#20 Moritz Welt

“Each day out in the Frankische Schweiz is like coming home to me.”

For Moritz Welt, the Frankenjura is above all homeland. He has visited almost every crag here - a decent feat, considering how many small climbing spots Franken consists of! He knows it very well and enjoys that he can always go climbing without any pressure here. With a couple of special projects to return to whenever he fancies, the motivation for his home crags isn’t likely to run out.

Weekends among the limestone crags have always been not only a very natural thing for him, but a part of the family routine. Moritz was about 4 years old when his parents, both of them climbers themselves, brought him into the world of Franconian rock. Family outings on days off were just what they did - after all, they have always lived in the middle of all this.

Moritz has stuck to this passion and over time, he has not only excelled in sport climbing, but also broadened his perspective by adding more forms of play, in which he’s already attained success. He’s really into bouldering, with many a hard repetition and first ascent to his name.

He also opens new lines with a rope. Some of them he’s found himself, others were gifted to him by other Franken climbers, notably the prodigy Markus Bock. One of these routes is Lazarus at Schiefer Tod, Moritz’s proudest first ascent by far. Markus had bolted it but decided to pass the line down to Moritz. The latter needed to invest a lot of time and energy into finding a possible beta and once he did, it still wasn’t over. The send tries also posed high demands before he was able to complete it. “As a 9a+ (confirmed by Alex Megos and Yannick Flohé by now), it is one of the hardest lines in the Frankenjura and on top of that - a perfect line.”

For Moritz opening new routes is a way to deeper realisation in climbing. “When you bolt a route, or even just do the first ascent, the line becomes immediately linked to your name for everybody. Thus climbing becomes not only a sport, but also a creative process in a way.”

The relationship he’s developed with Lazarus has become important enough for Moritz not only to call the route one of his most meaningful first ascents, but also list it among his favourite climbs in Franken. Another line that has meant a lot for him is Corona, the pure, nails-hard creation of Markus Bock’s. It had accompanied him as a project for four years before he sent it in 2023.

He sees Action Directe as one of the most important ticks of his career for the obvious reason: its historical status. Having grown up in the birthplace of world’s first 11 (9a UIAA), one surely dreams of climbing it one day.

Finally there’s Der Heilige Gral, the atypically long line following a spectacular arch, and yet another opened by Bock. Moritz discovered it for himself when he was 16. He was on the lookout for a route that would be inspiring and at the same time harder than anything he’d climbed before. Kolosseum was close to home so he went there one day to give the Gral a go, having no expectations initially. The only information about the line was available in the famous Adam Ondra video - an inspiration in itself. As soon as he saw and tried the route, Moritz was impressed and motivated. It didn’t last long for him to figure out the sequences. After that he only needed a handful of sessions to link them into a successful send, which he pulled off the very same summer. “I think this line is one of, if not the best, in Franken - and the natural setting is absolutely unique.” Good reasons to pick it as his 50RP route!

Most of his life marked by climbing, Moritz is closely bound with this sport and way of living. He enjoys moving between different disciplines of climbing and related activities: lead, bouldering, training on plastic, routesetting, the odd competition here and there. He finds motivation in personal progress, whichever aspect of climbing it happens in at the time.

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

A little behind the scenes insight: the photos on the left are early poster tests.
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