Lenggries: New climbing route discovered on the Gamsjoch for professionals

Created: 09/21/2022, 1:00 p.m

Ralf Sussmann on the new climbing route on the northwest face of the Gamsjoch.

© private

The extreme climber Ralf Sussmann recently discovered a new climbing route on the Gamsjoch.

However, this is not with the level of difficulty 8+ absolutely nothing for the inexperienced.

Hinterriss/Lenggries

– Ralf Sussmann, an extreme climber based in Murnau, has once again struck gold while searching for worthwhile quality rock in the otherwise mostly rather brittle Karwendel mountains.

On the northwest face of the Gamsjoch, he set up a new tour with a cordless drill during strenuous holiday work, which is solidly secured with belays drilled exclusively from below and numerous intermediate hooks.

“I always look at where the water is coming down on a wall.

That's where the gravel has been cleared out and the rock is bombproof," Sussmann explains how he finds his routes.

"The hooks in the wall are only for protection and are not used for movement when free climbing," he also clarifies.

secured in such a way

"The Joys of Sisyphus"

On August 18th, the 50-year-old climbed the route for the first time together with Martin Krause and on September 2nd he mastered the first free ascent.

As soon as he put the route on his website, two climbers from Lenggries secured the first repetition on September 5th.

Sussmann's numerous new tours lead up through vertical, previously unclimbed and very compact wall areas that other climbers had previously either simply overlooked or had not thought it possible that one could climb there at all.

In the case of the north-west face of the eastern sub-summit - which is actually just a prominent shoulder in the long summit ridge of the Gamsjoch - this must somehow come as a surprise: this vertical, bright rock wall has always shone too temptingly over the green and the desolate scree cirques of the Laliderer valley in the evening sun .

The route is not for the lazy or the inexperienced

With his preference for motifs from ancient Greek mythology, the physicist Sussmann has named his new route "The Joys of Sisyphus".

Right: It's about Sisyphus, who struggled in vain all his life to heave a rock weighing a hundredweight up the mountain.

Sussmann refers to a literary reinterpretation by Albert Camus from 1942, who also discovered “the hidden joy of Sisyphus” in this drudgery.

"For me, climbing is also a form of drudgery that can create a feeling of happiness," says Sussmann.

Of course, his passion for climbing is not a story of permanent failure.

The spectacular new climbing route does have a small disadvantage, however, because it is neither for those who are lazy nor for the inexperienced: the admission ticket to the climbing fun can only be purchased with a several-hour 1000-meter ascent, which is "pathless, extremely tedious and also only very difficult can be found, but leads to a magnificently wild landscape in complete solitude,” emphasizes Sussmann.

The climbing length of the new route is 380 meters, spread over eleven rope lengths in the seventh to upper eighth difficulty level.

Sussmann speaks enthusiastically of an "elegant vertical wall climbing on partly water-eaten erosion structures and smooth slabs".

He set up the route in such a way that it can be completely abseiled again.

But there is also the possibility of crossing over the connecting ridge with a short interruption point in the third degree to the hiking summit of the Gamsjoch.

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In the age of sophisticated indoor climbing training, there are more and more high-performing alpinists who have the appropriate climbing technique and athletic skills for such a venture.

The two extreme climbers Sebastian Brandhofer from Lenggries and Simon Ehrtmann from Schlegldorf had scarcely found out about Sussmann's Neutour when they set off on September 5 together with their mountain friend Max Heinl from the Ostallgäu.

And they managed the ascent right away "onsight", i.e. on sight on the first attempt.

Brandhofer then expressed his full appreciation for Sussmann: "We were up there two years ago to check the wall for our own outrages.

As always, perfectly furnished and the best atmosphere.

Very rewarding.” (R. Bannier)

Further information

Those who are interested can find out more about Sussman's new tour with a detailed description, route graphics (topo) and many pictures on his website www.nordalpenwandern.lima-city.de