#03 Chiara Hanke

Chiara Hanke is from Franken: she was born in Nürnberg. However, she didn’t get to know the area much as a child; her family relocated when she was less than a year old.
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Chiara got into climbing at the age of 13 in a gym. It happened in a rather curious way: she was recommended climbing as a way of strengthening her shoulder after an injury suffered while wakeboarding. This new “rehab sport” pulled her in so much that she wasn’t really to be seen on a wakeboard afterwards. She became an active competition climber instead, with many an achievement in regional, national and European level youth comps.

At first she would only come to the Frankenjura rarely, maybe twice a year for a few days, mainly to visit her dad in the area. She enjoyed the rock as a counterweight to the competition circuit.

It was during one of those family visits that Chiara went to Luisenwand for the first time. There were already other climbers at the crag: Gabriele Moroni and Enzo Oddo. She watched them flow through this smooth wall, enchanted by the beauty of the place and movement. She knew instantly she definitely wanted to climb there more.

​Back then, she came to Luisenwand mainly to belay her now-husband Chris, who had picked the classic Kaum Zeit zum Atmen (Chiara’s 50RP route) as his next goal. Chiara remembers that Chris had a hard time learning to move on those tiny holds, not being used to the Frankenjura at the time.

​Luisenwand has indeed become one of her favourite crags in the Franconian Jura. Next to it she lists Krottenseer Turm, owing to its rich history; Jungfernriss - because there are really, really good routes there; and Pornowand.

​At the same time she stresses that it’s nearly impossible for her to narrow Franken down to a few favourite rock faces as it has incredibly many crags to offer. For her, the choice depends on what she feels like doing on the particular day: something will always spark her interest. The usual problem is to decide on just one crag for a session rather than having a couple of favourites.

Chiara reading Kaum Zeit zum Atmen from the ground; with her dog Odin in the two photos on the right.

The time came for Chiara the competition climber to pick a university. She had a couple of options and wasn’t quite sure where to go. The day her acceptance letter from the University of Bayreuth came, she thought: “this is it!” and so she landed herself back in this limestone paradise. Believe it or not, the climbing possibilities were just added value for Chiara and not the main goal. Nevertheless she does say it was the best decision of her life, and if she were to make these choices again, knowing what she knows now, her resolution would be no different.

​Soon after her reunion with Franken, her motivation for competitions waned and she dedicated herself to climbing on rock. Her ascent of Sever the Wicked Hand in 2019 has marked a new milestone on the German climbing scene.

When asked about her favourite routes, Chiara hesitates. She explains that the choice is very broad, with a variety of terrain to consider; many historic routes as well as very new ones. For her, they all have something that makes her want to climb.

She values Wallstreet especially highly because of its character. She found the route very unforgiving and that’s what she enjoyed about it. The bouldery crux comes down to something very straightforward: you can either hold the tiny features or not (she can!). There isn’t anywhere to look for compromise like different beta.
Stradivari is a fairly recent send of hers and one beauty of a route. It is a demanding line with the potential to make many little mistakes on the way up, all of which will be accounted for in the form of harder struggle higher up - at the very least. So cool!
Another highlight is Team Motivation, which is hard for the grade and relentless.

​This brings us right to Luisenwand and Chiara’s 50RP route: Kaum Zeit zum Atmen, which she has also listed as one of her dearest ascents.

As mentioned before, Chiara discovered Kaum Zeit zum Atmen long before she moved back to Franken. Although she didn’t try it back then, she developed a relationship with the smooth rock and it was clear she would return.

When she finally gave Kaum Zeit a go, she could already call Luisenwand her local crag. From her first try, she could feel the route suited her really well. She could stick the holds with relative ease.

She really enjoyed climbing on this historic line, perhaps the more so that this movement came so naturally. Thinking back to her first visits at the crag, she couldn’t really see the difficulty these pockets are told to offer; it all flowed and the line is particularly pretty… The only thing is, she didn’t get to spend much time with it: she ticked it in something like the 4th go - great fun!

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

Chiara attributes her speedy ascent to the right finger size and the fact that by then, she was used to the Franconian rock. It sure helped but looking at her repertoire, it’s clear there’s more to it - you don’t climb what she’s managed just by the right finger size!

The atmosphere at the crag and the beauty of the surroundings must have added some charm to the time spent there. Chiara loves the local forests and sees this corner of the world as a part of her identity. It’s where her grandparents come from. She enjoys the spaces you can experience and the fact that it’s enough to visit another part of Franken for it to feel like a completely different place. She simply feels at home here. In her own words: “my heart grows when I think about Franken!”.

Thank you, Chiara, for being a part of 50RP!