CLIMB UP! Climbing Forest in Hennigsdorf

CLIMB UP! Climbing Forest in Hennigsdorf: climbing on the former border strip

On Ruppiner Chaussee in Hennigsdorf, right at the northern Berlin city limit, lies a stretch of woodland with an unusual history. The inner-German border strip ran across this ground until 1989, old pines and broadleaf trees have grown back over roughly 70,000 square metres, and since 2010 the climbing forest has hung in them. Nothing of the border installation itself remains to be seen, what is left is an unusually wide band of woodland that was off limits to everyone for decades. Getting there is quicker than the Brandenburg address suggests: it is only around 500 metres on foot from Berlin-Heiligensee station, and the Berlin to Copenhagen cycle route runs right past the entrance. There is ample free parking. The CLIMB UP! climbing forest in Hennigsdorf belongs to an operator running two further climbing forests around Berlin, and of those it is the one best reached by train. Anyone coming from Berlin needs barely longer for the journey than to an outer district and still ends up in woodland that looks like Brandenburg rather than the city edge.

Thirteen courses, 2.9 kilometres of climbing trails and a Jungle Park of its own

Thirteen courses are spread across a total of 2.9 kilometres of climbing trails, among them an extreme route and the Wolfsschlucht course. Difficulty rises noticeably from route to route, so an afternoon works well played through from easy to hard. Numerous zip lines are built in and the longest measures 180 metres. Before the first ascent everyone goes through a briefing course covering climbing technique, safety and above all braking on the zip lines. Braking is done by hand, which is why gloves are compulsory. For smaller children the climbing forest in Hennigsdorf has a separate Jungle Park with two themed courses and 70 climbing exercises across 6,000 square metres, including a six-metre giraffe exercise. Parents walk along at ground level free of charge. The courses are anchored throughout in old pines and broadleaf trees, between which the view falls on the woodland rather than on a structure. Two and a half hours of climbing time cost 29 euros for adults and the Jungle Park 19 euros per child. Worth planning for: payment is in cash only, cards are not accepted.