Anebos

Overview

Anebos Rock west face

Rock castle or castle rock? Many of the sandstone climbing cliffs in the Südpfalz area at one point in time were either. Trilels is the best example for the first category while Geiersteine, Backelstein, Altschloßfelsen and Burghaldefels clearly belong to the latter one. All of these crags have been used as foundations for castles, most of them as what we call "Fliehburg" in German: escape sanctuaries to hide from enemy assault. Backelstein even carried a wooden castle-like structure. But during the ages most castles fell into ruin and today all you can see is the hole for a roof beam here or the indication of a well or cistern there.

Anebos is a good example for a former rock castle having turned into a castle rock. The foundation for the castle were laid in the 12th century and the Lords of Anebos, marshals to the German Emperor Heinrich VI, lived there for about a century. Afterwards the castle was handed over to an imperial sewer and the castle slowly fell into ruin. As early as the 14th century the castle was completely abandoned. Since then six centuries have passed and Anebos Rock has regained its original state - a sandstone cliff high above the town of Annweiler, neighbour to the imperial castle of Trifels some half kilometre to the north.

Floorplan of Anebos Castle (linked from www.pfaelzerburgen.de)

Anebos Rock makes its apperance on this climbing site because it is located in one of the most popular climbing areas of the Südpfalz region. It is one of the rocks which are located on the ridge between Trifels Castle and the ruin of Scharfenberg Castle, which also contains Münzfels and Jungturm, two of the most important cliffs of the whole area. Anebos plays the role of an alternative climbing location when those other cliffs are too crowded. And believe me: on a fine summer day there won't be a single unclimbed route on the whole ridge.

The qualification as alternative destination stems from the fact that Anebos Rock is rather small. Its height does not exceed 13 - 20m, its width and depth being even smaller. However, aside from the easy (German grade II) normal route, there are only really difficult problems to solve on the four faces. Especially the vertical and almost featureless north face and the overhanging east face are home to routes of grades VIII and IX-.

The normal route is of particular interest as it follows - after a 3m UIAA II climb steps which have been carved out of the rock way back in the 12th century. Due to ongoing archaeological activity around the rock some parts are not always readily accessible. Sometimes you have to walk the long way around it to reach the face to your left or right. Also, you will often meet picknicking parties around the rock and on its southern "forecastle". Climbing it you will have to be prepared for a curious audience.

Climbing Anebos Rock

Anebos Rock, along with Trifels, Münzturm and Jungfels is one of the most popular climbing destinations in the Wasgau area. While the normal route is easy (II), there are routes up to IX-, mainly on the overhhanging east face. Due to the short length of the climbs they are more like bouldering problems in character. All of the faces have interesting routes with the ones on the south face being the eastest ones. The following information is linked from the site of the Vereinigung Pfälzer Kletterer I link to their routes database directly with some summary info. Here is the link to the complete database.

For more information see the book by U. Daigger and H.-J. Cron (see below)

Region	Routes link	Summary
Anebos	Anebos	2 routes with variations ranging from 2 - 9-

Getting There

Anebos is located south of Annweiler on the ridge which connects Trifels with Schafenberg. The closest parking lot is the one beneath Trifels but for that one you have to pay a fee. Better park on the smaller lot south of Scharfenberg. The closest airports are the ones in Frankfurt and Stuttgart with the following itineraries:

