T-shirt Stories: Frankenjura World

Most of you, who overcome vertical climbing challenges, have probably heard the terms on-sight, flash, pink-point, or the red-point, shortly RP. But where does this word come from and what does it even mean?

The abbreviation RP comes from the two German words Rot Punkt and translates simply as a red dot. Nowadays, you will most often find the English term Red Point. In the climbing language we could define it as follows:

"The successful free climb of a route in a single push without falling, after a previous unsuccessful attempt, using only own strength and no climbing (technical) aids. You just clip the quickdraws into the fixed bolts."

Most of the hard sport climbs these days are climbed in pink-point style (PP), which means that the quickdraws are already hanging in the route.

Before the actual Red Point attempt, you can freely practice the route and fall in it until you eventually combine all your efforts into one push (free climb attempt).

The legendary German climber Kurt Albert is inherently linked with the term Rot Punkt. Kurt was a very active climber, especially in his home area of Frankenjura, where he honed his climbing skills.

In the mid-1970s he came up with the idea of marking the routes. Once he had managed to climb a route in one piece (without falling), he painted a small red dot on the rock directly below it.

This started a great revolution in the world of free climbing, which was a huge change from the earlier style of climbing where the priority was to climb to the top by any means (even using technical aids).

Other historical sources indicate it was a bit different. Let's quote the outstanding American climber John Bachar, who climbed mainly in Yosemite and Joshua Tree.

"I heard that climbers in Frankenjura carried red nail varnish with them to the crags and painted a blank red circle under the route they were practicing. This meant that the route had not yet been successfully climbed in a clean manner. However, as soon as someone managed to free climb the route, they painted the inside of the red circle, and only then did it become a solid red dot, known as Rot Punkt."

John Bachar adopted this European system of marking free-climbed routes from Kurt and began to popularize it across the ocean in America. John was one of America's top climbers and, in addition to his excellent performances, was especially known for his free solo ascents.

So we briefly introduced you to the history of climbing and the origin of the red point. As we mentioned above, this route marking first started to be used in the German sport climbing area of Frankenjura, and one of the most famous places is the Weissenstein sector.

In Weissenstein you will find approximately 50 sport climbing routes up to 20 meters, from the easiest 2's to the impressive 7c's, which were among the highlights of the climbing era of John Bachar and Kurt Albert.

Many world-class climbers, such as Kurt and John, came to Weissenstein. Thanks to them, difficult climbs were created here and they still have their beauty and value to this day. Another very active and great climber in the area was the one and only Wolfgang Güllich.

Frankenjura is the second largest sport climbing area in the world with more than 16,000 climbing routes.

So what does the Frankenjura climbing park offer today? Located between the cities of Bamberg, Bayreuth, and Nuremberg, Frankenjura has over 1,000 climbing sectors to choose from, giving you the climbing of a lifetime.

Mostly here you'll find short, power, single-pitch sport routes on grey limestone crags in a pleasant setting of woods. Some spots are more remote from civilization and traffic, while others are just steps away from the road, making them accessible to all climbers and families with children.

The route profiles are mostly vertical to overhanging, and the most common holds are finger pockets of infinite shapes and sizes.

Frankenjura is the place where the hardest routes of its time were created, namely Wall Street, the first 8c in the world, which was climbed in 1987 by Wolfgang Güllich. The line is 25 meters long with ten intense power moves, equivalent approximately to an 8A boulder.

The most famous route of the whole area and the first ever 9a route in the world is the famous Action Directe also first ascented by Wolfgang Güllich. This route is nowadays considered the "benchmark" of the 9a difficulty.

It took Wolfgang GUllich about 11 days to rehearse and climb the Action Directe in the RP STYLE.

Take a look at our new RAFIKI T-shirt ARCOS and JAY, choose the right size, order it, and then go discover the beauty of FRANKENJURA CLIMBING AREA!

We believe that the T-shirt will make you a great companion in climbing your difficult projects or even relaxing on an active vacation. And the next time you wear it, you'll be reminded of the history and climbing milestones of the past century.

Whether in climbing or life, it's important to look forward and think about the future, while enjoying the presence, but at the same time not forget about the past that makes it all possible today.