“What we admire is a mountain range in its decay. We see a ruin, and what we find beautiful are the ruins of a former mountain massif,” writes Carmen Rohrbach about the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, to which she has a special relationship, the is not crumbly or crumbling at all. Early family hikes led her through there as a small child. Then the family moved away and Rohrbach only returned when he was a teenager.
At the age of 14 she learned to climb in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. It “gave me the strength not to give up on my dreams. I found inner stability in nature”. As an adult, she was able to realize her dreams and satisfy her “longing for distant countries in her heart”. She paid a high price for it: in the mid-1970s she attempted to escape from the GDR, which failed. She spent two years in prison before being deported to the West. There Carmen Rohrbach became a travel writer and has written books about the Andes, Galapagos, Yemen, Mongolia and most recently about Kazakhstan. There she was traveling for the first time for a book project together with her brother Holger.
Why Saxon Switzerland? As if the Elbe Sandstone Mountains needed a comparison
They also roam the Elbe Sandstone Mountains together again, the landscape of their childhood. Wandering, not climbing, in all four seasons. Two different characters, which is particularly evident in the assessment of the Saxon Switzerland National Park. Holger Rohrbach is an opponent, his sister a supporter. In this way, the author and her companion and co-author reflect the dispute and debates that exist about protection levels, exceptions and customary rights.
Carmen Rohrbach doesn’t use the term Saxon Switzerland: “The Elbe Sandstone Mountains are unique and don’t need an elevating metaphor. In addition, the correct term is obvious, you don’t need to invent one. It results from the geological-geographical conditions.” A sandstone mountain range on the Elbe, that says it all.
The Rohrbachs are not only on the most striking and well-known rock formations such as the Bastei, the Affensteinen or the Schrammsteinen. You hike far into the Biela Valley south of the Elbe, which is almost uninhabited today, but where iron has been smelted since the 15th century. Through their knowledge and the conversations they have, you learn a lot about this landscape and the people who live and work there.
Tourism moved there early on, and the first accommodation for holiday guests was probably opened in 1869. Carmen and Holger Rohrbach largely elude the hustle and bustle of day visitors and go their own way. How good that Carmen Rohrbach is finally writing about a part of her homeland.
Carmen Rohrbach with Holger Rohrbach: Adventure Elbe Sandstone Mountains. In the realm of the wild rocks. Malik Verlag, Munich 2023. 272 pages, 22 euros.