#04 Jennya Georgieva

Jennya’s climbing story started in a gym. At first it was just something to do in her spare time, a side hobby. After about a year and a half into her climbing journey, she went to Frankenjura for the first time. Something clicked. She fell in love with the beauty of this place and climbing on real rock. Today, she calls Franken home.
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The story of Jennya’s climbing reaches way deeper than just clipping bolts - it’s a whole lifestyle.

Rewind to her childhood. Already back then, Jennya had a strong bond with nature; she learned the appreciation for it from her parents and grandparents. 

Her mom and grandma knew a lot about herbs and plants, passing this knowledge on to her. With her dad, Jennya went to the forest a lot, learning to appreciate the freedom and stillness there from a young age. Her dad also opened the world holistic health for her. He taught her to practise yoga from the early school years as a way of treating her scoliosis. It brings warm memories, him always trying to make it entertaining for the child Jennya was back then.

Growing up, she started neglecting yoga. As for many in their teens, having fun and socialising with friends became much more important to her. She eventually stopped practising completely and it stayed like this for many years.

Fast-forward to when she started climbing.

Jennya goes to the bouldering gym and enjoys this social sport together with her friends. Coming back from one injury, another one awaits her around the corner. They’re never very serious but they disrupt her climbing. She seeks treatment but the symptom-based medical help she receives can’t get her out of this cycle.

All this pushes her to embark on a journey to reconnect with her body. During a summer holiday back home in Bulgaria Jennya rediscoveres yoga and it doesn’t take long for her to feel its impact, both physically and mentally, so she decides to do her first teacher training as a way to understand her body on a deeper level. As the next year passes, an urge grows in her to share her discoveries with others. Jennya quits her job and heads to another teacher training. She starts teaching at the E4 gym in Nuremberg straight away, where you can still meet her now. In the meantime she’s done more courses and has developed her own teaching style, which combines yoga therapy, mobility and breathing exercises into flowy sequences. She works with breath awareness a lot, along with flow state.

Jennya warms up before leading a session at E4

Jennya’s also a traveller - and during her journeys, she inspires others to work through their fears by changing the old patterns. She gives workshops on the road, too. This is all a part of her identity as a climber.

In Franken, she travels mainly on her e-bike. Sometimes she'd do a part of the distance on the bike, joining a friend for a car ride if it's too far for a sensible day-trip (don't forget how large an area Franken covers). She lives in a yurt with a lovely outdoor sitting area and makes the best pre-cragging day coffee.

But what are Jennya’s favourite rocks in Franken? She mentions quite a few: Bleisteine, Student, Ankatalwand, Weidlwanger Wand, Sprungstein, Holzgauer Wand, Kühlochfelsen, Schiefer Tod - a choice that shows Franken’s abundance, plus some mandatory classics of course.

Classics are also to be spotted among Jennya’s favourite routes: Chasin’ the Trane, Nimué, Internet, Offenbarung, Weg des geringsten Widerstands, Georg Ehmann Gedenkweg, Heiße Finger, die Entdeckung der Langsamkeit, Grundkurs, Weltmeister der Herzen, Zaphod, Lila Pause…
What strikes her most about routes is the beauty of the line and movement.

Her ascent of Internet is another injury story; she had to change her beta to avoid a left hand mono - instead, she did a different move altogether.
Two lines that Jennya finds to be beautiful are Georg Ehmann Gedenkweg and Heiße Finger, both at the sunny Student and great for dry winter days; she has tried both of these routes for a session or two every year but since the season is so short and she tends to travel during wintertime, she hasn’t managed to complete them yet.

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

Nimué (her 50RP route) wasn’t love at the first sight. In fact, during her first try Jennya felt that the movement didn’t really suit her style; she found it to have rather bouldery character. She didn’t let that discourage her, though, and she was soon proven right: every next try was more fun than the one before. She enjoyed playing with the movement. The route also pushed her to climb faster than she usually does on endurance routes.

Another line she’s fallen in love with is Chasin’ the Trane. It took her a very long time to tie in for this one initially. Long ago she belayed a friend on it and thought: “wow, this looks crazy hard!”, she didn’t even think about trying it. Years later she went to Krottenseer Turm again, there was a queue for Chasin’. Luckily, living in the area, she can also go to the crag during the week, and so once she got lucky to find the crag almost empty. She pulled on, figured out the moves… Now all it needs is a few more sessions with good conditions to clip the chains.

Chasin’ is just one example of a highly respected ultra-classic of the area. At the beginning of Jennya’s adventure with Franken, there were always crags that felt intimidating with their amazing, majestic lines.

Now it’s changed: she has learned to take on the challenge and appreciate the richness at her doorstep rather than letting it scare her off. For Jennya, Franken means variety and abundance. You may think you know the area well, and then you visit a new crag and - surprise! - you find a route that’s new and fresh. All it needs is keen spirit to discover. There’s everything for everyone; all possible hold types and rock features, space for endless creativity. One can develop their own flow in Franken as well as discovering what their skills are and improving on them. It’s easy to dive into the atmosphere here: the beautiful forests and endless green all around you… it’s very much magical.

Thank you, Jennya, for bringing your magic into 50RP!