Thursday 24 October 2019

Destination Kyparissi - Climbing

Kyparissi... 420 inhabitants, hours from anywhere,  a handful of restaurants and cafes,one small shop, no fuel.... lots of climbing. Sounds like a dream destination? Read on.

We began this year looking for a new hot rock destination. I've seen a lot of Spain, and Kalymnos, as good as it is, has been the source of so many great days, it would feel like we were repeating old memories by going back there any time soon.

I bought the Aris Theodoropoulos' "Climb Greece" on a bit of a whim, and after hearing some good things about Leonidio. However, my attention was instantly drawn to Kyparissi, brand new, lacking infrastructure, lacking full information, and requiring a little more adventure than your average destination, it looked perfect.

Since this blog seems to get a fair bit of external traffic when I cover a specific destination, and given that there's not too much info out there on Kyparissi, I wanted to write this partly as a blog and partly as a destination guide, for others thinking of climbing here.

Sunset over the bay from Cavo Kortia

Accommodation:

Turned out to be very easy. Unlike Kalymnos where all the good stuff is booked up 6 months in advance, one gets the impression that Kyparissi used to see a lot more tourism than it sees today, and there is a lot of accommodation about at good prices. We visited twice this year, staying at Cavo Kortia, which is a bit more upmarket at 20-30eur pppn, and is well worth it, brand new rooms, serviced every day, a great restaurant and a lively atmosphere with a mix of Climbers and older German couples here to walk.

Rooms in Cavo Kortia

Not a bad bedroom view!

Greek-eating


Weather:

In both early May and early October, it was hot (30 deg C). I typically don't like climbing when it's too hot, but I personally would avoid Kyparissi in the cold, almost all the crags are in the shade after 12.00-13.00, those by the sea get windy, and those up high see mountain temperatures. So early May and early Oct was perfect.

Clear waters and nippy fish


Getting there:

It takes about 5 hours from Athens airport by car. You also need a car to get around. The roads are slow going with various hazards including rocks and goats in the road, but it's very pretty if you take your time. The main thing to remember is to get fuel on the way in, since the nearest station is 1 hour away in Molaoi, and despite everything being close once you are there, with the mountains and windy roads it is pretty easy to burn through a tank of fuel in a week.

An unbolted valley south of Balogeri


Location & Stuff in the Village:

Is absolutely perfect, if you like the quiet life. Empty clean beaches, clear water, great for snorkeling, friendly locals, walking trails, a handful of cafe's and restaurants serving local food, and a shop that has most of what you might need (it's a bit expensive, but it's pretty well stocked, the only exception being fresh vegetables).


After climb chilling



Cavo Kortia night walk

Kyparissi by night


Who said the beaches in Greece are full?


Climbing:

In general it's (very) well bolted, sport climbing, on good rock made up of tufas, blobs, pocketed walls, and grey slab. Some of the climbing is absolutely world class. A standard sport rack with a 70m rope and 16-18 draws do most routes. It's worth packing a helmet, at least for the belayer, as some of the rock is still a little fresh.




It was pretty clear to me as soon as we turned up in Kyparissi that what is bolted (as of 2019) only scratches the surface. The massif which houses the Watermill and Babala has a lot of further potential, and the sea-level gorges of Vlychada and Balogeri seem to stretch on forever with potential. I have the dream, and I am sure those that have bolted so far do, that in 10 years this place will house 1000's of quality routes.

In the Climb Greece book, it gives a short story as to who and how this area has been bolted. It's important to recognise just how much work has gone in to making the area accessible and with such good quality; bolting, lower-offs, paths and signage. My suggestion if you visit is buy the guidebook or/and find another way to donate to this project.

It is also worth checking the  https://climbgreece.com website, as this includes up to date information including the newest crags Balogeri and Hideout.

Despite being quite limited on crags, it's been pretty quiet on our visits. The classics at Watermill and Kapsala see action most days, but we also had days where we were totally alone at the crags.

For each climb I have included the Climb Greece given grade + (my view of grade & stars in brackets).

Playground:

This fun little crag is a great place to start. Tucked away between Watermill and Babala, this little smooth pocketed grey slab is easy to get to and offers a great introduction. It would also be good with families. We came here on day 1 on both visits, cleaning the center of the crag each time. The rock is super solid and not sharp.

