A broken sandstone cliff-line situated above the beautiful Alsace village of Gueberschwihr. After a short walk-in you will find both routes & bouldering on pocketed sandstone.
It is an all year climbing venue with Winter being good for hard climbing, Summer for easy days... but Autumn and Spring are best for a fun day out cragging.
ROUTES:
The crags are divided into 2 distinct types: the quarry which features longer technical routes, and a cluster of shorter crags with easier routes on pocketed rock.
BOULDERING:
You will find something for everyone, from easy slabs to hard overhangs and everything in-between.
Note: The tops of some boulders may be dirty due to the lack of frequent visitors, so some problems end on an obvious hold and do not top-out.
The story of climbing around Gueberschwihr started long ago with people quarrying the valuable sandstone for building material.
As far as climbers go, Serge Haffner was the first to make a mark with what is arguably the best line, "Encore Une Fois Merci" a beautiful 7a crack which he did without bolts in 1980!
During the years of 1984 - 1986 many new routes were put up, notable contributions were:
- "Contrôle continu" by Jean Pierre Minazzi & Serge Haffner 1984, a thin 7c crack splitting the crag
- "L'action du temps" by Jacky Issler 1985, the first 8a in Alsace
- "Protection Rapprochée" by Jean Pierre Minazzi 1986, an impressive 8a wall
In 1986, the cliff to the left of the quarry was developed, and in 1991 there were many new routes added in all sectors.
A route that was bolted in 1985 by Michael Bollinger & Romaric Marchal but considered too hard at the time was finally freed by Jean-Minh Trinh-Thieu in 1995. L'art was first graded 8c but after several repeats has settled at 8b.
The year of 2000 was big for the evolution of hard climbing here, Pierre Bollinger put up the first 8A boulder at Gueberschwihr as well as climbed "Protection Rapprochée" without the chipped pocket creating the first 8c in Alsace.
In 2010 Pierre once again stepped up the bouldering level in Alsace with "Hyôga" 8A+, and if that was not enough did it again in 2018 with "Hartmann" the first 8B.
