You want ethics? This is the home of ethics. Most of these are peculiar for outsiders, but have a long history. Although every few years eagerly debated, they are still valid and even legally binding by being referenced by the Nationalpark regulations. They can be summarized as:
- Climbing is only allowed on free standing rock towers. With only a handful of exceptions, all other rock walls are off limits
- No climbing on wet rock - for your safety and the soft rock's sake. For climbability an extra model was developed.. CHECK IT at unclear conditions.
- No hardware protection (friends, rocks, pitons). The gaps between the sparse ring bolts may only be filled with slings (jammed knots, V-threads, lassoed chickenheads). A wooden or plastic "dagger" may be used for better placements.
- no chalk, no pof
- Sign the summit register.
- Jumping is an accepted way of reaching a summit. This can range from slightly more than a stepover to completely insane kamikaze operations. The respective grade system (1-easy to 4-hard) is currently extended to 6 or even 7.
- Boosting a climber ("unterstützt", i.e. supporting his progress by providing "human holds") is accepted or even necessary on some routes. "Ausgiebig unterstützt" goes as far as building multistory human ladders.
- Toproping is frowned upon.
For first ascends only ground-up ascents are accepted; minimum bolt distance is enforced. Be sure to contact a local, as there may be restrictions on certain cliffs.