Climbing is more than a sport – it’s about freedom, traveling, perfection, and the fulfillment of dreams. And so most of the climbers tend to spend every free minute with climbing, training and traveling. As the Covid-19 restrictions are quite hard, they now face the question of how to live their passion during this challenging time.
As all climbing gyms got closed at the end of March a lot of people discovered the beauty of our local crags in the Black Forest and the Palatinate Forest. Large groups of climbers were crowding the rocks and a heated debate started, whether to climb outside or to stay at home during this time.
I fully understand the ones that fear a run into the local crags and the risk that officials close these crags, I fully understand the need for actions to limit the spread of Covid-19, but I also understand the ones that can’t resits to climb an afternoon outside far away from others.
I think everyone has to decide this on his own and we decided to climb from then to then outside at the crags where it is officially allowed, avoiding other groups of people and mostly climbing easy boulders to minimize the risk of an accident. For me, that’s a fair compromise with which I can take responsibility for going climbing outside these days.
So in the last weeks, we (re-)discovered the beauty of the local crags right on our doorstep and I am thankful for these moments outside. Even just an afternoon in nature feels like a little holiday and an escape of the current situation.
During the last weeks, we were not the only ones that felt like that and larger and larger groups run into the local forest to climb here. It was frustrating that these climbers often do not respect the simply
common-sense measures which always lead to the same conflicts in every climbing area. So if you go outside to climb, please respect the following rules:
- No sleeping at the crag 😴
- Brush your chalk away 🧹
- No music or beer 📻
- Stay on the paths 🧭
- Leave the forest before night 🌲
- Pick your rubbish 🥫
- No sleeping on the parking place 🚐
- Avoid large groups during Covid-19 🤒
Protect nature and leave no traces. Climbing outside is always a compromise with the local foresters, hunters, conservationists, officials, and the climbers. Climbing unobtrusive and with respect assures you that you can climb outside one day in the future. Stay happy, stay safe, and enjoy climbing outside.
