UKC

I'm in the Black Forest next week and likely to be doing some climbing at Battert. I'm aware the crags are a mix of trad with some bolting.

The isolated nature of the granite towers and the terrain suggests abseil descents may be needed - does anyone know if these are equipped (bolted or otherwise)? Or should I expect to leave tat and krabs/maillons behind? Or is at all top sport anchors to lower off? (I've got an old edition of the Schwarzwald Rock book but I am struggling with the German ...). Cheers for any pointers. I'm climbing with my daughter who is 15, fine with easier trad seconding and abseiling (but has no experience cleaning sport anchors etc).

The Battert can be pretty adventurous

The abseil points all have good bolts; there aren´t many bolts in the routes though, and they are lacking altogether in many. There are also aged bolts and pegs which need to be backed up if possible. You´ll definitely need a good selection of nuts and small to middle cams (0.5 - 4?), together with plenty of slings (60 and 120cm) and quickdraws. Some belays are bolted, some you have to set up yourself.

Toproping and chalk are both frowned upon.

Every route has an E-grade from 0-3, which describes the quality of the protection and thus the seriousness; E0 is very protectable, E3 is basically unprotected. The E grade doesn´t differentiate between (semi-)bolted climbs and those with mobile protection; it assumes that the climber is well versed in the placing of gear. Loose rock is not a part of the E grade; climbs having it will have the suffix "brüchig" after the description.

Hope you have a great time!

Thanks - that's really helpful!

(I've picked up the first edition of the Schwarzwald Rock book, which suggests there are plenty of easier trad routes to go at in the III-IV range, which should suit us. I don't have it in front of me right now, but don't recall it having that E0-E3 info. If only everyone would adopt the UK adjectival/tech grade system ...)

thecrag.com has quite a few of the climbs on it; if you click on a route name you get more info about it including the votes for the quality of the route, which is not quite a seriousness grading but could be a good pointer. I had a look through and it appears there are now quite a few sport climbs (their definition not mine!).

Since you´re struggling with the German - I once put together a fairly exhaustive glossary of all the German terms you´re likely to find in (rock-) climbing guidebooks, you can download it here (available for a week):

https://www.filemail.com/d/mbdzbpmicqguyib

thanks again!

Abseils may be required but there are also several decent decent paths along the crag.

You say you've got the 'first edition' guidebook. I take it that's the Panico Alpinverlag Schwartzwald North guide? 

If you can lay your hands on it I found the 'Schwartzwald Rock 3.0' clearer for Battert.

I've made a start at trying to sort the UKC logbook for the crag https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/battert-22963/

Any additional route info gratefully received!

No, it's a second hand Schwarzwald Rock (1.0) book I've got. Which has a lot on Battert, and good enough topos for our purposes (i.e., find the easy routes and head upwards).

If we do anything which doesn't have a description on UKC, I'll look to add one?

Please do add routes! There's lots of blanks on the map....

If you can identify which 'buttress' that helps and a wee description of location also is good 👍

Ta for the tips! Really lovely crag and we had a good time. I added a couple of routes to Predigstuhl. The one in my guidebook called "Westwand Normalweg" might be the same as the "Normalansteig" already on UKC - although there was also another "Normalweg" on the same tower. Nothing in my (old second-hand) book called Normalansteig.

Badener Wand is currently bird-banned (peregrines).

I've already sorted and incorporated those routes. 👍

It IS a pretty special place, isn't it? Lovely rock, feels quite 'adventurous' and great setting.