[ducko]

This place looks amazing!
Info on:
When to go
How long does it take to get there by car roughly (leaving from llandudno n wales)
Are there any topos or guides?
Where to stay

Thanks people it looks awesome there!!

[Muenchener]

After crossing the Channel (or North Sea - Harwich-Hook isn't a bad option for avoiding London) it's about ten hours drive, so a long hard day. Probably better to break the journey e.g. in Frankenjura.

Sport or bouldering? (Or scary multipitch trad put up by local gnarly alpinists, there's loads of that too) The guidebook is really good - in German but largely topo-based.

Pretty good summer venue, and definitely not in winter because the climbing is mostly right up at the ends of the tributary valleys and the roads are closed. Although it's also a fantastic area for skiing & snowboarding.

[tomtom]

Or get the overnight Hull <> Rotterdam ferry.. ( less than 3 hrs from Llandudno to Hull) ??
(still a long drive the other side - and ferry prob costs more.. though you do get a cabin..)

[Muenchener]

I am a total bouldering punter and have only done a couple of short sessions in Zillertal whilst on non-climbing family visits. But my impression fwiw is that there are only a few areas with nice flat grassy landings, and a lot of the good stuff is typical alpine granite i.e. scary-looking landings on steep blocky hillsides. You might want to be part of a large crew with lots of pads.

There's a good video of "A bad day of Adam Ondra - short film from Zillertal, Austria". The 8c Dolby Surround that he doesn't get up in the film looks amazing in real life too. There's another one featuring Adam and a large Czech crew appearing to have a great time in the valley. (I nearly fell off my chair at 12:46)

Oh and btw accommodation. The campsite at Mayrhofen is ok but quite a drive from the climbing areas. Wild camping/bivvying in the upper valleys used to be tolerated but is now heavily frowned upon. The usual story: too many climbers, too many of them tossers who didn't know how to behave considerately/discretely. I guess, as it's major ski area, there might be lots of b&bs or apartments at off season rates in summer, but I've never looked into it. Gasthaus in der Au in Zillergrund is right between a couple of the major bouldering areas and v. friendly, but I've only ever eaten there & not stayed overnight.

[Paul B]

Bouldering or sport climbing on big boulders?

For the latter the Tirol guide (black) is full of great photos and interviews but you'll need to be able to translate it to enjoy them ($$$ too).
There's a mistral style select guide for the whole of Austria that isn't bad either (the grades are more accurate i.e. less soft in this), but it's dull to look at.
Finally there's a bouldering guide too.

I can't help with driving distances as it was part of our road trip. I can help with route rec's if you're interested later on in the planning. It's a really nice place and their nut strussel type loaf (enjoyed by Bernrd 'three stripes' Zangerl) is immense.

[tomtom]

I was at a conference in a little village (small ski village) vaguely up that way 6-7 yrs ago...(as in 20-30 miles away)  We got a ski cabin for something crazy like 200 euros for the week... Was magic..

[ducko]

Thanks for the info,
Going to go for the bouldering I think though I may try a bit of sport..

I can deal with 10hrs drive looks mega

Recommendations for problems upto 8a would be good

Thanks

[a dense loner]

I don't think there's that many problems for a long trip. I've not been but a few people have said this

[butterworthtom]

I had a pretty shitty time in the Zillertal with regards to bouldering.

Too much rain, problems too spread out or just plain shit. The problem on the guidebook cover that looked amazing turned out to be incredibly painful and not much fun at all. Tbh, I wouldn't go again. Maybe it's just me, but I didn't like it.

[sidewinder]

Worrying opinion from Tom, thinking of going in August for a week, mainly for the sport, if getting an apartment, where would be best?  Planning on fly (to munich) then hire car, some friends are likely to be in Austria so will only boulder if we meet up with them and their collection of mats.

I take it the black guide is the one at the top of this page
http://www.oetztal.com/main/EN/SO/aktivitaeten/klettern/klettergaerten/climbingguide/index.html
anyone got a link to buy it anywhere online?  Is it clear enough to understand where routes/areas are with a limited grasp of German?
I also can't find the Mistral style guide you are referring to Paul, I did see this one http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9783928026307?redirected=true&gclid=CLLWmMel_bcCFUfKtAodznoArA which seems a bit old?

If the consensus is in fact that Zillertal is not so good, anyone got recommendations of anywhere else in Austria that's better, preferably that will offer sport and bouldering.

[butterworthtom]

It's not that the zillertal isn't necessarily good, but we were doing it on the cheap which was problematic and it pissed it down with rain when we were there.

