Innsbruck has long been a haven for adventurers. With its history steeped in mountaineering, this city breathes a culture of climbing in addition to many other outdoor pursuits. From simple bouldering opportunities to the limestone cliffs of the Karwendel, Innsbruck offers a vertical playground for climbers of all abilities. Whilst we’ve done a little climbing in the past, we’re very much beginners so we were happy to find ourselves at the K1 Climbing Centre, ready to test our skills with some low-level bouldering.
Having opened in May 2017, the K1 Climbing Centre is a modern purpose-built centre with a spacious interior. With walls reaching up to 17 metres, the centre caters for a whole range of abilities.
Thankfully, we were bouldering at low levels so all we needed was climbing shoes – no ropes or harnesses, just us, the wall and gravity… and crucially a well-padded landing.
To guide us through the session, we were fortunate to have Mira, a German instructor now living in Innsbruck.
We start with some warm-up exercises just so we are well stretched – swinging our arms, rolling our wrists, and touching our toes (the latter being not something I’m very good at!). With our bodies primed (sort of!), we set about traversing a section of the wall, finding holds to suit us as we made our way across.
Mira demonstrated how we could switch our bodies across when making traverses, encouraging us to experiment with different techniques such as shifting our weight smoothly, and keeping our hips close to the wall.
Our first attempts were rather awkward and far less graceful but with practice we made a little progress and moved to another section of wall to try some bouldering routes that are marked in different colours depending on their difficulty level.
There’s a kaleidoscope of different challenges – I managed to complete some graded 1 or 2, but a grade 3 is beyond me, so I rested and left the ‘kids’ to try their hand at more advanced routes. Mira, ever the patient instructor, offered her advice and encouragement as they tackled overhangs and more complex sequences.
And as our session drew to a close, our muscles ached, but we were left with a satisfying sense of accomplishment. Bouldering had certainly challenged us, yet it had been an undeniably fun and rewarding few hours. In a place like Innsbruck, where the mountains beckon and the climbing culture thrives, the joy of scaling new heights is never far away.
Disclosure: Our trip was sponsored by Innsbruck Tourism.
Paul Johnson
Paul Johnson is Editor of A Luxury Travel Blog and has worked in the travel industry for more than 30 years. He is Winner of the Innovations in Travel ‘Best Travel Influencer’ Award from WIRED magazine. In addition to other awards, the blog has also been voted “one of the world’s best travel blogs” and “best for luxury” by The Telegraph.
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