F6b () - Lizard - A bit eliminate, not the best here
F5 (**) - Maricela - Nice finish
F5 (*) - Monkey Bars
F5 (*) - Wizard
F5 (*) -  Anketi
F5 (*) -  Aristos
F5 (**) -  Cookie Monster - very pleasant
F5+ (*) -  Crocus


Watermill:

Ok time for the serious stuff! Watermill is undoubtedly one of the best looking crags I have ever seen. Perfect tufas with an unobstructed view over the bay. It's worth saying that the crag has seen a number of different bolters and there is still quite some inconsistency on the grades and route quality. The tufa routes through the main face between Thanks George and Stelios House are world class.

One slightly odd thing at Watermill (and a couple of other crags) is super high belay chains, like you get to the glory jug and then have to either stretch really far, or do some horrid move of sharp crozzle to clip the chain. It frustrated me a bit to begin with, but everyone has the same struggle, so one gets used to it.

What a crag!


F7c - Vryl (**) - dogged, quite powerful but one to come back to
F7a+ (7b?) - Kalimeralex - dogged, seemed quite hard for the grade
F7a+ (7b?) - Pita 4 Eva - dogged, seemed quite hard for the grade
F7a (***) - Thanks George - absolutely world class tufa climbing, belay is too high
F7b (***) - Myros - dogged, another amazing tufa once you find a way around the low crux
F6c+ (F7a ***) Kyparissi - Jen Flash, great tufa climb
F7b+ (**) - Stelios House - dogged, hard, long cruxy move, needs some power
F7b+ (F7b **) - Kyfanta - cool slab and wall climbing, still quite crumbly but nothing dangerous and should clear up quite nicely. Seemed easy at the given grade.
F6a (F6a+/b **) - Tetoros
F6b+ (***) - Smoke on the Water - dogged!, quite a hard last move
F6a (*) - Skourkos - better than it looks
F6c+ (*) - Drop - hard very technical top slab
F6a (*) - No Name - brand new, quite pleasant
F7a+ (*) - Trypes (Jen only) - slab and wall, less bolts than others
F6c (**) - Koumara - difficult at the very end


Psilovrachos

We a made an afternoon visit to this crag, the walls on the left look very long and potentially a good adventure. We stuck to the caves on the right and tried Blue 7a (7b?), which turned out to be harder than we were expecting. I also wasn't happy about the quality of the rock for the higher bolts, and met another couple who had a similar experience. I feel this place has got a lot of potential but hasn't seen much action yet, so do take it easy.


Jerome's House:

Old-skool grey wall climbing, and a bit more spaced bolting (only by Kyparissi standards) compared to other crags in the area. Unfortunately the walk in involves walking through an avalanche of fly-tipped rubbish, which given how clean the rest of the environment is, really put me off. The crag itself is clean and has a great view out to Jerome's house and the bay.

F6b+ (*) - Pinkerton,  hard first 2 meters and not easy above
F6b+ Choco Heaven - Loose on the bottom half


Kapsala:

A huge hidden cave halfway down the steep cliff between road and sea. This place is a bit intimidating on first arrival, it looks massive and potentially loose. However, it is worth getting roped up as the routes in the main cave are amazing, long enduro lines on jugs in solid red rock and tufas. Out of all the crags this is where I had most fun. The 7's on the right, although a lot shorter are also worth a look. We avoided the 6's on the far left as these looked loose.

Lowering off Born to Lose

Whiplash


View from Kapsala


Jen on Whiplash



F7a (**) - Bolton Celtics, not quite the quality of it's neighbours, but still a very good route and well worth doing
F7a (F7a+ ***) - Born to Lose, amazing overhung wall on jugs, except the bit where there are no jugs! Pretty hard to onsight at F7a, a must
F7b+ (***) - Sunburst, dogged, one to come back to
F7a (**) - Whiplash, a bit shorter than it's neighbors but every move is amazing! classic small tufas with a powerful finish
F7a+ (***) - Nobel Bolt, amazing tufa climb followed by technical vertical crack and juggy wall. Quite run out at the very end, could do with an extra bolt. (Jen Flash)
F7a+ (F7a *) - Pearl Jump, not a bad little route, but all over after the 2nd bolt. Much easier than the 7a's on the main face!
F7a (F6c+ **) - Red Wine, really nice climb with a sequency start section and some interest above
F6a (*) - Ravani
F6a+ (*) - Lukumades


Vlychada:

Is well worth visiting, even without the climbing. An 800m drop in altitude through hairpins (via car) leads you to a beautifully clean, abandoned beach. It feels like at some point long ago this saw many more tourists, but these days  it just sees old German couples in their campers and a handful of climbers. The climbing is really good. Tufa Tango gets the fame, but it's worth exploring the whole crag as there are many good lines from 6c upwards.

The bolted crag at Vlychada

New potential?

