Little Europe adventures

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Little Europe adventures annalovestraveling
Das ist ja in Oberösterreich!
September 20, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
How should the summer end without another trip to Slovenia? Impossible!
Still, the weather looks horrible even for kayakers, which tend to be happy about rain. Thunderstorms and heavy winds on the other hand are just a little over the top.
Halfway to the Slovenian border, Julia and I find a spot on the otherwise completely rain-covered central European map with sunnier forecasts. Turns out it lies just in "Austrian Anna"'s home region - AND she is just there visiting her family. Two hours later we pick her up for a little outing at Attersee.Read more
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Little Europe adventures annalovestraveling
Traunsee peaks
September 21, 2023 in Austria
If you look at the Austrian state "Oberösterreich" on a map, its all lakes and small mountains. Julia and I stayed the night in Gmumden, and after a delicious breakfast at Cloud 9 head for a nearby hike to "Kleiner Schönberg", which offers a beautiful view on lake Traunsee.

Tour:
https://www.bergfex.at/sommer/oberoesterreich/t…
10,8 km | 690 m of altitude | 3:30hRead more
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Little Europe adventures annalovestraveling
Hitting the road
September 22, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
A quick morning run along Traunsee, then it's time to get going.
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Little Europe adventures annalovestraveling
Adventures of reaching Leonidio
December 3, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
I'm on the road again! Well, kind of. My flight was supposed to leave Cologne yesterday at 6 am with a layover in Munich, but due to an epic snowfall the entire city, including roads, railway station and airport, was cut off from the rest of Germany. Luckily my flight could be changed, but with the result of getting to Athens only at 1 am. From there I still have to find the rental station and drive down to Leonidio, where I'm meeting some friends (most of them I don't know yet) for a week of climbing. At 5.30 am I finally arrive and more or less find the house we're staying in on a curvy uphill path. The others already arrived a week ago, so Anja welcomes me and shows me around (better said: shows me where I can finally get some sleep).
After two hours of sleep, a nice breakfast and another hour of rest in the hammock, I can't withstand the sun's charm. The rock looks too great not to climb and the weather forecast for tomorrow shows rain all day. Although the rest of the group needs a rest day, three of them join me to "Hermes", a tiny sector with just give easy routes and a short approach. Bea takes over belaying and being my back-up to clean out the routes in case I don't get to the top, Jimmy is in charge of pictures and Anja joins for moral support. A perfect way of starting the week 🌞

Tick list:
👁 Chaud-Kolata (4)
👁 Eclair (5c)
👁 Karioka (5b)
📍 Ca Va Savva (6a)

(👁 on-sight | ✅ flash | 📍done with break/fall | ⭕ redpoint | ❌ retreat)Read more
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Little Europe adventures annalovestraveling
Climber's paradise
December 8, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C
Tick list:
✅ Saint Nicolas / Witch (5b, 20m)
📍 Saint Nicolas / Broom (6a+, 20m) -> toprope
👁 Skiadiániko / Fola (5b, 22m)
👁 Skiadiániko / Sterna (6a+, 20m)
📍 Skiadiániko / Elephant (6a, 28m)
📍 Douvari (Kokkinovrachos) / Je suis Charlie (5b+, 30m)
👁 Douvari (Kokkinovrachos) / Cabu (5c, 25m)
👁 Douvari (Kokkinovrachos) / Hilti Maniac Direct (5b, 32m)
👁 Douvari (Kokkinovrachos) / Argo (5b+, 28m)

