100 Towers in the Czech Republic

7/8/2021

View of the sandstone towers in Prachov.

I set myself a loose goal of climbing 100 towers in the Czech Republic this year. I didn't set any particular rules for this venture, I just wanted to get outside as much as possible and enjoy the climbing and nature the Czech Republic has to offer. Some of my towers are repeats from last year in hopes of climbing them in better style. Some of them are new routes and new adventures. I don't concern myself too much with sending difficultly graded routes. I prefer to choose an aesthetic line or something that inspires me in the moment.

For me personally sandstone is about adventure, mental fortitude and partnership. I love exploring new places and seeing new things. There are many great spots for climbing throughout the Czech Republic, and this goal is a great way to see them and an excuse to collect more guide books, which I have a weakness for. Climbing on sandstone can be a harrowing experience at times. Protection can be sparse, and there are various situations where falling is not an option. Onsighting a new route requires strength, determination, and a bit of courage doesn't hurt. Partnership has to be the greatest aspect of sandstone climbing. Working with your friends to accomplish a goal and seeing a friend challenge themselves and succeed is a beautiful experience to be part of. It is not always possible to clean your routes without the help of a partner following and collecting the knots and carabiners. The follower can climb the route with the safety of a top belay and experience the exposure and run-outs the leader had to manage. Then maybe they can understand why you tried to place a knot on a balcony for 10 minutes. Together at the top of the tower, you shake hands, sign the log book and enjoy the 360-degree view you have around you.

A quick note before continuing. The grading system to identify the difficulty of routes here is a mess. They typically use the Saxon grading system on sandstone, but on other types of rock they use UIAA or the French system. I will typically identify my routes with the Saxon grading system and the old YDS system in parentheses. Keep in mind these grades do not translate perfectly, especially for the routes established in the old days. Any experienced climber can tell you grades vary from location to location and sometimes sector to sector. So there's that.

Suché Skalý

It has been a terribly wet and cold start to the climbing season thus far. This combined with travel restrictions from Covid-19 has not made climbing on sandstone easy. Climbing on sandstone has various restrictions or rules that one needs to follow, one of which is climbing on sandstone is forbidden after rain. The length of time for which climbing is forbidden is based upon how soft the sandstone is and partially its location. Extremely soft sandstone, especially in forest, requires 48 hours to dry. Soft sandstone requires 24 hours without rain in order to climb. Harder sandstone, on the other hand, can be climbed upon without the 24-hour curtailment. That being said, you should wait until it is dry, especially after an especially rainy rain. Suché skály is a climbing area located in the northern part of the country near a village called Malá Skála. This area was an apt place to start because it contains the aforementioned hard sandstone. Suché skály has sandstone massifs and towers on a ridge which is open to the sun and south facing. It is a good place to climb in cooler weather, which is what we had.

Getting all those knots organized for climbing.

1. První Věž (First Tower)

Action shot!

With a name like first tower, it seemed like a good place to start. I didn't have an abundance of experience climbing in Suché Skály. I had maybe been climbing here two or three times prior. This is the first tower in a long line on the ridge. Looking at the tower and the guide book, my partner and I identified the route Plesnivá Varianta, a VI (Moldy Variation 5.6) with one ring. The ring is just over halfway up the tower, but below the ring looked manageable. As it turned out, my assessment was correct. There were several places to put knots in the crack-split slab and no real cruxes before the ring. The ring is in the correct location and provided me with the confidence to proceed through the short overhang without much hesitation. Between the ring and the top there were several more places to set protection. At the top, I found it best to anchor to a tree. A nice trip for the first tower of the year. If you are wondering, no, it is not moldy.

2. Vlajková Věž (Flag Tower)

Next in line in both physical position and for my climbing enjoyment was Vlajková Věž. This is a larger tower with quite a few routes on it. I decided to go for Kamarádská VII (Friend 5.8). This route also had one ring on it even though the tower was about double the size. Getting to the ring was no issue. Using the wall and several platforms, the climbing is relatively leisurely. After you clip the ring, you get to a cruxy diagonal crack. With a few fists and jams here and there it can be managed, and at a balcony above, you can place a knot by an old wedged rock. This is nice to have because your protection ring at this point is relatively useless in the event of a fall. Continue up another crack with some hand jams and then a corner where another knot can be placed if needed. Keep rope drag in mind and extend the hell out of it. Finally there is either an arete at the top for the bold or a cozy, easy chimney around the corner. Another nice route and a great view. My partner sat and took a few rests while top-roping the route. He had difficulty at the crack, so keep that in mind if you intend to try this route. It was a particularly windy and cold belay due to it being early in the climbing season. We ended up rappelling off the back into a mound of snow. I should have taken some approach shoes up with me.

This is the front view of Vlajková. It does not show the route I climbed.

View from the neighboring tower. You can see the second half of the route from here.

3. Smrčinová Věž (Spruce Tower)

Photo of the route after leading.

The third tower in this row is called Smrčinová Věž. I saw two shiny bolts which grabbed my attention and enticed me to climb. After referencing the guide book, we found that there was a bonus ring near the top. With three pieces of fixed protection, I was persuaded to give it a try. The route is called Výprodej VII (Sale 5.8) and is located on the arete of a chimney that splits the tower into two sections. The bottom of the route is on small edges and requires careful climbing until clipping the first bolt. Afterward, climbing the arete is easier than climbing the face. There is a long runout between the first and second bolt, but it is fairly easy ground before clipping. There are two obvious weaknesses climbing onward from the second bolt, and I found the easiest to be along the arete on the right. There is a nice nest for placing a knot a meter or two above the ring, and then you are on a small platform before a bulge. I spent a while here placing knots because I did not want to fall all the way down to the lower protection. Finally you need to pull the bulge and clip the final ring. After the ring, there are only a few moves until you are at the top. My partners who followed had difficulty at the cruxes but found they could cheat and use the chimney in some areas if necessary. I liked this route a lot and give it a Jacob star.

