This summer, we are doing a Spotcheck on the Frankenjura, a massive sport climbing area in Germany. The Frankenjura boasts over 4000 routes spread across a 100 km area in the state of Bavaria.
Steeped in history, the Frankenjura was the birthplace of modern sport climbing. It is famous for its characters, like Wolfgang Guillrich and Kurt Albert, as well as its influence on modern climbing culture. From the campus board to the redpoint, sport climbing in the Frankenjura has in one way or another shaped the way we think about climbing.
The closet big city to the Frankenjura is Nuremburg, Germany which happens to be home to Cafe Kraft, a state-of-art bouldering gym that has started to define indoor bouldering culture. We thought it best to burn a rest day checking it out. Cafe Kraft features 1600 square meters (you do the math!) of climbing space including a cafe lounge, ample space, and a full training centre, including a 45 degree wall and campus board.
We thought it would be interesting to get some insight from Pino Stein, the media director at Cafe Kraft on how they got started and some of their upcoming plans. Here is what he had to say.
Hi Pino, thanks for chatting with us!
For our readers that have never heard of Cafe Kraft, can you give us a few details about the gym?
The Café Kraft was opened in March 2011 when bouldering still seemed to be an idea of crazy climbers in Germany. The hype, luckily, took off two years later when our gym was already established in Nuremberg. In March 2016 we are celebrating our 5th anniversary.
Looking back at the entrance.
We offer 1600 square meters of bouldering walls in our gym including grades ranging from 3 to 8a on the Fontainebleau scale and levelled by specific colours (take a glance at: http://cafekraft.de/nuernberg/halle). Every six weeks we change one boulder parcours and reset a new one (i.e. one parcours is one colour and therefore a certain level).
The average boulderer is between 18 and 45 years old and gender-wise relatively well balanced. We offer many courses for children and our oldest customer is 82 (!!!) years old. One unique feature is that boulderers can top out on the top ends of the walls following gangways to a descending ladder which avoids risky falls/jumps from high wall edges and therefore prevents injuries.
Massive overhanging wall to the left
Small children may use a closed children’s area with child-adequate boulders and playground accessories if guided by their parents. We also offer a training area where boulderers are enabled to gain more power by using the campus boards, peg boards, system wally, rings, sling trainers or ordinary weight lifting devices. Thanks to our very successful book ‘Gimme Kaft’, boulderers will never lack new training ideas.
Top out area past overhang.
I want to go all the way back to the beginning of the gym. How did Cafe Kraft get started?
The friends and founders Reto Faulenbach and Hannes Huch came up with the idea of their own bouldering gym when they met at the ISPO trade show in Munich in 2010. Initially, they just aimed at a little gym for their own pleasure but things turned out to be different…
Looking back from the second phase.
Why is the name ‘Cafe Kraft?’
In the glorious 80s, the original Café Kraft Restaurant in Pegnitztal (Frankenjura) was the place to be for all the First Generation redpoint climbers such as Wolfgang Güllich, Kurt Albert or Norbert Sandner. Therefore, we could not have acquired a better name for our gym. Ms Winkler – the former owner of the restaurant – conferred the knightly accolade upon us by entrusting us with this legendary name. We realized that this name comes along with the duty to always give our very best in order to cherish the past.
We would like to share our enthusiasm for this climbing history and we therefore made our dream come true by the construction of the Café Kraft climbing gym in order to take up those past days with you while we climb together and have a coffee with you! The Café Kraft, a perfect place to train and climb, to make fellows and friends, drink coffee and simply have a good time.
Cave in the back.
As we are very into the Frankenjura climbing history it forms a crucial part of our image and self-understanding. The famous hand shake picture of Güllich and Albert (in our entrance-hall) expresses exactly what we would love to offer to all of our customers at the Café Kraft: partnership, fun, cosy hospitality, sportiness and new paths far from the beaten tracks. With defining the red point, Kurt Albert reinvented free-climbing and set free a world-wide climbing revolution. Wolfgang Güllich was pushing the climbing limits like no one else in those days. For a certain period he even registered the hardest first ascends on three continents at the same time.
The two of them were always on cordial terms with each other. Even more, they shared a flat together with Norbert Sandner, the so-called ‘Hotel Frankenjura’ well known among and frequently visited by the international top climbers back then. The flat-sharing community became a home and a gathering point for the world’s best climbers from all over the world who picked up the spirit and carried it to their home countries: To the USA, to Japan, to Australia – everywhere!