Hanging out at the beautiful beach


F6c+ (***) Myrtoan - awesome "frankejura style" pocket sequence and easier finish
F7a (**) Artemis - well worth doing with a weird technical crux
F6c (***) C'a L' Envers - great wall climb with layback and steep finish
F6c+ (*) - Katsikos - hard, thin crux (Jen flash)
F7b (F7a *) - Freedom - a fun line, but much easier than F7b if you go left at the crux, going direct would be possible but felt a bit forced
F7b (**) - Tufa Tango - dogged, impressive for photos, but hard to clip at the crux with big fall potential
F7a+ (**) - Mare Nostrum - nice short crux sequence (Jen flash)
F6b () - Tandalo, awkward!
F6a (F6a+ *) - Into the Groove
F6a (*) - Laloudi
F5b - Mura Rossa


Kastraki:

When it got really hot in early October, we decided to adapt the "Kaly Approach", by this I mean get up early 0630, hit the crag that gets the morning shade, and spend the afternoon chilling on the beach. As well as giving us a great opportunity to relax in the afternoon sunshine, it allowed us to check out this crag, which located right by the village. It doesn't look like much, but we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of routes on the right hand cave. There were some further 6c's we never got to try that would also be worth coming back for.

Kastraki crag (bottom left)


F5 (*) - Pipis, quite fun!
F5 (*) - Koles
F6a+ (F6b *) - Kolios, pretty thin hard slab at the end
F6a (**) - Kakaras
F6a (**) - Kastraki Extension, we avoided the top pillar as it looked a bit hollow, probably OK but we did't see it worth the risk
F6a (F6a+?) - Bouras, did I miss all the "hidden holds"???
F6b (*) - Pontikos, brutal mid section!, but worth doing
F6c (***) Frydias - really good, but not easy through the pockets especially when greasy, dogged
F7a (**) Tzambas - a few independent cruxes, which requires keeping it together
F6c+ (F6c ***) Jumping Fish - very nice classic overhang jugs and pockets
F6c (**) Krinos - much better than guide suggests, no sharp holds, and cool pocketed wall climbing
F6a+ (*) - Tantra
F5+ (*) - Panotsys

The Newest Crags!

On our 2nd visit we decided to visit two brand new crags. Actually, these were bolted in time for the climbing festival in May (which we missed by one day!), but we hadn't seen the topo's at this point. The topos for both crags can be found here. It's worth saying, new crags require some adventure, and these are no exception, so take your time in the approach and take care on the rock.

New Crag: The Hideout

Located right by Kapsala, the Hideout boasts more tufa lines in the 6's. The approach is written up as very exposed and this is no understatement. It's not exactly like the sea cliff approaches on some of the trad routes in the Lizard, Cornwall UK, but it's getting that way! We didn't have helments with us and wished we had. Expect loose rock scrambing and metal rungs. The approach is given 15-20mins, but I would give it 45mins first time.

Parking for Kapsala (and hideout)


The crag itself is quite impressive once you are down there. And we started up Lenga 6a+. Unfortunately, it was too loose for our liking, with me pulling off two fist size bits of tufa by bolt 5, and it was not looking better above. In general, I do have my concerns about the overall rock quality of this crag, the rock and tufas are a really deep red in colour and I wonder if it will ever get to a really solid point. The other issue is that unlike most tufa crags, the belayer is right in the rockfall zone, making the consequences of pulling something off much more serious.

I am not saying don't visit this crag, just that I will personally wait a couple of years before coming back, and I'm keen to see what it looks like after each of the routes have seen some traffic. On the way back out we did Swordfish 6a-c (6a+ *), which was more solid, up a grey wall and small tufa.

New Crag: Balogeri

From the Climb Greece description, Balogeri seems to open up another paradise bay combining beach and climbing, indeed it's close to Vlychada and has a very similar feel. The beach is perfect and clean, and the cliff is just a 10min walk above it. The main thing that struck me here is just how much more potential exists in the Balogeri gorge, and also on the next gorge over. What is currently bolted just seems to scratch the surface, and while it's mostly grey slab, it's certainly worthwhile.

Balogeri beach and climbing

Can't complain about the bolting!!!


The rock here is generally solid. In a couple of years it will be bulletproof. It is sharp though. The hammer debate is always an interesting one. Personally, I would have taken more of a hammering to most of these routes and softened them up, but others don't always like this. It's a fine balance. Anyway, as long as one is selective where they fall off, and picks good footwork over cranking hard, it's not too much of an issue.


Sex Bomb (that's the climb!)

The new Poema de Roca?


New Chulilla?


Combined with some time on the beach, I would certainly recommend seeking this crag out.

