UKH

Bernd Arnold,one of the world's best trad climbers.

A pioneer of East German sandstone.The ethic was that bolts could only be placed on lead,by hand,and they had to be widely spaced.

 Many of you will not have heard of him,as he was not as loud as some COMMERCIAL climbers who are lauded as world class.

   youtube.com/watch?v=iMIqNKuBJWY&

he didn't shout as loud as some COMMERCIAL climbers one might mention,but Bernd was a world class climber.

..and without subtitles...

youtube.com/watch?v=G01jS_xiXkE&

It is clear from the 2nd video that Bernd and his friends had enormous trouble getting permission to travel from the East German secret police,the Stasi.He had an invite from the American Alpine Club,but his visa was denied by the Stasi.Messner tells us that Bernd added 2 more grades of difficulty to what had previously existed in Germany.

In this vid at 8mins 30 we see him leading and placing a bolt.

youtube.com/watch?v=lVXfjTrfDoU&

youtube.com/watch?v=pXlkrBHL3iA&

Fine human pyramid in this vid.

and with the modern generation....

youtube.com/watch?v=0bHF5Yfu_jQ&

Irony

Mark Leach said on Facebook….

       We had a great time climbing and hanging out with Bernd back in the day. His playground is magical as is he. Legend.

Is he dead? This seems like a eulogy? I met him briefly last summer, still out climbing barefoot and loving it. He was teaching someone how to belay, imagine climbing for 70 odd years and still having the passion to share the pastime 

(Edit) also ethics? Ha. The germans have rules. I cant remember the exact measurements but it's very precise about how the first bolt must be a minimum of 6 meters from the ground and minimum of 4 meters between bolts. The rules state knotted ropes and no metal work. Years ago someone created essentially a rubber camming chock stone and there was a civil war over whether this was acceptable because while the rules did not explicitly forbid it, they did not permit it. 

Just making a point that certain  hyped ''rock stars '' in the UK had equivalents abroad , that weren't hyped.

Last I heard,Bernd is still  alive.I was always a fan.I thought some of the youngsters on UKC might not have been aware of him.You may have noticed I have been posting  historical content praising foreign climbers.We Brits can get rather insular......to say the least.

Strangely, I think I first learned about Bernd Arnold when I saw him in the COMMERCIAL climbing film "The Sharp End", where he plays tour guide and guru to a group of COMMERCIAL climbers visiting the sandstone, including Alex Honnold, Cedar Wright, Heidi Wirtz, Matt Segal, and Renan Ozturk. Honnold climbs a truly terrifying arete. You should watch it, it's great.

BA is almost the definition of a "commercial" climber, as he is one of the few people actually guiding professionally in the Elbe sandstone.

A colleague of mine booked a crack climbing course with him four or five years ago, and he set up a top rope on Suedriss at Falkenstein by soloing up with a 200m rope on his back... That route is a vertical, 60m or so splitter crack turning into an offwidth for the last bit:

https://www.teufelsturm.de/img/fotos/pic2623.jpg

He he has also been campaigning for years to establish separate sports crags in the Elbe sandstone, e.g. at Hohenstein, where he also has a climbing shop.

CB

edit: At the time he must have been in his late fifties of not sixties!