The Asselstein is a

rock pinnacle A pinnacle, tower, spire, needle or natural tower (german: Felsnadel, ''Felsturm'' or ''Felszinne'') in geology is an individual column of rock, isolated from other rocks or groups of rocks, in the shape of a vertical shaft or spire. Examples are ...

or tower near the village of

Annweiler am Trifels Annweiler am Trifels (), or Annweiler is a town in the Südliche Weinstraße district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Queich, 12 km west of Landau. Annweiler am Trifels station is on the Landau–Saarbrücken r ...

in the Southern Palatinate in western Germany. The road from Annweiler to Trifels runs close by the Asselstein. Not far east of the rock is the Asselstein Climbing Hut. The roughly 60 metre tall and over 10 metre wide rock tower is 58 metres high at its highest point and consists of rocks from the Lower

Bunter Sandstone The Buntsandstein (German for ''coloured'' or ''colourful sandstone'') or Bunter sandstone is a lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the subsurface of large parts of west and central Europe. The Buntsands ...

(''Trifels beds''). The Asselstein was first climbed in June 1860. With almost 80 routes, e. g. ''Normalweg'' IV−, ''Westwand'' V−, ''Rolfkamin'' VI- and ''Ostwand'' V (

UIAA climbing grades In rock climbing, mountaineering, and other climbing disciplines, climbers give a grade to a climbing route or boulder problem, intended to describe concisely the difficulty and danger of climbing it. Different types of climbing (such as spo ...

) it is one of the major climbing destinations in the South Palatinate Climbing Area. The most difficult route is UIAA grade 9+.

External links

"Felsen 38: Asselstein. Die Mutter aller pfälzischen Felsenschiffe"

Asselstein (photo)
Climbing areas of Germany Rock formations of Rhineland-Palatinate Geography of the Palatinate (region) Natural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate {{RhinelandPalatinate-geo-stub