On the last Sunday in August, Frau A and I went to the "Waldkletterpark Oberbayern" (Forest climbing park of Upper Bavaria). We have a bunch of posts from hiking in the Alps, but we haven't been climbing... we are thinking of getting started though. This "park" seemed like a good opportunity to use the gear and have fun.
Plus, the park has a zipline course! Yes, we have videos below...
The forest climbing park is located in Pfaffenhofen, about a 40 minute drive from Munich. It's about the same distance as Augsburg, where we saw the Women's World Cup. It's the opposite direction from the lakes in the south that are so popular on weekends (resulting in terrible traffic we wanted to avoid).
This is the sign that greets you upon arrival - with the town seal and drawing of a mountain goat!
(Plus an arrow to let you know that the local brewery lies just down the road...)
It is definitely located out in the country. The parking lot was next to a corn field. The weather was simply perfect.
You start at the lone building on site, where you pay the entrance fee and sign the waiver form.
Then, employees wearing orange shirts help you get into the gear (left side of the photo below):
You can see a small Catholic shrine in the above photo (top left). I took a closer picture (below). This is absolutely Bavaria: outdoor sports, beer, and a crucified Jesus.
This is what the area looks like with first glance around. People walking around or watching, others climbing up to start a course, some climbers in the process of navigating a course, and lines criss-crossing overhead:
The park has 10 different "parcours", in this case "parcour" refers to climbing "routes" running through the trees. The routes total 1,3km in length, and range from 1 meter high to 24 meters above the forest floor!
A pass costs 19 euros for an adult lasts 2 and 1/2 hours. The also will do birthday parties and corporate events.
The web site's maps shows the easy courses on the left, medium in the middle, and the "Fox" course on the right:
This is a glance in the opposite direction, towards some other medium-level courses in the oak & beech trees:
First timers are required to get a briefing. An employee talks through the park rules, and more importantly how to correctly use the safety equipment. Then you start with a short, simple course to demonstrate basic competence.
Here is Frau A, ready to go:
The warm-up/test course is only 1-2 meters up with 2 "climbs", and both have lots of places to hang on. But it's good practice clipping the gear on & off -- you have both a zip-line roller and a safety that are engaged on every course.
After the warm up we took a "medium" difficulty course that takes you up 5-6 meters and across 5 "climbs".
A lot of people teetered on this "climb" when they reached for a beam and it moved! (See the fulcrum at her feet?)
This bridge is probably meant to teach a lesson - stay in the middle of a wobbly path, and move the beans so you simpy step over. Don't step around them. (Yes, I wanted to keep my baseball hat on with the helmet...)
The "climbs" (each about 10-15 meters long) in this course got more interesting. Below, Frau A walks along a single line with not-so-taught vertical ropes for assistance, about 7 meters up. You can see her zipline rollers connected to the safety line in front, with the secondary clip fastened behind.
The next part was even more challenging. Going left to right below, you climb (step) from "U" rope to rope, then work your way across a net, then to another set of "U" ropes before reaching the next platform.
I asked Frau A to smile. Got a great first photo (above) but the distraction caused a moment's panic (below)!
The hardest one we tried was with tires. See photo below: you have to make your way across to the next platform...
There were a few people queued on the platform, indicating it took climbers longer than usual:
We saw the guy (above photo) getting across, and at our turn realized it takes a lot of work and stretching.
It reminds you of times on a playground jungle-gym. but quite a bit higher up!
We eventually made it, but really felt some muscles that aren't use much on a daily basis in the office.
Finally, we went to the "longest and highest" zipline course in all of Bavaria. No small children allowed.
Before getting to the first zip line, they had a tricky bridge. Due to the positioning of the vertical ropes relative to the safety cord, you had to go around the outside of each rope to get across.
Here she is, in action, crossing the bridge. Then I panned over to see the waiting ziplines/platforms to come:
This was Frau A's first zipline ever. Took her a sec to get going... then well done:
The next one went smoothly too, getting a little longer now:
New we're getting to the longer ziplines on the "Flying Fox" course -- and view from the end platform:
(She ended up twisting around 360-degrees, but eventually reached the platform looking forward!)
On the next one, she had a bit of a hard landing...!
This was the last one, done perfectly. You can even see another climber ziplining in the background:
This climbing park was a blast. I would love to take my nephew here, if my brother & family visit from the U.S.. We'll head back this Autumn to work the muscles a bit more and have more fun.