Beat Kammerlander [de] (1997, as a sport climb), (2009, as a traditional climb)
Prinzip Hoffnung (in English: Principle HopeorPrinciple of Hope), is a 40-metre (130 ft) long traditional climbingroute on a thin crack up a conglomerate rock slab on the『Bürs plate cliff』(German: Bürser Platte) overlooking the village of BürsinVorarlberg, Austria.[2] The route was greenpointied by Austrian climber Beat Kammerlander [de] in 2009, and was one of the earliest traditional climbing routes to be graded at 5.14 R (American), 8b/+ (French), X/X+ (UIAA), or E9-E10 (British);[2] it is still considered one of the hardest traditional climbing routes in the world.[4]
In 1997, Austrian climber Marco Wasina made the first redpoint of the lower part of the route up the length of the first 25-metre (82 ft) thin crack that splits the face, which he did as a boltedsport climb.[2][5] A few months later, his friend Beat Kammerlander [de] repeated Wasina's route, and then made the difficult moves to extend the route rightwards into another set of even smaller fissure cracks through an almost blank featureless section of 6 metres (20 ft) to create an even harder 40-metre (130 ft) sport climb that he graded at 8b/8b+ (French).[2][6][5]
In 2009, Kammerlander removed the bolts (called greenpointing) and spent several months training and mentally preparing himself (and admitting to sleepless nights worrying about the falls),[6] to reclimb it as a traditional route.[6][7] During his attempts, he took several 15-metre (49 ft) falls from its crux onto small wires below.[6] In September 2009, Kammerlander, aged 50, made the first free ascent (FFA) of Prinzip Hoffnung as a traditional climb.[5] He said: "The Burs Face has always fascinated me. The climb is very particular and uses tiny edges and footholds. If you try it too often you bloody your fingers and wear through the rubber on your shoes. It's a hell of a battle."[6][7]
In March 2014, Austrian climber Barbara Zangerl made the fifth overall free ascent and the first female free ascent (FFFA) of the route.[8] Even a decade after Kammerlander's first ascent, the route had only recorded its tenth ascent,[9] and in 2023, the route is still ranked as one of the hardest traditional climbing routes in the world.[4][10]
Prinzip Hoffnung route is considered a classic crack/slab traditional climb and an important testpiece,[11] with subsequent repeats of Prinzip Hoffnung being closely followed and recorded in the climbing media.[12] When British climber Maddy Cope climbed it in 2019 she said: "The route is a dream line, one that you see pictures of your climbing heroes on but never think you will actually do it yourself".[12] When Anna Hazelnutt climbed it in 2023 with Tom Randall, she said: "Prinzip Hoffnung is seriously a dream climb! Tom and I have been eyeing this line for quite some time now, a perfect mix of crack and slab – although it was definitely more cracky than I anticipated".[13]
The route is an important part of Beat Kammerlender's legacy, who was one of Europe's strongest rock climbers in the 1990s, and who made the first-ever ascents of multi-pitch routes at the grade of 8a+ (5.13c) and of 8b+ (5.14a). In 2009, Kammerlander said: "Prinzip Hoffnung has an equal significance in my personal development", and "Major climbing projects demand development inside myself and that was exactly the case here".[6][7]