From Frankfurt

There are two possible routes which both take equally long

1. Via Ludwigshafen
   • From Frankfurt take motorway A5 southward to Darmstadt.
   • There change to A67 south.
   • At Viernheimer Dreieck turn onto A6 west.
   • Leave it at Frankenthaler Kreuz for A61 south.
   • At Mutterstädter Kreuz take A65 south until you reach Landau.
   • At Landau turn on B10 west.
   • Take the exit Annweiler North after you have passed the second tunnel on the road.
   • Take B48 south but after 200m leave to the left, driving into the outskirts of Annweiler.
   • After another 300m turn right (sign Trifels) and follow the side road towards the castle. You'll pass Asselstein and Kletterhütte (parking lot), then head on for anothe 1.5km. Where the road turns into a one way road there is a small parking lot.
2. Via Kaiserslautern
   • From Frankfurt take motorway A3 west
   • At Mönchhofdreieck turn onto A67 south
   • At Rüsselsheimer Dreieck take A60 west
   • At Kreuz Mainz Süd take A63 south
   • At Kreuz Kaiserslautern turn onto A6 west
   • At Kreuz Landstuhl turn onto A62 south
   • At Pirmasens turn onto B10 east
   • Take the exit Annweiler North and follow the instructions above (sign Trifels)

From Stuttgart

• Take motorway A8 to Karlsruhe
• At Karlsruher Dreieck turn north onto A5
• Take the next exit to head for A65
• At Landau turn on B10 west.
• Take the exit Annweiler North after you have passed the second tunnel on the road.
• Follow the sigs "Trifels" until the road turns into a one way road. Use the parking lot there.

Red Tape

Yes, there is red tape and lots of it. The sandstone of Südpfalz forms lots of caves and overhangs. Though this makes it most interesting for climbers, two species of birds of prey compete for this habitat: the peregrine falcons and the eagle owls. Both are endangered and wherever there is a eagle owl pair found nesting in the sandstone the crag will immediately be closed. Generally this closure lasts from the beginning of each year through Aug. 1st. If breeding is not successful the closures will be cancelled even before that date. For a list of closures see the Closure List of PK.

The use of magnesia is not allowed in the whole Südpfalz region. This is rather a directive or an arrangement than an outright law. Thus you probably will get away with using it but do so only when absolutely necessary. Magnesia closes the pores which you find in the sandstone and together they form a smooth surface which will get very slippery or soapy in wet conditions. The rule of thumb is to use magnesia in the highest difficulty sections and only extremely sparingly.

Fees

There is a parking lot at the base of Trifels which costs € 1.50. Better use the parking lot where the road turns into a one way road, south of Scharfenberg.

Accommodation

There are quite a number of hotels, inns, apartments to be found in the area around Annweiler and Trifels. A good link (German, however) can be found here:

• Trifelsland Accommodation

Weather Conditions

Maps & Books

Maps

As for maps there is a good overview map (1:50000) by Kompass Verlag but the best ones are the official topographic maps by the state government of Rheinland Pfalz, scaled 1:50000, 1:25000 and 1:5000. All official maps can be found on the web page of Landesvermessungsamt Rheinland Pfalz

1:50000

• Naturpark Pfälzer Wald
  Kompass Map WK766
  ISBN: 3-85491-523-3
  
• Annweiler am Trifels
  LVA RLP Map L6712
  ISBN: 3-89637-191-6

1:25000

• Annweiler am Trifels
  LVA RLP Map 6713
  ISBN: 3-89637-141-X

Books

There are a number of climbing guidebooks on the region of Südpfalz. The best ones, however, have been published privately and are sold only in selected bookshops of the region.

Hiking
• Pfälzerwald
  B. & J.-Th. Titz
  Rother Verlag
  ISBN: 3-7633-4268-0

Climbing
• Klettern im Buntsandstein
  U. Daigger, H.-J. Cron
  Westpfälzische Verlagsdruckerei St. Ingbert
  ISBN: 3-00-0155457-4
  
• Pfalz ++, Klettern im Buntsandstein
  R. Burkard, P. Weinrich
  Published privately
  
• Klettern im Naturpark Pfälzerwald
  Naturfreunde Lambrecht
  Published privately


• Pfalz & Nordvogesen en bloc
  A. Wenner, Y. Corby, I. Bald
  Panico Verlag
  ISBN: 3-936740-19-4

Images

View Anebos Image Gallery - 14 Images