#01 Caro Bocek

​Caro Bocek visited Franken for the first time back in 2013. That's when she fell in love and has kept coming back ever since, especially that the stories about historic ascents and the big names behind them have appealed to her as well.
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A year earlier Caro had met Robert. Their first conversation started around climbing of course. Now Robert’s her husband; back then - her partner in crime and the person who has introduced her to Frankenland.

In the 10 years between her first moves on this pocketed limestone and the 50RP photoshoot, Caro has been looking for challenges in her climbing.

She is attracted to routes opened by the local free climbing pioneers, historic lines that don't necessarily have many ascents and can often be hard for the grade. She describes her favourite route type as such that requires her to really push herself. They are often lines that don't see that much attention.

She says it's hard to pick a favourite crag out of the thousands the area has to offer, but she values Albrecht Dürer Fels and Streitberger Schild very highly, among others.

Caro's favourite routes in Franken?
Eraserhead, being her first route on the journey following the steps of the “old gang” (now her 50RP route as well!)
Amazonenpfeiler - FA by the legend Wolfgang Güllich himself, a first for Caro in this category.
Nürnberger Weg - she got a belay there by none other than Milan Sykora.
Break free (Freistein) and Step into promised land (Schlehenstein).
Weiße Hände, a route she had to work hard on and that has led to one of Caro's most cherished Franken encounters...

​It was May 2019 when Caro and Robert strayed to Albrecht Dürer Fels for the first time. It was already afternoon upon their arrival in Franken and this crag was simply close enough for a quick session before it gets dark. That’s how Caro found her new project: Weiße Hände. She didn't get stuck into the route properly until a year later, though. That's when she figured out the moves and also took a peek into the logbook hanging on that wall. As it turned out, the logged ascents dated about 20 years back! In the more recent logs, she found a note from a girl who, similarly to herself, needed to put some work into the route (the note said something along the lines of: “finally managed, cool route”). Caro remembered the name from under the note. She tried another route on the same wall, Enenen, which she found very hard for the grade. A few months later, Caro found Katha on Instagram and decided to contact her. She wanted to know if Katha had tried Enenen as well and how she found it. That's how a friendship started growing roots, nowadays blooming when Caro visits Franken and gets to meet her logbook friend. No wonder Weiße Hände has become quite dear to her.

​For 50RP, Caro went back to one of her most important sends so far - Eraserhead, her first route opened by one of Franken free climbing pioneers; in fact by the very Kurt Albert, whose idea started the whole Redpoint game!
Moreover, Eraserhead was Caro’s first in the grade, which naturally makes it that extra bit special for her - especially that she managed it shortly after Covid lockdowns, so at a time when she hadn’t been able to train in the gym much. The route suited Caro very well, since it has no crux move as such but rather requires continuous effort. The process of working it kept rewarding Caro, since she managed a move or two more pretty much every redpoint go - including a fall from the last move on the final bulge. She finally ticked Eraserhead on her fourth go of the day, which she normally wouldn’t expect as she knows her body to perform best in the three first goes any given day.

A little behind the scenes insight: the photos on the left are some early poster tests.
Click here to view the 50RP Posters.

Caro isn't just our first Climber - she's also one of the biggest supporters of the Project - what a mix.

Outside of climbing, she makes pretty drawings and paintings, sometimes inspired by other artists (for example, photographers or writers) - make sure to check out @caro.sketched on Instagram for her artwork!

Thank you, Caro, for being one of our 50 Climbers!

  

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