If i was in an apartment it would have made life a lot easier!

[sidewinder]

Apartments/gites do tend to make bad weather days seem less bad!  And mean you don't have to pack tent/camping gear on the plane.

[Muenchener]

mainly for the sport, if getting an apartment, where would be best? 

Ginzling. Zillertal is a big place, and the main valley splits into three sub-valleys at Mayrhofen. The three sub-valleys are:

- Tuxertal. Has the best skiing and therefore lots of accommodation, but not much by way of climbing. Don't stay there.
- Zillergrund. Lots of bouldering (and alpine multipitch), no villages although there are a couple of pubs with rooms. Accessed from Mayrhofen by a long windy toll road.
- The Other One. Don't recall what's called but it's where most of the sport climbing and some of the bouldering is and contains the village of Ginzling, which should be large enough to have accommodation.

Otherwise Mayrhofen itself is central and has loads of accommodation. Avoid anywhere further down the main valley: too far from the climbing.

I did see this one http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9783928026307?redirected=true&gclid=CLLWmMel_bcCFUfKtAodznoArA which seems a bit old?

That is afaik the current Zillertal guidebook.

It's very good, definitely one of the best non-UK climbing guidebooks I've ever seen. But it's good in the same way some of the best UK guidebooks are good, quirky text that gives a real feel for the area and its characters. More like Llanberis Slate than the usual antiseptic Euro topo. Which, however, doesn't add that much to its appeal if you can't read German.

[ducko]

Maybe magic wood would be a better choice then..

[Paul B]

Worrying opinion from Tom, thinking of going in August for a week, mainly for the sport, if getting an apartment, where would be best?  Planning on fly (to munich) then hire car, some friends are likely to be in Austria so will only boulder if we meet up with them and their collection of mats.

I take it the black guide is the one at the top of this page
http://www.oetztal.com/main/EN/SO/aktivitaeten/klettern/klettergaerten/climbingguide/index.html
anyone got a link to buy it anywhere online?  Is it clear enough to understand where routes/areas are with a limited grasp of German?
I also can't find the Mistral style guide you are referring to Paul, I did see this one http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9783928026307?redirected=true&gclid=CLLWmMel_bcCFUfKtAodznoArA which seems a bit old?

If the consensus is in fact that Zillertal is not so good, anyone got recommendations of anywhere else in Austria that's better, preferably that will offer sport and bouldering.

Yes, that's the black guidebook I was on about and yes, the maps and topos are good enough to ensure you don't need to read German. It's a really nice guide.

I wouldn't worry about Toms comments if you're going for the sport climbing. The problem on the front of the bouldering guidebook is notoriously thin and the sport offers far more than just that. For instance, it isn't even all granite (Chinese Mauer etc. is limestone).

I can't currently find the guidebook I was referring to, it belonged to Unclesomebody so you could try dropping him a PM although he's on a bit of a trip I gather. I had a feeling it was written by (and that it had a yellow cover):
http://www.climbonproducts.com/harald-roker/

I couldn't see either on the Cordee website.

If you do go, I strongly recommend not following locals down the Ginzling tunnel when they jump the lights unless you like playing adult chicken.

[sidewinder]

I can't currently find the guidebook I was referring to, it belonged to Unclesomebody so you could try dropping him a PM although he's on a bit of a trip I gather. I had a feeling it was written by (and that it had a yellow cover):

http://www.klettern-shop.de/austria-vertical.html

This one?

[Paul B]

Yup, that one (thanks).

[sidewinder]

Just to update, had a great week, weather was perfect.  Thanks for all the advice.
Stayed in a nice apartment on the edge of Mayrhofen, which was a good move as Mayrhofen itself had stuff to do at night and a good selection of shops (the swimming pool/sauna leisure centre was particularly nice on a rest day).

Climbed almost solely in the Ginzling valley branch, thought the routes were high quality, very technical (and often 3d) and not soft in the 6's anyway.  We were told that there are some softer options when you get into the 7's, which we didnt.really make due to recovering from injury fitness issues.

Used the black guide which was good, though a couple of places were a little harder to find and irritatingly it didn't seem fully up to date regarding some access issues where landowners have banned crags/part of crags due to climbers trampling the grass (Austrians love grass!), also although it has some of the best photos I have seen in any guidebook, I would of liked a few more of the crags, rather than always a close up of someone on a (normally hard) route to give you more of an idea of what the crag was going to look like.

The bouldering looked really good, as was the beer and Schnapps (Enzian was the preferred flavour).