Climb Obernberg Tirol

Whilst Innsbruck is known for being a top destination for world-class sport climbing, many of the most popular areas can get very busy, especially in the summer months.

This summer we discovered the small crag up at Obernberg and it quickly become one of our favourite places to climb.

The crag is easy to reach. You park the car at the main car park at the end of the Obernberg valley. The price to park is €3.50 for 3 hours and 50 cents for every additional hour (in September 2020). From the car park, instead of walking up to the lake, take the road on the right towards Haus Waldbauer then when the road forks at the end, turn left and follow the 127 hiking trail through the meadow. 

You'll come to a small clearing and a little chapel, and just past it, hidden in the bushes is a small path that leads up to the crag, which is split into 4 sectors with routes ranging from UIAA grades III+ to VIII. 

The routes are all sport routes, so you don't need any technical gear. Just a single rope (50m is enough), quickdraws, harness, belay device, climbing shoes, chalk and a helmet. Most of the routes are well bolted with fairly closely spaced bolts and chains with carabiners at the top for lowering, so you shouldn't need to clean any anchors yourself. However we did find that as the routes started to get above VI, they did start to get more run out.

The crag is all south-facing, so in the summer months it can get pretty hot, so bring plenty of water and sunscreen. Some of the routes in sectors two and three were extremely wet despite there being no rain for weeks, however we could see water running down so we think there is possibly a spring up the mountain nearby. One of my favourite things about this crag definitely has to be the wild Edelweiss growing in the rocks along the base. If that's not a sign of a great alpine crag, I don't know what is!

Here is the link to the topo from the local tourist board: https://www.wipptal.at/fileadm...