(👁 on-sight | ✅ flash | 📍 done with break/fall | ⭕ redpoint | ❌ retreat)Read more
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Little Europe adventures annalovestraveling
Leonidio impressions
December 10, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
Situated on the Argolic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, Leonidio has rather mild climate even in December and is thus a great place for climbing in Winter, at around 10-15°C (which in the sun may feel like 25°C though). Still, rain is not uncommon and most houses lack decent heating, so you do need to plan for wearing an additional sweater and possibly a few additional rest days (or at least hours).Read more
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Little Europe adventures annalovestraveling
Albarracin: first impressions and climbs
April 7 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C
Our week in Albarracin starts off with sunshine and a relaxed atmosphere (,/the guys have already done some hard bouldering in the past few days, so they're happy to just chill with us and so some easier routes). It's my first time bouldering outdoors, which is quite different from outdoor sport or alpine climbing. Instead of pumping through moderate routes on a rope, you get a short sequence of tricky moves, protected only by small mats, the so-called crash pads.Read more
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Little Europe adventures annalovestraveling
Albarracin: more climbs
April 9 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C
Days 2-3
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Little Europe adventures annalovestraveling
Albarracin: last day
April 10 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C
Frie has to leave early and the boys are excited for a hard night climbing session. So it's girl's day for Mila and me: we gather all the energy and skin we have left (admittedly not too much) and find ourselves some nice boulders. My highlight is a steep 6A (El juglar, sector parking) that I'm able to tick after a few tries.
While the boys are out on their night climb, Mila and I explore the town, which so far I hadn't seen at all, as we stay in the close by village Torres de Albarracin. After some wandering around we find ourselves a nice tapas bar to conclude the vacation.Read more
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Little Europe adventures annalovestraveling
Climbing in Frankenjura
Apr 21–24 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C
Happy Easter! A great opportunity for Fabi, Laura, Simon and myself to go on a 4-day climbing trip.
The destination was a quite spontaneous one, as the April weather all over Germany was making it hard to find dry rock. So instead of doing some multipitches in Donautal, we ended up in the beautiful Frankenjura. It is not very surprising that this region is the most famous one all over Germany (and recognized far beyond). Aside from the impressive landscapes, there are almost endless options of climbing sectors in quality grit stone. The climbing guide book extends across 4(!) books, probably not including a large number of less well-known and newly established routes.
My favorite route was "Keine Ahnung" (7+), a beautiful vertical climb with a few nasty underclings and monos (small holes that fit just one finger).Read more
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Little Europe adventures annalovestraveling
Salzburg rivers: Prep and scouting
April 26 in Austria ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C
I'm headed to Salzburger Land with a few people from my kayaking club. I'm total, we're a crew of five. Since none of us know the rivers we want to paddle, preparation and safety are key.
As a first step, we meet a few days before takeoff to learn additional rescue techniques, using rope pulleys.
Once in Austria, we start all of our kayaking days by scouting the sections we want to paddle (and also some we won't). For one section (Voglauer Klamm, WW III), we reluctantly realize that at the current low water level, it is too technical and dangerous for us.Read more
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Little Europe adventures annalovestraveling
Salzburg rivers: some paddling peeks
April 29 in Austria ⋅ 🌙 15 °C
The water levels are quite low, so our choice of rivers is pretty limited. Instead of paddling close to our holiday home in Werfenweng, most days we drive out to Saalach river (Lofer and around):

Day 1: Untere Saalach (WW I-III)
Day 2: Saalach cork screw (III+) to Hubertussteg, incl. slalom section (WW III-IV)
Day 3: Saalach slalom section (WW III-IV)
Day 4: Salzach Werfen - Steinwender (WW II)Read more
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Little Europe adventures annalovestraveling
Salzburg rivers: hiking day
April 30 in Austria ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C
Water levels on the local rivers are still pretty low, so Mirco and I choose to tackle the Tennengebirge mountain range instead. A nice side effect is spending a day without the rest of the crew, how have been getting on our nerves quite a bit with their inability to include us in decisions or even discussions.
Earlier than the last days (after all, we are the fit youngsters of the group) we head out and find the parking lot (Unterholz, 1094m) with its very creating parking meter. The first part of the hike leads us on a steep path through the forest. Further up, the forest turns into bushes and the nice soil turns into rubble (dt: Geröll). We can already see some smaller snow fields, but are still optimistic that they won't hold us back.
We cross the first one and can still see enough rubble and rock leading up the mountain. After making it another few hundred meters of elevation towards the first peek, the snow fields become more extended and the rock steeper. We try out a few different approaches, but eventually have to admit that without proper equipment and experience, advancing any further would be unwise.
Although we didn't make it to the peek (Raucheck, 2430m), we are still happy about our mountain day, the views, the adventure and our ability of self-preservation at the right moment. On our way back, we stop at the Salzach gorge (Salzachöfen), which is an infamous WW V kayaking section.

Tennengebirge: Raucheck 2024-08-27

Hike on Bergfex:
https://www.bergfex.at/sommer/salzburg/touren/w…Read more
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Little Europe adventures annalovestraveling
Arco - Dolce Vita & Climbing: Days 1-3
October 15 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
So happy I spontaneousely joined this trip to Arco! Even though Fabi, who had mainly been the one to invite me, was ill and thus came by only for a few days, I had an amazing time with Max, Nadja, Ceren and Marian. And what can I say: Arco just flashed me with its incredible landscapes made of all sorts and hights of mountains and rock walls, hovering over lake Garda. The colourful autumn vibe plus premium climbing did the rest to make this unexpected beauty totally flash me.

