In mid-July we met for the fourth stop of our skill-transfer workshops, a three-day introduction to trad climbing in the beautiful Göschenertal. While many people will place some cams and nuts on routes in Switzerland, the art of full trad climbing, including anchor building, isn’t often taught or used. Former AACZ active president Andreas volunteered to organize this workshop with instructional support from Rainer, Ven, and Leo. The goal of these skill-transfer workshops is exactly what the name implies – we want experienced club members to pass their knowledge on to the next generation with the hope that a cycle of learning becomes an integral part of the AACZ.
With unstable weather on the first two days, including a very exciting overnight thunderstorm, we spent time cragging lower in the valley with many opportunities for full-trad leads on the crack-filled granite. On the third day we split into groups and tacked two different routes on the Gandschijen, “Gatsch” and “Südpfeiler”. This beautiful and steep wall has unfortunately fallen out of fashion because of the tough grading and sparse bolting, which provided us with plenty of opportunities to practice the skills gained earlier in the workshop. All teams summitted their respective routes, a successful end to a great long weekend.
