Jahn - Zimmer

The Jahn/Zimmer is one of the classic routes in Gesäuse, and a really fun outing without any serious difficulties and no major loose sections. By the book its 27 pitches and 1000m of climbing, with an elevation gain of 600m, but most pitches are ~UIAA 2, so you shouldn't have trouble moving quickly. Several pitches with brief cruxes up to 3+ make it really fun, and despite the low overall angle there are a few pretty exposed sections as well. Routefinding isn't terribly difficult, and all the belays have at least one bolt and most have a large red spot of paint you can see from a distance. Cruxes are well protected.

The first few pitches head up a chimney/gully and aren't terribly memorable, but you soon come to a belay at a notch which is the start of a full rope length traverse with an exciting step across. From here a few easy pitches lead to a few ~3ish ones, and finally to a large ledge / small meadow which is a great spot to stop and enjoy the views.

From here, the route trends up and left for about a dozen pitches. The line is very natural, following the lower angle and clean rock, with the occasional pin and a bolt at every belay. The first real crux of the route is about halfway up the wall, and involves an exposed traverse directly off a belay. Make a few 3+ moves, or grab the tat and just pull your way through. Don't forget to sign the "summit" register at the belay under the roof, which is surprisingly only 2/3 of the way up the route!

Keep trending up and left until you get to a large sidewalk sized ledge a few pitches below the summit ridge, and traverse left about 15 meters to find easier terrain. From here the angle starts to lessen until you get to the ridge where you can switch to your approach shoes if you haven't already. Head from here to the top!

From the summit, head down the hiking/via feratta route to the Hesshütte (great food and great beer!), and then down to Johnsbach. There is a more direct way down that skips the hut and involves a few raps and downclimbing, but why take a route that doesn't have beer? Hopefully you started early and climbed fast, the restaurants in town close early. 

Now you might notice you finish on the opposite side of the mountain from where you started! Unless you planned to downclimb 1000 meters, or onsight rap one of the other routes (are there even rap anchors?), heading down the south side is definitely the way to go. Several of the lodging options in town have taxi services to get you back, but you might want to arrange these in advance.

This route is long, and retreat from halfway would be a serious epic because of the traversing nature of the climb. Don't expect cell service either, so plan accordingly. 

The north side of Hochtor. From the Haindlkarhütte (your last chance to fill up on water), follow the trail towards the face, and eventually move up right onto the talus, then following cairns up and to the left before you get to the start of the route. The hundred feet or so before the first pitch are pretty exposed but easy scrambling. The guidebook has a map which makes the approach easy to figure out. The start of the route is near 47.56290, 14.62321

~6 alpine draws (maybe more if you plan on simuling a lot), single set of cams ~.3 to 2, 60 meter rope, helmet