4. Alabastrová Věž (Alabaster Tower)

,The next route I had in sight was another crack on a nearby tower, Západní Stěna VI (West Wall 5.6). This route was fun but a bit scary. Due to the easy difficulty rating, there are no rings on this route. The bottom of the route has big flakes for laybacking and crack climbing. There are good spots for knots down here. Halfway up the tower, you are on a big platform. From the platform you move more toward the center of the tower where there is a crack that leads you the rest of the way up. There was an old sling that I clipped for protection on my way to the top, but I never trust these 100% as they are old and often look quite weathered. Above that, I spent 10 minutes trying to place knots in a horizontal crack in order to protect the final moves on an off-width-sized crack. I self-rated 2 knots I placed at 7 stars out of 10 stars. These 7-star protection placements don't give me an overwhelming sense of safety. Especially when they are the only thing between you and an 8-meter fall onto a balcony and then to the ground. So after exploring climbing options to the left and right, I took the crack and everything was fine. The mental challenge of climbing is sometimes more challenging than the physical part. But you cannot afford to make a mistake in these situations. I watched my partner top-rope through this section with relative ease, and I felt like a fool.

5. Bílá Věž (White Tower)

Different day but same location. The next tower in line at Suché Skály is Bílá Věž. I have climbed this tower before as it has some great routes, but I had not yet climbed the striking diagonal crack going up the side: Šavle VII (Saber 5.8). I love crack climbing and was stoked on this route. There is easy climbing up the bottom of the tower, and then there is a large left-leaning crack that is a combination of hands and fists. There are nice spots for knots and slings at the start of the crack. After clipping the ring, there is not much in the way of protection unless you are some kind of knot master general. Careful climbing gets you through the crack, but I found coming out of the crack onto the balcony to be the most difficult part and also the part furthest away from protection. I found my way onto the platform ungracefully and placed two more knots to protect the follower. as the belay from the top would give the following climber a bit of a swing without. The way to the top from there is cake. After climbing this route, I read the comments regarding the route on a climbing website and saw that someone broke their ankle falling sometime after the ring. Be careful on this one. Super climb! I also recommend Sluneční Cesta on this tower.

This is just me acting like an idiot on the top. Our last route of the day before getting rained out.

6. Hlavní Věž (Main Tower)

This is more like a massif than a tower, but tower is in the name, so I will count it. Hlavní Věž is a section of wall with dozens of routes on it. My friend took me to this section because he had some routes he wanted to suggest. In the end, the routes he wanted to suggest were occupied, so I just picked one that caught my eye: Zlá cesta VII (Evil Route 5.8). This route has a low first ring and then follows a finger crack up some slab through 2 pitons. My partner said he hadn't seen anyone climb this route before, and I was a bit wary due to the name, but I enjoyed the route and found it quite well protected. I will say I never trust pitons fully. I have two in my closet that have ripped out when I fell in them on past routes. These two looked medium trustworthy.

If I want to climb on the weekdays during the school year, I need to take a break here and there to teach my English lessons. This was my office for the day. This is not Hlavní Věž.

7. Samotář (Loner)

Samotář is a 20ish-meter tower standing alone in front of Hlavní Věž. It is the kind that draws you in to climb it. I decided on the route Maškova Cesta VIIb/c (I believe the translation is Maškova's route, but I could be mistaken 5.9/5.10a). The route has two rings. There isn't any protection between the rings, and it can be climbed by bringing along two carabiners for protection. This route is very fun. It is juggy in most parts and weaves left and right up the slightly overhanging wall.

8. Věž Milana Černého (Milan Černy Tower)

Věž Milana Černého is on the far right.

This was my scariest tower so far this year and probably unnecessarily so. This was a tower and route Karamora VII (5.8) that a friend suggested I climb because he said it was the best onsight in his non-illustrious climbing career. This friend was also the person belaying me. This route has two pitons in the first half and then a ring in the middle. The bottom half of the climb was in a corner with sub-perfect rock. The terrain was fairly easy, but I had to be careful not to fall before the protection. Then you get to the best two pitons you have ever seen. They have been glued in like bolts and are a welcome sight. Afterward, you move onto the arete and continue up until you get to a ring below a corner. There is no more fixed protection, and there is still 17 or so meters of climbing. I started up the corner and one of my other friends came hiking in at the bottom through the forest. He called up to me, "Oh hey, Jake, I see you are climbing Karamora." He continued, "You know someone fell in this route from the top and pulled all the knots and had to be caught in the ring." My belayer responded, "Don't tell Jake that; I was going to tell him after he climbed it." The individual who fell in the past ended up falling the entire length of the tower and had severe injuries. I was already a bit nervous about finishing this tower, and now I was extra tense. I continued up the corner and got to a sloping balcony. I placed a knot that I though was ok but not great. I was just getting to the top and came to a section with a strange move. This was the last move before the top, and you can tell that this is the part where the person in the past fell to the bottom of the tower. There was a location for a knot, but I didn't have the best size for the crack I was looking at. I was hanging on the rock for a good 10 minutes trying to find better protection and analyze the best way to move forward. The required move was not strength based but unusual. Standing there working out the issues was only making me more tired, so I had to go for it. I gripped hard and moved through the awkward move, heart racing. It all worked out fine, and I took the last few steps to the anchor. My partner who followed sat a few times in this spot before finally moving through. He confirmed that my knots by the crux were good protection and would have caught me. There was even one he had difficulty removing, and we dislodged it while rappelling. When you are in the moment in an exposed stance and nervous, it can be difficult to trust your knots. Especially when you are facing a 30-meter fall.

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