Cafe Kraft has seen a rise in popularity over the past two years. What has changed from your perspective?
From the customers point of view it’s the simple fact that climbing and in particular bouldering has finally reached the masses. Outdoor sports are fashionable these days. Every form of climbing is accepted. Especially bouldering is the perfect fit for urban sport activities since traditional fitness gyms appear outdated and their workout concepts of artificial weight lifting movements are simply boring.
Bouldering upstairs.
Natural and holistic movements are en vogue. Climbing is a basic human desire. Remember the days when you, as a child, were trying to climb every tree or rock that seemed accessible. Bouldering gyms pick up this natural desire and combine it with different advantages for customers:
– gyms are mainly easily accessible by car, bike or public transport
– you do not need any super-expensive equipment, just a pair of climbing shoes and a chalk bag
– Neither do you need a partner as the soft floor mats catch you like cushions in case of a fall and no belayer is necessary, for our society of individuals this independence from other people is very important
– Contrarily to this individuality and independence, it is a sociable sport as you get in contact with other boulderers very easily while figuring out the solution for a certain boulder problem
– bouldering trains your whole body and strengthens your back which is definitely the weakest body part of us degenerated desk workers
– If performed reasonably it can be a lifetime-activity
– it is self-motivating as the different boulder problems
From our point of view, business has gathered speed and we had to grow personally and personnel-wise. With now over 50 employees it is obvious that bouldering gyms can make a living. Sometimes though we wish we had more time for bouldering for ourselves.
Upstairs cave area.
Can you tell us a bit about the philosophy behind the gym and how that helps you make decisions?
Our philosophy or values are simple:
– partnership
– fun
– cosy hospitality
– sportiness
– and new paths far from the beaten tracks
We try to keep these values in mind whenever we have to make new decisions.
Partnership also characterizes our treatment of our personnel since every person is important to make to whole machinery work smoothly The best part is that we always find both time for bouldering and acceptance in others for our physical need to climb.
Hallway bouldering #2
You just made an expansion to the gym two years ago. Can you tell us about the process and what it has added to the gym?
The gym took off like crazy a year after we opened our doors. The building was daring to explode due to the increasing masses of people gathering in our little gym, so we could not help but expand the whole project. Luckily, we had a huge parking lot which we could cut down a bit in order to build another hall in 2013.
Looking back from hall two.
One of the main focus areas of the gym is training. Why make space for training and instruction?
Because of the simple credo of Wolfgang Güllich that ‘There’s no such thing as too much power!’ Our customers strive for every way to gain more power. Gladly, we have two training experts, Dicki Korb and Patrick Matros, at hand who offer not only their vast expertise but also share their passion for our gym. Dicki Korb originally came up with the idea to name the gym ‘Café Kraft’.
These guys are priceless and add professionalism to our gym thanks to their successful training methods having enabled the climbing super-star Alex Megos to set new standards. We thought, “Why should we Common-Johns not try to gain more power, too?”, and consequently published our training book ‘Gimme Kraft!’.
Training area upstairs.
The training facility is a combination of class German tradition, the campus board, as well as an English tradition of having a 45 degree wall with permanent holds. Why are these two items so important for your training space?
They are, apart from finger boards, very effective training devices to build up finger strengths. The system wall or 45 degree wall is very close to real climbing conditions offering a variety of holds and training impulses. Güllich invented the campus board training and successfully raised the climbing standard after sending the world famous »Action Directe« (9a).
Have the regular pass holders made an effort to train effectively or does climbing and bouldering continue to be the most popular way to enjoy the gym?
Both, but we have indeed recognized an increase in customers using the training facilities
The space and the facility seem top-notch. Has the management team always placed an emphasis on the best, or has this been a work in progress?
Thank you. A bouldering gym is nothing else but an indefinite work in progress. The good thing is that there are always possibilities to improve parts and bits. It is quite similar to training: you may never reach your absolute limit but it feels good to try the best you can.
The campus board at Cafe Kraft.
The gym appears very clean and bright. Do you make an effort to keep the physical space in the best shape possible?
Another compliment, thank you. We employ an everyday cleaning staff and our team fulfills different tasks to keep the whole facility nice and clean as far as possible. Winter time customer frequency is sometimes very challenging for everyone of us.
