Teufelsturm (Saxon Switzerland)

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The devil tower

The Teufelsturm (also Butterweckfels or Mittagstein ) is a striking, around fifty meter high rock tower and climbing peak in Saxon Switzerland . It is located on the right Elbe at the upper edge of the Elbe Valley between Schmilka and Bad Schandau in the Schrammsteinen . The Teufelsturm is also known as the "symbol of Saxon mountaineering".

Naming

The oldest name of the summit is probably the name Butterweck or Butterweckfels , as the summit head has a certain resemblance to a bread roll from a distance, for example from the other bank of the Elbe . The Devil's Tower was already mentioned by Wilhelm Leberecht Götzinger in his descriptions of Saxon Switzerland, who mentions it as the noon wise man for farmers on the plateaus around Schöna and Reinhardtsdorf . The shadow cast by the Teufelsturm on the rock face behind it disappears - seen from the direction of Reinhardtsdorf-Schöna - around noon exactly behind the tower, which is therefore also known as the Mittagstein or Mittagfels . Another name is Campanile , probably derived from peaks of the same name in the Dolomites and the Brenta , but also fitting due to the smooth-walled and largely square structure of the tower. The name most used today is likely due to the difficulty of the climb.

Climbing importance

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Teufelsturm was considered the heaviest climbing rock in Saxon Switzerland. On September 9, 1906, Oliver Perry-Smith finally succeeded in the first successful ascent over the old route, which is now classified as level VIIb, without assistance VIIc (Saxon scale) . The ascent is considered the highlight of the first development period in the Saxon Switzerland climbing area and was then referred to as the "most difficult climb in Saxon Switzerland".

In the 1930s, the valley side of the Teufelsturm was considered to be one of the last great mountain sports challenges in Saxon Switzerland. a. von Emanuel Strubich had already failed in the early 1920s. In 1936, Rudolf Stolle finally succeeded in ascending this climbing route, which is now classified as level VIIIb, for the first time. The ascent remained controversial because the first climber used one more locking ring both in the lower part and at the key point and was supported via the key point (he used a human climbing tree).

The east face (level of difficulty VIIIc) by Kurt Richter was also an important first ascent in 1965. In the 1970s and 1980s, Bernd Arnold finally climbed the sundial (1977, IXa) and Teufelei (1984, Xa) paths, each with a level of difficulty leading to the top performance belonged to their time.

The most important path is likely to be the horse's foot . The path, which Werner Schönlebe started for the first time in 1984, runs along a prominent edge and has been climbed in the red dot style with the difficulty level Xc.

In 2007, Heinz Zak walked a highline from the Teufelsturm to the neighboring massif for the first time , which, however, also led to discussions about the sense and purpose of trend sports in Saxon Switzerland.

literature

  • Rudolf Fehrmann : The mountaineer in Saxon Switzerland. Johannes Siegel publishing house, Dresden 1908
  • Dietmar Heinicke (overall editor): Climbing Guide Saxon Switzerland, volume Schrammsteine ​​/ Schmilkaer area . Berg- & Naturverlag Peter Rölke, Dresden 1999, ISBN 3934514014
  • Frank Richter: Climbing in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains , Bruckmann-Verlag, 1993
  • Kurt B. Richter: Der Sächsische Bergsteiger , Sportverlag Berlin, 1962

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Richter, 1993, pp. 96, 98
  2. ↑ Heinicke, p. 176
  3. ^ Richter, 1962, p. 75
  4. ↑ Fehrmann, p. 221
  5. ↑ Heinicke, p. 179
  6. ↑ http://news.climbing.de/highline-auf-den-teufelsturm/
  7. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20120323100827/http://www.reinoehl.de/landschaft/schweiz/klettern1_5.htm

Web links

Commons : Teufelsturm  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 54 ′ 19.6 ″  N , 14 ° 13 ′ 7.5 ″  E