Hands and feet tentatively reach out for something to grab on to. The eyes are fixated on the next point; all muscles are strained to the maximum. Ascending vertically, strenuously, bit by bit, for as long as you can manage. Once you have conquered one wall, you’re hooked. Climbing is more than just a sport, it’s the challenge and the desire to push yourself and overcome your inner fears. There are plenty of role models: in 1953, the New Zealander Sir Hillary and Sherpa Norgay Tenzing were the first to scale Mount Everest. 30 years later, all the peaks of the Himalayas were conquered. Reinhold Messner managed to climb all fourteen 8000m mountains in 1986 on his own without breathing apparatus. Today, speed climbing is the trend: without safety equipment and as quickly as possible.

You can rise to the challenge at any of the many climbing centres. Moreover, every good gym has a climbing wall and encourages ‘the strengthening of the arm and leg muscles and toning of the body’. As opposed to up in the mountains, the climbing walls in the halls are covered in coloured handles which mark the different routes. Body + Soul has a state of the art climbing wall which has varying difficulty levels between 3 and 7. The most professional indoor and outdoor climbing facilities are run by the Deutsche Alpenverein (DAV) in Thalkirchen. Here, you can pit yourself against the newly renovated, hand-made, three dimensional GFK-Wall System or against the ice climbing wall. With around 210 indoor and around 250 outdoor routes, the equipment is the best in Munich, as are the courses they offer. More information at: www.kletterzentrum-muenchen.de.

ESV München at Herthastraße 41 is also good for climbing, as are the Big Wall Climbing School at Berchtesgadenerstraße 17 and the Heavens Gate climbing hall at Grafingerstraße 6. Everyone can climb here without having to go too high. You hang from the ‘Toprope’ pole whilst still being firmly attached to the floor. Across eight silos, each 30 metres high, almost fifty routes have been set up with the difficulty reaching level 9. The hall can also be rented out for events. For more information visit: www.kletternmachtspass.de.

At MTV at Häberlstraße 11b, the emphasis is on making friends as well as sporting performance. Members train on over 300m² of climbing area reaching 12m in height and difficulty level 9. Additionally, there are 150m² of boulders to climb on. You can climb or boulder on these without going too high. A safety rope isn’t required. Those who can’t keep their grip land softly on a thick mat.

There are further training areas at the Olympia Hochschulsportanlage at Connollystraße 32 or the climbing hall in Nymphenburg at Sadelerstraße 10. There are outdoor facilities at Thalkirchnerstraße 211 next to the local sports centre, at Kletterbrocken Unterschleißheim in Unterschleißheim-Lohhof or in Grünwalder Leisure Park on Südliche Münchnerstraße 35c. Here, you can train on 8m-high climbing towers with difficulty levels ranging from 1 to 6. The Hochseilcamp München-Aschheim is home to a varied climbing course with 19 ascents (www.hochseilcamp.de).

by Karin Nagl