There are a number of social areas throughout the gym. How does this help with gym culture?
As we are trying to establish an atmosphere of cosy hospitality by providing sociable corners for our customers where they meet others, take a coffee and have a chat. The comfortable 2nd hand couches and the “Granny” Lampshades help create a place where everyone immediately feels at home. Mayan Gobat-Smith once said: “Coming to the Café Kraft is like coming home.”. What a compliment!
Social area downstairs.
Hang out area upstairs.
You also boast a pretty impressive coffee bar. Do a lot of people hang out and have beers and coffee after climbing?
Yeah, definitely, as Güllich already said: “Coffee drinking is an essential part of climbing”. People like to have a coffee or a beer after their training sessions while they are enjoying themselves chatting with their friends.
Over the past two years, Cafe Kraft has really focused on branding the gym and media featuring professional climbers. How has this helped the gym?
Branding has been a crucial part of the Café Kraft ever since the first day. Thanks to our two trainers and the training book »Gimme Kraft!« we were able to raise our publicity internationally. Top-Athletes frequently come to our gym taking a training session with Patrick and Dicki and often send their projects afterwards like Sachi Amman who recently sent »Fight or Flight« (9b). Luckily, Hannes (one of the founders), has worked as an image film maker for many years which enables us to make and us videos of the training sessions for marketing strategies.
Coffee Bar.
Cafe Kraft has made an effort to promote some climbing history, with pictures around the gym of Wolfgang and Kurt. Why is this important for the gym?
The famous hand shake picture of Güllich and Albert (in our entrance-hall) expresses exactly what we would love to offer to all of our customers at the Café Kraft: partnership, fun, cosy hospitality, sportiness and new paths far from the beaten tracks.
With defining the red point, Kurt Albert reinvented free-climbing and set free a world-wide climbing revolution. Wolfgang Güllich was pushing the climbing limits like no one else in those days. For a certain period he even registered the hardest first ascends on three continents at the same time.
The two of them were always on cordial terms with each other. Even more, they shared a flat together with Norbert Sandner, the so-called »Hotel Frankenjura« well known among and frequently visited by the international top climbers back then.
The flat-sharing community became a home and a gathering point for the world’s best climbers from all over the world who picked up the spirit and carried it to their home countries: To the USA, to Japan, to Australia – everywhere!
Check out our image films if you like though we are still lacking English subtitles.
It appears Cafe Kraft has a good relationship with Adidas. Can you tell us a bit about how this got started and how it allows you to do things you may not be able to do?
Adidas is a global and powerful brand which has been able to conquer the climbing sector over the last decade. From the moment they started sponsoring the Huber brothers, climbing has started to become famous in Germany. Over the years Adidas has added many top-notch athletes to their portfolio who gladly visited our gym like Sasha DiGiulian, Kevin Jorgeson and Melissa Le Nevé what helped us raise our brand publicity. Adidas is a perfect fit for us and both companies learn a lot from each other.
You are currently in the process of expansion in Stuttgart. Can you tell us about the new facility?
We have developed a franchise concept which is unique in Germany’s bouldering gym landscape. We published our idea in early 2015 and the guys from Stuttgart were the first ones to seriously try the concept. It took us several months to sort things out and to make ends meet. On the 1st of August the Café Kraft Stuttgart kicks off. We are happy with another idea being practical. Fingers crossed for the new gym.
Will the new facility be managed by the Nuremberg group or will it be independent from the original gym?
The Café Kraft Nuremberg remains the mothership and think tank of the Café Kraft brand. We function as franchiser with franchisees in Stuttgart who act as independent managers as far as their everyday business of the gym is concerned. Everything regarding the Café Kraft brand is up to us.
Is Cafe Kraft looking to expand in other areas or even outside of Europe?
We are open for everyone and every country or continent. Our franchise concept is in English, too. Check for more info here. We are looking forward to find new partners in cities with more than 200.000 inhabitants.
Finally, for those starting a new gym, is there anything that would have done differently if you had to start all over?
In general, no. It’s just some everyday business shortcomings that we would change if we a restart was possible: We would have a bigger bar with a more sensible shape and a more modern men’s locker and shower area since the actual one is a relict from former days.
Thank you so much for your time. The gym is absolutely fantastic and I enjoyed my visit there.
Thank you, for your visit and your curiosity regarding our story. And thank you for your compliments.
Entrance to Cafe Kraft
