Ambassadors Meeting 2026

Elbe Canyon, Czechia

Three days of climbing, sharing experiences, discovering local climbing culture, connecting with the Singing Rock team and bringing together local climbers and athletes from across Europe – these were exactly the reasons why we organised the Singing Rock Ambassadors Meeting in the Elbe Canyon, Czechia, in early October 2026.

So how was it? Simply great!

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Day 1: Sport line classics on the left bank

On the first day, we headed to the left bank of the Elbe Canyon to climb some of the classic sport routes on Czech sandstone. We warmed up on "Pekelný rej" VIIIc (≈ Fr. 6b+), "Pleťová maska" VIIIc (≈ Fr. 6b+) and "První vráska" IXc (≈ Fr. 7a+) before moving on to something harder: "Skurutí běh" Xb (≈ Fr. 7c), "Černá zmije" Xb (≈ Fr.7c) and "Nejslabší, máte padáka" XIa (≈ Fr.8a+).

Pepa Šindel worked on "To tu ještě nebylo" XIIb (≈ Fr. 9a), one of the hardest sandstone routes, established by Adam Ondra. Martin Stráník ticked "Cigán škaredý" XIa (≈ Fr.8a+), "To tu ještě zbylo" XIa (≈ Fr. 8a+) and "Útěk" XIa (≈ Fr. 8a+) as training for even harder projects.

The human pyramid

The highlight of the first day – and of the whole meeting – definitely came at the end of the day, when we practised the human pyramid, a traditional sandstone technique for reaching the first bolt or ring. After the training, we put our new skills to the test on one of the towers, Labská panna, using a horizontal human pyramid. Watch the video to see how much fun we had!

Day 2: The right bank

On the second day, we first had to cross the river to reach the impressive right bank of the Elbe Canyon. There we climbed more beautiful lines, such as "Léto pod střechou" IXa (≈ Fr.6c+), "Poločas rozpadu" IXb (≈ Fr. 7a), "Volný pád" Xb (≈ Fr. 7c), "Bílá oblaka" Xb (≈ Fr. 7c) and "Matrix" Xb (≈ Fr.7c). Some of the team also tried a pure classic, "Alpský koutek" VII (≈ Fr. 5b), to learn how to place protection on sandstone.

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Closing night at U Kosti

In the evening, we wrapped up the meeting with local climbers at the legendary climbing pub and refugio "U Kosti", which also served as our base camp for the whole stay.

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A big thank you to all the ambassadors for coming and for the great time and amazing vibes. See you at the next Ambassadors Meeting!

Note: The conversions from the local sandstone grading system to French grades are approximate. Sandstone climbing in the Elbe Valley has its own unique characteristics and can be demanding not only technically, but also mentally, particularly due to long runouts between protection points.