#15 Katha Franke

There was a time when camping under the stars in Franken wasn’t taboo and Katha Franke used it well. She and her friends would sometimes only emerge from the sleeping bags at the foot of a route as the first morning climbers arrived to try it. Normally there are enough rain-sheltered spots in Franken, but downpours happen. Before one such cloudburst, Katha and her friend found a box of red wine and a pile of Hustler magazines at a parking spot. Soon the rain got so heavy that they were forced to retreat to the car and look for somewhere dry. They took their find with them.

The search led them to an empty chapel, their only hope not to soak. If you’ve been to some of Franken’s smaller villages, you know places of worship can be tiny here; this one could barely fit their boulder mat bed. It had a roof, though, and that was the only requirement. They stayed for the night.

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