Day 0-1: We drive to Arco by car with a stop-over in Innsbruck for one night. The next day, we drive the remaining three hours down towards the Garda mountains and hit the first crag right away for some warm-up climbing, getting a feel for the slabby (dt. plattig), sometimes polished limestome (dt. Kalkstein). After a couple of routes we drive on to our camp site.

Day 3: Two days after (I needed to work one day in between) we hop onto the multipitch (dt. Mehrseillänge) "Via Lety". The first five pitches are amazing and help us remind ourselves of the required rope techniques while enjoying beautiful views of the valley. The upper two however are demanding especially mentally, with a weird and scary traverse, leaving all of us mentally drained. Still, we celebrate our first multipitch top of the trip!Read more
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Little Europe adventures annalovestraveling
Arco - Dolce Vita & Climbing: Days 4-5
October 17 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
Day 4: On previous trips, Max made friends with Mattia and Samuel, who one the eco store Parvat (if in Arco go visit: they make beautiful things out of old climbing ropes!). We invite them to go climbing together and they propose a small local crag called Gufi, which does not appear in any guidebook or online platform. We follow the Italians' instructions up the tiny street and find a corner to park as described. The crag is a bit adventurous, as we have little information on grades and only the lower half of the routes can be seen from below.

Day 5: we plan a double multipitch with lake views today: "Zio Genio" (3 pitches) + "Il Sogno di Carlo" (7 pitches). As we know that - being slow due to our group size and lack of routine - this is quite ambitious, we leave our options open to do only parts of it. Though Marian and I would have liked to continue, everyone is on the same page that decisions have to be taken as a group. So after 5 of the 10 pitches (which is the point of no return) we call it a day and just enjoy what we have accomplished thus far.Read more
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Arco - Dolce Vita & Climbing: Days 6-10
October 19 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C
Day 6: After yesterday's challenging multiple and seeing as we've all caught a bit of a cold, a rest day is more than welcome. It is also Maxim's birthday, so we enjoy a long breakfast including birthday cake by the riverside (which is part of our camp site).
As Fabian finally feels a bit better and wants to take the opportunity to climb, we accompany him to a nearby crag and belay him, before we had out to today's real goal: visiting the majestic "Excalibur" (9b+). Excalibur is a steeply overhanging route with nothing to hold on to at first (and second) sight, which has only been done by three people in the world. It is the hardest route ever done by a woman. And it is on top of a mountain with impressive views at the valley and the sword of Excalibur right next to it. Though we just missed German climber Yannick Flohé trying (and almost sending) it by a few minutes, this piece of art is still worth a trip!

Day 7: Today is a sports climbing day again. We choose the crag "Le Trincee" in the Nago canyon, which is a little drive + hike away. It has an incredible energy to it and the routes are nice and technical, while the grading is not too hard. Anne gets to try climbing for the first time (and totally loves it!). Despite my initial plan to not climb a lot today (I'm still feeling ill), the nice style of the routes leads me to try out a 6b - a grade that is rather at my upper limit. On the first try, also having to hang in the quick draws, I take quite some time, need lots of rests and some fall practice to free my head. I give it another try on top rope, more successful but with kind of sketchy beta. Still, I decide to try a send go on lead - and it works! I even find some better beta and make it through to the top, thus marking my first send of this grade 🥳.

Day 8: Another challenging multipitch awaits us: "Via Helena". Already the first pitch is scary, starting with a polished layback intro followed by an exposed traverse, featuring huge runouts. Happy to have finally made it through, I belay Marian on his try of the second pitch. He doesn't like the line, goes off-route and needs to place some gear in the absence of bolts. Though the moves are doable for him, he gets so nervous that he falls - luckily held by his second stopper nut 💪. Also the rest of the group is nervous, seeing as these are supposed to be the easy pitches, so we decide to bail, have a nice Caprese salad and take a stroll through Arco.

Day 9: One last multipitch "Il Re del Lago". As the name states, lake views are included throughout the entire seven pitches - and on the down climb. Despite having to wait until the afternoon for the walls to dry after last night's rain, we manage to rapel down to the small hike back just before dark. The dinner after with our Italian friends marks a perfect ending to the Arco vacation.Read more
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