Cedar and Alex hanging out in the Elbsandstein

We just got done with three weeks shooting for THE SHARP END on the uber-traditional sandstone spires of Eastern Europe. The team included a bevy of bold and rad climbers: Cedar Wright, Heidi Wirtz, Renan Ozturk, Vera Schulte Pelkum, Alex Honnold, Matt Segal and Topher Donahue. But even these guys were pretty gripped by the local ethics: you can’t use chalk, you can’t use metal gear like cams or nuts, and all you have for protection are knotted chords (which seem like they wouldn’t hold a falling caterpillar) and an occasional rusty old ring bolt every 40 feet or so.

Bernd Arnold barefoot solo

We spent a week following the legendary Bernd Arnold (who still pulls down hard and barefoot solos 5.10 at age 62) around his home crag of the Elsandstein in East Germany, and another 10 days in the Czech Republic, where we got scared out of our minds on death routes during the day and recounted the heroics over endless glasses of pilsner in the pub at night.

Alex Honnold gives the knots a try

The Czech town of Adrspach is a classic climber community. Oldsters and young alike take part in a tradition that dates back a hundred years. But don’t go it alone out here. We highly recommend local guide Tomas Pycha, who is a great guy and the perfect inside man in this labyrinth of rock: www.tomadventure.org

Renan captures the scene. Check out his stuff here. Also check out Nando’s field videos of our trip here.

Pete filming Heidi on a classic Czech crack

Matt runs it out on the towers

Beer at 10 in the morning before a long day of tower jumping. Tomas, on the right, was our illustrious guide. Peter, on the left, is a ballsy tower jumper who broke his foot later that day. But Cedar — who stuck some big jumps — was not much better off (see below).