Balmflue Südwände
A fine multipitch route in the Solothurn Jura — grade 5a+ limestone climbing on the sunny south faces of the Balmflue, with traverses between the pitches.
Limestone above the Mittelland
The Balmflue runs as a broad band of rock through the first Jura chain above Balm bei Günsberg, and the south faces are its showpiece: compact limestone with slabs, edges and pockets, well bolted and climbed over several pitches. Grade 5a+ here means clean, sustained climbing with a few demanding moves — nothing to be fought for, but enough to keep the concentration going to the top.
The route does not run plumb-line through the wall. Between the pitches there are traverses along ledges and terraces leading from one belay to the next. That is what gives the tour its character — you work your way sideways across the face and keep coming out into open air above the valley — but it calls for care with the ropework: no pendulum for the second in a traverse.
Below the wall lie the villages of the Solothurn Mittelland, and behind them, on a clear day, the whole chain of the Alps. Approach and descent go through beech wood.
The start is a little hard to find. The best plan is to follow the blue dots and, at some point, the fork marked “SW”. There are several routes on the wall; keep rather to the right/east to find the start behind a slightly protruding rock rib — just before a rope leads across a steep, sloping section of the hillside.
Tip: a spring and autumn route. The wall faces south, dries quickly after rain and is warm as early as April — in high summer it turns into an oven around midday. In autumn the yellow beech wood below the start comes as a bonus.