Bernd Arnold (born 28 February 1947) is a German
rock climber
Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and ...
and
mountaineer
Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...
. He is known for more than 900
first ascent
In mountaineering, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books) is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First mountain ascents are notable because they en ...
s in the
East German
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
Saxon Switzerland
Saxon Switzerland (german: Sächsische Schweiz) is a hilly climbing area and national park around the Elbe valley south-east of Dresden in Saxony, Germany. Together with the Bohemian Switzerland in the Czech Republic it forms the Elbe Sands ...
climbing region. During the 1970s and 1980s, he established most of the hardest routes in the region and became one of the most influential German climbers of his era. He is well-known for climbing barefoot, even on very hard routes.
Climbing career
His first remarkable ascent was the ''Route Zehn'' (VIIIc) at Meurerturm in 1966, when he was only 19 years old. In 1970 he climbed the ''Nordwand'' at the rock tower Schwager in the
Schrammsteine
The Schrammsteine are a long, strung-out, very jagged group of rocks in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains located east of Bad Schandau in Saxon Switzerland in eastern Germany. To the north they are bordered by the Kirnitzsch valley, to the south by the ...
area and achieved a difficulty of
grade
Grade most commonly refers to:
* Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance
* Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage
* Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope
Grade or grading may also ref ...
IXb. This might have been the hardest
free climbing
Free climbing is a form of rock climbing in which the climber may use climbing equipment such as ropes and other means of climbing protection, but only to protect against injury during falls and not to assist vertical or horizontal progress. Th ...
route in the world at the time. First ascents such as the ''Nonplusultra'' (IXb) at Mittlerer Torstein, ''Talseite'' (IXb) at Teufelsspitze, and ''Lineal'' (IXa) at Meurerturm followed. In 1977 Arnold was the first to climb grade IXc when he achieved his first ascent of ''Direkte Superlative'' at Großer Wehlturm.
In the early 1980s, developments in
sport climbing
Sport climbing (or Bolted climbing) is a form of rock climbing that relies on permanent anchors (or bolts), permanently fixed into the rock for climber protection, in which a rope that is attached to the climber is clipped into the anchors to ...
pushed into ever harder territories. Inspired by the growing international competition at the top level of the climbing world, Arnold managed to reach the difficulty of Xa in 1982 and Xb in 1983. His first ascents of ''Barometer für Stimmungen'' at Heringstein and ''Garten Eden'' at Rokokoturm, both Xc, marked the climax of his rock-climbing career in 1986.
After the
Peaceful Revolution of 1989, Arnold was able to travel to many mountain regions around the world. During the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
era, he was only in a few exceptional cases allowed to pursue climbing and mountaineering outside the
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
. Nevertheless, he became close friends with West German climbers
Kurt Albert
Kurt Albert (January 28, 1954 – September 28, 2010) was a climber and photographer. He started climbing at the age of 14. Before he committed himself to a career of climbing in 1986, he was a mathematics and physics teacher.
Climbing career ...
and
Wolfgang Güllich
Wolfgang Güllich (24 October 1960 – 31 August 1992) was a German rock climber, who is considered one of the greatest and most influential climbers in the history of the sport. Güllich dominated sport climbing for most of the decade after his ...
, who visited Saxon Switzerland in the early 1980s and managed to repeat some of Arnold's hardest routes. With Kurt Albert he later undertook expeditions to
Patagonia
Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...
and the
Karakorum
Karakorum (Khalkha Mongolian: Хархорум, ''Kharkhorum''; Mongolian Script:, ''Qaraqorum''; ) was the capital of the Mongol Empire between 1235 and 1260 and of the Northern Yuan dynasty in the 14–15th centuries. Its ruins lie in the ...
.
Arnold remains an active climber today and is a proponent of reforming the very strict traditional climbing regulations of the Saxon Switzerland area. In 2008, he was awarded an
honorary citizenship
Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honour usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...
by his hometown of Hohnstein.
Personal life
Bernd Arnold grew up in the small East German town of
Hohnstein
Hohnstein () is a town located in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district of Saxony, Germany. As of 2020, its population numbered a total of 3,262.
Geography
It is situated in Saxon Switzerland, 12 km east of Pirna, and 28 km so ...
, where he still lives today. Arnold is a professional letterpress printer and now owns two mountaineering equipment stores. He also offers climbing courses in his home region. He is married and has one daughter.
See also
*
History of rock climbing
In the history of rock climbing, the three main sub-disciplines: bouldering, single-pitch climbing, and big wall (or multi-pitch) climbing can trace their origins to late 19th-century Europe. Bouldering started in Fontainebleau, and was advan ...
*
List of first ascents (sport climbing)
In rock climbing, a first free ascent (FFA) is the first documented redpoint, onsight or flash of a single-pitch, big wall (multi-pitch), or boulder route that did not involve using aid equipment to help progression or resting; the ascent must ...
References
Sources
* Bernd Arnold: ''Zwischen Schneckenhaus und Dom''. Panico-Alpinverlag, 1999, .
* Bernd Arnold: Oscar Schuster und ich. Ein Versuch der Annäherung. In: OSCAR SCHUSTER. Bergsteiger-Alpinist-Erschließer-Arzt-Publizist. Monografien Sächsisches Bergsteigen. S. 34–54. Sächsischer Bergsteigerbund, 2013.
* Peter Brunnert: ''Bernd Arnold – Ein Grenzgang.'' Eine biografische Dokumentation. Panico Alpinverlag, 2017, .
External links
Seele aus Stein (Soul of Stone). Video documentary by Reiner FilmsBergsport Arnold
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnold, Bernd
Living people
1947 births
German rock climbers
East German sportsmen
People from Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge
People from Bezirk Dresden
German printers