Forest walk abouts, BOULDERS!

First off this is the coolest thing that happened last week, I SAW MY FIRST HEDGEHOG!!!!!!!!!!!!

SONIC!

A few weeks ago we said goodbye to my dad and uncle and sent them back home.  The following weeks have been interesting, trying to find things to do other than sitting watching TV and surfing the internet.  The one thing I decided to do was walk through the local forest looking for boulders.  It has been hard getting to know the local climbers that have all the information on where things are.  I decided to ask the local gym owner where the local boulders after he decided to show me a video of an amazing looking block he had just done.  His response "HAHA No, there are to many FA's for me to do".  This was really frustrating after watching such an amazing boulder being climbed on the Vid. He did however point out an area on Google Earth where there are some boulders that have been established.  A few days after that I headed out into the woods in search of the boulders.  Since his directions were very vague and the area so large I had no idea which logging road to start down.  That day I think I walked a total of 6 miles before I found these boulders which are actually not far from where the parking lot is located.  These boulders are located in a small town called Schopp in the Pfalz forest outside of Kaiserslautern.  I am not totally sure how many boulder problems there are in this area but there is a decent amount.  It looks like there is a good variety of problems and grades in this area.  There is an amazing looking problem that I am guessing is a project, as it looks to be 8B+ or 8C to me, might need to call up a certian crimp master :)

Here are a few shots of the boulders around Schopp

Don't think this thing has been climbed yet, but it is something Paul Robinson would eat up!

I hope this block dries up for the winter!

 The rest of the week I decided I would keep up the hikes in the forest looking for more boulders since there is nothing else for me to do right now.  That week I think I hiked/bushwacked close to 40 miles in search of new blocks.  As a lot people know I love walking in the woods, I have some of my greatest memories and moments back home in the RRG.  Walking through the arch at purgatory for the first time ever literally took my breath away.  Wondering if there are holds on the steep looking arete.  The same thing when Mike Doyle and I could barely see through the mist, an amazing looking blank wall known as the Chocolate Factory.  The first thing I did was walk to the base of the perfect line and carved a faint arrow pointing up at it.  Anyways back to the present....


At the end of the week I started talking to a German local, Hendrick, about all the hiking I have been doing looking for boulders and the area where this amazing problem I had seen in the video.  He laughed and gave me the beta on where it was.  Amazingly I had hiked within a 1/4 mile of the area and would have found these boulders this week since the area was next up on my little map!

Back before the line up, Paradise Lost

 Here is a short clip of Enzo Oddo doing 3 of the routes I equipped after one of my many treks through the forests!  NICE JOB!

The Super Duper Secret boulders!

Amazing block with some cool problems

Yet another amazing block!

And Another!

Map of the area I have walked, probably only 30% of the trails in this area so much more walking to do!

Climbing on the German sandstone in summer with 80 degree temps and 90% humidity is not the smartest idea.  Skin loss, bugs, and sweat make things feel a lot harder than they should be.  Greasy rock is the name of the game right now here.  I am looking forward to the good temps soon I guess we'll see what happens in the future with all these boulders!