Rock climbing is a great way to connect travelling, spending time outdoors and enjoying really good whole-body workout.
The Czech Republic offers amazing climbing opportunities on sandstone, granite and limestone. However, it is definitely spectacular #sandstone towers that attract most climbers from abroad.
The Czech Republic has a long tradition of rock climbing that dates back to 1897 and today, it has been producing some of the best climbers in the world.
What are the best areas for climbing in the Czech Republic and what is the climbing ethic? I talked to the local climber, former Outward Bound instructor and former head of the Jihlava Rock Climbing Club Karel Sýkora about the best places to go climbing in the Czech Republic.
Top of Větrník - Hruboskalsko | photo credit: Karel
Best Climbing Spots in the Czech Republic
A Few Hints of an Insider
MARTINA: How long exactly have you been climbing?
KAREL: It’s been about 35 years now.
MARTINA: How has the climbing in Czechia changed since then?
KAREL: The climbing has changed a lot. All of the equipment is instantly available now. When we started there were no harnesses or climbing shoes for example. We had to make everything ourselves.
We used material from a conveyer belt to resole old soccer shoes and a fire hose for making a harness. My grandma made me a sleeping bag using feathers from her old down duvet. Less people were climbing and traveling was limited.
Nowadays anything is possible and available, climbing is much more popular, it’s becoming more competitive, there are new climbing disciplines like bouldering etc. I think it’s a good thing.
Jickovice Rocks | photo credit: karel
MARTINA: How would you describe the climbing in the Czech Republic?
KAREL: Rock climbing has a long history in here with some great worldwide achievements in both mountaineering and sport climbing.
Climbing is ever more popular nowadays. There are over a hundred high quality climbing gyms in Czechia.
Climbers get stronger and the climbing gets more serious, but there are still a lot of those who just enjoy the activity, being outdoors in a beautiful nature and the camaraderie within the climbing community.
There are many incredible places to climb and you will always find friends on the rope whether you look for an athletic performance or just want to hang out with like minded friends.
There are variety of climbing crags with many thousands of climbing routes of all difficulties including the super top ones. Good place for a climber to be, I think.
Teplice Rocks | photo credit: karel
MARTINA: What is the best place for you to go climbing in the Czech Republic?
KAREL: Well, that’s a tough one because there are so many great places for climbing all over the country of sentimental value to me, but if I am to pick I’d do two of them. One is Drátník, a granite rock formation in the heart of the Bohemian-Moravian Highland.
It sits on top of a small hill and gives an incredible view overlooking meadows, forested landscape sprinkled with old traditional log houses and small farms. This is where I started to learn how to climb.
The other would be the sandstones the Czech Paradise, Suché Skály (Dry Rocks) near Turnov in particular. It’s a knife like sharp ridge, a couple of hundred meters long, that sticks out of the terrain above the valley of Jizerka River.
Its super steep walls give superb climbing lines. The hard type of sandstone dries quickly and has some unique features for climbing - a thin, molding like edges running as if veins across the walls. And of course the view, I guess I like the views.
Adršpach | photo credit: karel
MARTINA: What other places in Czechia would you recommend us?
KAREL: There are many small crags virtually in every corner of the country some more others less frequently visited. Pretty impressive is a sandstone massif in Teplické Skály near the Polish border. Rabštejn is secluded in forests of Hrubý Jeseník with great camping sites.
Granites of Choustník are other peculiar small rocks and boulders in South Bohemia. One of my favorite places would be the Wilson Rock, 60m tall, steep wall rising straight out of the Dalesice Dam in South Moravia.
Tiské stěny, Sedmihorky and Prchovské Skály are my favorite places for sandstone climbing. Good source for finding climbing crags can be found on web pages of the Czech Mountain Association.
Drátník | photo credit: karel
MARTINA: Have you ever climbed on the sandstone towers in Adršpach? What is that unique on climbing there?
KAREL: I used to climb there a lot. I love this place. It is placed in the midst of a wild beautiful nature. The rock needle like towers, often densely spaced, create so called Rock Towns.
The climbing here is due to unique climbing ethics quite challenging requiring high level of climbing experience and confidence.
No metal or hard material protection gear is allowed. This rule led to the evolution of a particular protection technique consisting of different shapes and sizes of knots being placed in appropriate places in cracks.
Mastering this skill and proper mental preparedness is essential for safe climbing here. No bolted routes can be found here and as a matter of fact, traditionally the least fixed protection has been used to shift the climbing decisions onto your own skills and self assessment abilities.
This climbing ethic has been established here in around the World War II and came from the German climbing in similar places on the German side of the border.
Adršpach | photo credit: karel
MARTINA: What is the climbing ethic we should be aware of when climbing in the Czech Republic?
KAREL: Most of the climbing happens on sites in the Nature Conservation Areas. We must observe the rules and guidelines set by the government.
Typically, it would be a seasonal closure for bird nesting, allowing climbing just for a few fall and winter months. Some sites are closed for climbing completely. Very unique in this respect is climbing on all sandstone areas.
Besides restrictions on climbing protection which mentioned earlier, there are strict rules about climbing on a wet rock.
Wet sandstone gets very fragile and soft and climbing would cause quick destruction of the small features important for climbing thus altering the rock indefinitely.
For the sake of the future generation of climbers, the protection of unique rock formation, and future visitors, the rule has been established that climbing is not allowed a certain amount of days after the last rain.
The rule varies from area to area, depending on type of sandstone. Detailed information can be found on the website of the Czech Mountain Association.
Wilson Rock | photo credit: karel
MARTINA: What is the best area to go for sport climbing?
KAREL: Sport climbing is not my cup of coffee to be honest. A lot of sport climbing nowadays moved inside to climbing gyms.
For sport climbing I would recommend the limestone rocks in Moravsky Kras near Brno or granite wall near Kamýk by Vltava River in Central Bohemia. Český Kras near Berounka river is a traditional sport climbing area for climbers from Prague.
The best material to climb on for sport climbing is limestone and since we don’t have that many limestone sites available the best crags for sport climbing lie south or east of our borders in Austria and Slovakia.