ME Staff Trip to Bavaria

ME’s Martin Dixon belayed on top of some immaculate Bavarian limestone

With a mixed forecast five of us from the UK flew out to Munich to meet up with the team from our German office, the aim was to do some climbing, walking, Bavarian beer drinking and possibly even some work if time allowed..... 

Having negotiated the serious objective dangers of psychotic Transit drivers on the M61, budget car parks and airport security at 5am we emerged bleary eyed to be met by Stefan and Julia who displayed admirable German efficiency to get us to the cable car station near Spitzingee via some strong coffee.  Only about an hour south of Munich it’s a really beautiful area in the foot hills of the Alps, the higher peaks being a little under 2000m.  The dusting of early season snow on the highest tops saw the quick repack of rucksacks turn into the kind of gear faff that only occurs with people who have access to too many jackets.  Down jackets, shorts, climbing gear, food and local beer was all stuffed into rucksacks  for the next few days with the hope being that we were prepared for most things.

The Bayerland section of the DAV’s fantastic club hut

Tom, who runs all things ME in Germany, is a keen and active member of the Bayerland section of the German Alpine Club and was an essential man to have around in an area none of us knew very much about.  A very steep 20 minute downhill walk from the cable car station took us to the fantastic and out of the Bayerland club hut, a time capsule from the 1930’s that had been fine tuned through the years to become one of the most comfortable huts I’ve ever stayed in.  

  Team ME enjoying perfect weather after the initial rain

 

Steady rain on the Saturday saw a lot of coffee drunk and some relaxed meetings to discuss some of our new synthetic products for next year as well as a lively discussion about our forthcoming product videos.  Sadly my plans for a big budget production featuring Dave McLeod as Bond and Bullock as some sort of Blofeld character were shelved even before lunch.  Finally the rain gave way to overcast, chilly conditions and Andy and I decided to attempt some climbing whilst everyone else much more sensibly went for a walk.  Having searched out the most exposed crag with the least drainage we proceeded to have our egos flattened by some fairly stiff grading.  I’m used to failing on routes within my grade but being confronted by bolts in the middle of vertical blankness at about 6b was a little off putting, it made the polished horrors of Yorkshire look positively friendly.  We headed back to the hut with numb fingers and the impression that Bavarian climbers might well be considerably harder than us.

 

Topping out on one of the classics

 

Sunday turned out to be a blue sky day with blazing sunshine and warm weather that was a relief after the previous days efforts.  We all trekked over the two nearby passes, some suffering from the previous nights German hospitality more than others, to get to some really inspiring looking rock.  With everything from an easy ridgeline to harder local classics there was plenty to go at and the limiting factor in the end was our water supply on the predominantly south facing crag.  This was a great day out on quality limestone with well spaced bolts and the odd piece of trad gear to keep things from getting unnecessarily stressful.

 

Summit!  Stefan and Andy striking suitably heroic poses

Another night of German hut sport superiority followed with UK representatives being forced into some low tactics to remain competitive.  Even plying our hosts with single malt failed to dull their skills and we went to bed soundly beaten.

 

Stefan cooking another amazing meal

The final morning saw us tired but keen to get some more climbing done so 3 of us carried big loads back to the cable car before running back over the top to the previous days crag.  Time was not on our side and with the final lift of the day fast approaching we settled for a rapid ascent of some easier routes that took us once again to the fantastic summit and a mandatory big cross to belay off.  Some slick abseils and a quick walk out saw us knackered, and by now fairly smelly, back at the cable car with half an hour to spare.

Martin and Andy hiking back out with the crags behind

Ice cream by the lake and a quick tour of some local ME stockists preceeded the late flight home to Manchester.  I can only apologise to the smartly dressed business man stuck next to me on the plane who kept glancing at me and wrinkling his nose, stinking climbers don’t seem to be standard on Lufthansa’s last flight out of Munich.

Many thanks to Tom for arranging the trip and the hut for us and to all the guys at Invia for their fantastic hospitality .  Hopefully we’ll get back with our skis this winter if there’s time!

Tom hypnotising Martin……..