“DAMN IT, I FORGOT MY EIGHT.’’
“I FORGOT MY ATC!’’ “AND I FORGOT MY HARNESS.’’ “YEAH, ME TOO…’’
SURE, THAT IS A BIT OF AN EXTREME SITUATION, BUT HEY:
CAN YOU STILL TANGLE YOURSELF INTO THE DÜLFERSITZ?

TEXT: Zdenek Petran, S. Mitac PHOTO: Vilem Heckel, B. Svatos, J. Freiwald, S. Mitac, Z. Petran, TRANSL: Michal Freiwald, D. Raber | WINTER 2016/17

They call him “Cepr” in Slovakia. By definition a person who moves only horizontally. When involved in a chat about climbing, often not scared of the climb itself, but much more scared of the height, depth and the subsequent getting down. Can often even be surprised by the fact that instead of down-climbing, climbers use the rope to descend to the ground.

Our generation proves this to tourists quite effectively in Czech sandstone areas. This is possible thanks to all kinds of high-tech gadgets which have found a way into this particular sport. Well, when it comes to health, those folks with smart brains can come up with literally anything. It hasn’t always been like this, though.

DOWN WITHOUT A BELAY DEVICE

In the late seventies, abseiling eights infiltrated into climbers equipment along with securing tubes which started to appear a short while after. Not the subject of this article, for this is the present, known by every climber.

Ropes were used for getting down from the peak long before the invention of these tools. You would only use the friction of the rope against your body to slow you down. Dülfersitz is the name of this particular old school method fondly remembered by old-timers.

Who was this mister Dülfer, to have found the way of descending down the rope at the turn of 19th and 20th century, very little is known nowadays, even though he was a very significant climber back in the day.

Hans Dülfer showing his technique in 1910 (f: Cr. commons)

HE USED TO OPEN THE HARDEST ROUTES IN THE ALPS AND HE INVENTED LAYBACK CLIMBING

Hans Johannes Emil Dülfer was born in 1892 in northern German province of Rhineland-Westphalia, in the city of Barmen-Elberfel, known for its traditional pharmaceutical industry. Aspirin was discovered there.

Hans Dülfer began his academic career in Munich in 1911 studying medicine, but later decided to study law, which ultimately got him into philosophy. It was the short distance between him and the Alps that later got him interested in climbing. He quickly accomplished more than fifty important first ascents, especially in the Austrian Kaiser Mountains, and in the Rosengarten region of the Dolomites. Some of his most notable climbs are

The Dülfers chimney on Totenkirchl (5+, A0, 120m),
The East Wall of Fleischblank (5, A0, 400m) and
The Dülfers seam on Fleischbank (6-, 250m, „Pretty difficult, given its difficulty,’’ says the guide, Dülfer climbed it solo in 1913, editor’s comment).

It is Hans Dülfer who is the claimed father of an abseiling method known as the Dülfersitz. It is also believed that he was the one to have invented the “layback climbing“, even though this was just because he was an early master of the technique. Dülfer died in the early age of 23 at the battle of Arras on July 15th, 1915. It’s been 101 years since his death.

NOSTALGIA BURNS YOUR CROTCH

For quite a long time the Dülfersitz was the most common way of abseiling and it’s still remembered today, mainly with nostalgic memories of those gorgeous burns on the right side of your neck and shoulder along with some far less pleasant ones right next to your genitalia.

From all the books describing classic abseiling, the most compelling one is probably a Czech book about Josef Smítko called Friend from the Rocks, it’s written with a little bit of romance. This once very admired novel was published in 1958 in Brno and in it the life of Josef Smítka is described with a strong emphasis towards his fairly common, for the era, left-wing ideals. Politics aside, Josef’s climbing journey, mainly on the walls of Cruderocks is protrayed with the typical group of climbing friends – Chroust, Fifan and others, and is presented quite accurately.

’Well, if I had read this very terrifying stuff about abseiling as a beginner, I’d sure as hell never have gotten to my first attempt and would probably given up this sport right away. The reality is luckily far less dramatic and so we cheerfully abseiled all kinds of cliffs from the start. And how about when we even added those effective push offs of the rock! Crowds would stare at this remarkable show of “acrobatics’’ – naturally meant especially for the watching ladies – with their breath held.

– Exemplary Dülfersitzs from photographer Vilém Heckel, the fifties –

“CAN YOU ABSEIL FROM THE MARE TOWER?“

There’s not so much enjoyment in long abseils. One of great well-known examples is the Czech tower “Kobyla” – Mare. We would often fear it not because the routes were difficult, but because of the abseil, which led 30 meters in open air (the rappel ring is above the air, see photo above). It took some guts and skill to get down from the Mare. If you somehow got in the Dülfer the wrong way, there was no rescue shelf where you could rest and fix it. After we landed on the ground, we spent a good while pouring cold water on our necks.

The passing rope made some nasty burns on certain places of our body which eventually forced us to come up with all sorts of protective devices. Our mothers would sew all kinds of mechanically resilient badges on our shoulders and bottoms at first, solid leather later served as a so called “tube’’– a piece of leather with strings at the ends for us to tie around our legs. We often remembered a report from one guide book: “When I die, I want my skin to be used for tubes’’. Someone also came up with another great tool; he would bring a watering hose, cut it on the long side and take it with him to the crag to use it as a groove for the rope.

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Rappelling from the Czech tower Mare (photo: Standa Mitac)

WE WERE SHOWING OFF WITH THE “BOLD CZECH STYLES”

Some other ways of threading your rope later naturally found their place, for example the first crazy czech style known as „to death“. You would pass the rope through your crotch and pass it around your waist. There is less friction of course, so you’d have to use some strength to slow yourself down. The only reason to use it is probably to show off in front of observing tourists and the ladies, for it kind of demonstrated your physical condition. Nevertheless, it is only used for the shortest abseils.

Another similar method is a daring style “na turnováka” with its specific positioning of the rope not outside your legs, but dangerously between them. Once again, the friction is still smaller than with the Dülfersitz, therefore you slide a bit faster and still have to use your own strength. Thick pants and a collar around your neck are a must for this technique. You can see Guziš Záhora performing this particular method in the 1950s.

Various attempts for further development eventually brought the use of ropes passed through snap-hooks in all kinds of ways as a braking engine. From there it was just a small step to the manufacturing of special fix device, which was the birth of the figure eight. Production started in the West and they were difficult to obtain in the Czech Republic at that time. Czech climbers made our own amateur pieces at home.

It has been a long time since I got mine from a friend in Prague’s Waltrovka. It is made of heavy aeronautical duralumin and I still have it till this day. My friends were very thorough and worried about my safety, so they tested it on their industrial equipment and even at the weight of 7 tons it showed no signs of damage!

It is common these days to abseil with eights and tubes along with many other modern tools, but make no mistake, should you forget these helpers in your backpack or drop them along the way, the Dülfersitz might be the best way to get down safely.

The burning hot behind your neck and by your scrotum will only be remembered with good faith.
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Special thanks to Tendon Ropes for their help with English translations.

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