Sightseeing, hiking and climbing in Eastern Germany and Czech Republic (11.-14. Apr 2008)

I had taken off two days and gone visiting good friends of mine in Dresden, Eastern Germany.
We did some sightseeing, hiking and rock climbing (day trip into Czech Republic), the spatial position of these activities can be seen here:




















The first evening was spent having dinner, followed by some sightseeing in the inner city.
Very nicely rebuilt really, only the light concept is somewhat inhomogeneous as can be seen here:



































Dresden at night.

A visit of "Saxon Switzerland" was on the next day. The area could be described as hilly and forested with some scattered sandstone outcrops forming pillar like structures and offering interesting tramping and climbing opportunities.




Me at the start of a via ferrata.































Interesting routing through the pillars.








The Team on a summit.













"Hmmm, that's way fascinating, that is!"














Katja, myself and some curiously shaped rocks with the path sneaking through the gap.

















View over the Elb Valley, stretching towards the Czech Republic.
























Sunday: a climbing trip into 'Bohemian Switzerland'.
When we crossed the border I was amazed to see all the crap they had on offer on the Czech side: garden gnomes of the ugliest sort, pottery, wickerwork, cheap backpacks and even some storks, obviously sold as an add-on for completely fitting a garden with useless stuff.
The climbing was different to the one I was used to. Anchor points were very scarce. There would be a big rock pillar with one big anchor on top and possible one in the middle, if you got lucky. The common technique seems to jam a knotted rope-sling into some crack and use this as intermediate safety point. Fair enough, but I was not that keen on leading under these circumstances.
The rock, however, was of a stunning quality in terms of grip, those rock climbing shoes would just stick like glue!





The area was again scattered with pillars and bluffs, offering many short climbs, most of thee pillars having a logbook on top!




















A particularly beautiful pillar with a route featuring a neat overhang. Here, Denise can be seen inspecting the available handholds while Koni and myself (left) are having a good time on the top.



















Denise concentrating on the next move.




That was a really nifty trip. Was great meeting all of the participating crowd!

Cheers

Andy