Climbing at Lusatian Mountains

The Lusatian Mountains lie in northern Bohemia on the border with Saxony, between Nový Bor, Jablonné v Podještědí and Jiřetín pod Jedlovou, and continue into the German Zittau Mountains. The protected landscape area is made of wooded hills, some of them volcanic bodies exhumed from Cretaceous sediments – such as Jezevčí vrch of sodalite trachyte, protected as a national nature reserve – with sandstone rock towns and viewpoints between them such as Popova skála, Krkavčí skály and the Sloní kameny natural monument.

Climbing is mainly on firm sandstone. The best-known crags are Horní skály (Obrvégry) near Rynoltice, also suitable for beginners, and Falkenstein with Sokolík and the Cvičná věž towers above Dolní Světlá. Many routes at Horní skály were first climbed more than a century ago, some in 1904. Chalk is banned in the Lusatian and Jizera Mountains climbing areas and the sandstone rules apply. For Horní skály, park about 3 km from Rynoltice along road 13 just before the village; for Falkenstein, park free at the upper end of Dolní Světlá and follow the green trail to the border barrier, then 300 m left to the towers. Climbing is possible most of the year; summer weekends get crowded.