often the case with something more extraordinary short-circuit actions, the Alexander. Like all gifted amateur athletes, he also holds the iron principle: “Training is what kind of people without talent!” So we confidently climbed from the parking lot Südwandbahn to a great classic of the northern Limestone Alps – the Steinerweg on the Dachstein Südwand. As if he had stolen something, my companion drove me in the cloudless sunrise – past the south-wall hut – increasingly steepand towards the massive and intimidating 800-metre-high wall. Nervousness he did not notice at the access to his FIRST real climbing tour. Starting a climbing career with such a crusher is probably not recommended to everyone, but whoever has it on it just has it on it. With the ice pick – yes, ice pick – hitting the last meters to the start of the tour, which was already climbed by the Steiner brothers for the first time in 1909. After a short training in the standard safety technology, we bravely climbed through the first crack systems and gradings towards “Dachl”. The morning coolness in fingers and joints gave way to a pleasant satisfaction when we finally reached the sun in perfect rock climbing. So, mindset change: sunglasses on and jacket off. Lighter terrain in the ”Dachl’ drove the first beads of sweat on our foreheads, before we could cool down a little in the following heavier shady gradings. Occasionally light to medium rockfall pre-climber we skilfully but absolutely randomly dodged and enjoyed our integrity. After the partly airy crossing of the “Salzburger Bandl” the climbing became more and more ”classic”. No terrain for shortened adductors. With sometimes wide-spread legs – keyword quarter-over-nine or three-quarter-three – a compact crack-cutting follows the next. Meanwhile somewhere at pitch 20, a little fatigue comes into play. The legs and arms don’t really want any more, and especially the feet ache in the climbing shoes and long for flip flops and bathing lake. Only a little longer we had to bite our way through and finally stood happy and congratulating each other on the Westgrat. What a day! The roof of Styria was reached after 6 hours of climbing. For the election-Styrian Alexander of course something very special, with which he can bang the prospective neighborin Ausseerland in case of need quite one in front of the latz … and for me of course always a successful day, when I can lift the ice and snow of the summer mountaineering with some rock contact! Always like again, or even Watzmann Ostwand??