Balogeri Snorkelling

Way in


About that.... we got lost getting here first time. The GPS coordinates: 36.841556, 23.050528 are correct, but in our TomTom, it took us down the "red road" below, which although is very close as the crow flys, is 35mins drive from Balogeri. If you have been to Vlychada before, it's very easy, just head to Vlychada down the huge set of hairpins from Richea, and at the bottom, where there are a couple of buildings and scrappy fields, take the right hand fork on to a dirt road. Putting Damos on Google Maps also works. Once you get to about the marked star, just after a farm building overlooking the bay, it's best to get out and walk. It took us 25mins to reach the crag from the car.

Don't get lost!
Parking spot, unless you have a 4x4

F7a (F6c/6c+ **) - Richea, a nice slab sequence which is less sharp than it's neighbours. I onsighted the comfortably, probably easier than F7a
F6b (**) Iris- could be good but was unfortunately very sharp. Personally I would take a hammer to this and knock the edges off. Also a bit loose at the top still.
F5+ (**) Kotero Cove - a nice, easy wall with interesting moves the whole way
F6b+ (F6b ***) Sex Bombs Ext.  - the top tufa is very cool!! the bottom section was a bit weird though and both Jen and I agreed harder than the tufa itself
F6a+ (***) Kolokithokeftes - a very interesting and long wall climb with laybacks towards the top



Overall:

We have had so much fun in Kyparissi. The atmosphere and the locals make this a really special place. It's quiet, and the beaches are clean and clear. There is some adventure to be had seeking out newly bolted lines, and much more adventure for those wanting to bolt more. Some of the climbs are real gems that would hold their own anywhere, and others are well bolted really fun climbs in interesting rock. We've tried much of what it has to offer in the mid 7's, but I am sure we will be back in a year or two as the charm of this place is irresistible.
























Sunday 18 August 2019

Wild n Wake - Steinberg Am See

3 days in a new location, an old coal mine turned nature reserve "Steinberg Am See". Which also happens to have one of the best cable wakeboard parks in Germany and therefore Europe.

We got some good footage in 180fps, which will make a great end of summer video. But more on that later, for now, here are some stills of the action...

Camping directly at the Cable - super simple!

Tail Press over Box
Powerslide, or... surviving!
The Water Feature proves a lot of opportunity for fun - Ollie off Wedge

Ollie down the steps

Tail press on the Crocodile

FS 360 off Rail

Boardslide on Rail

BS Ollie 180 attempt
View of the Cable from the Camping

Sunday 2 December 2018

Wakeboarding & Festival in Eastern Europe

Winter has set in Brandenburg, the leaves are off the trees and the idea of being "too hot" is a distant memory. Everything is quiet, no climbing, no wakeboarding. It's finally given me the time and headspace to look back at some of the memories from Summer 2018. Special about this year is that Jen has picked up wakeboarding and is improving at lightning speed, great that we can do another sport together :-)

In August we took a few days off an missioned on down to Samsara Festival, which is near Lake Balaton in Hungary. This is a chillll electronic festival that I had been wanting to go to for years, and it didn't disappoint.

We took the wakeboards, and decided to make it a combined wakeboard / festival adventure. Good thing too - as it was about 40c at the festival during the day and an escape to water seemed the only sensible option.

On the way down we had some high and low points, accidental trips to Poland, a paradise campsite in the Czech wilderness, closed wake parks, Bohemian Eurocamps, issues with Slovakian vignettes, and Lupa wake park - possibly the coolest park in Europe? A gorge walk. Lots in a week! All in all, an awesome adventure.

Here's a video!: https://youtu.be/egAo6wasXFU

Riding the Pipe in Shallow Waters!

Tuesday 30 May 2017

Austrian Road Trip - Klettersteig!




So apparently Frankenjura isn't the only place we're supposed to go on holiday. The weather is warming and it was time to take the van further afield. Having taken the van to so many cool places in Germany last year, we settled on a trip to check out Austria, and in particular their modern take on Via Ferrata.... or Klettersteig in German.

It basically works like this. Routes are graded A-G, where in reality A is a path with a rope, E is "extreme" which basically means up to French 6a but this can be in an Alpine situation or a 1000m face, where a fall could be very serious indeed. As for G... well we didn't get that far, and there is nothing harder than E/F in Austria.

The Klettersteig Guidance!
We started our trip with a night stopover in the Franken forest. While we didn't get a chance to climb it was a great start to the holidays!

Waking up to sunshine

It was then quickly on the road down to the far south east of Germany, to Konigssee, for our first Klettersteig experience and a lovely hour long boat ride to Obersee. Where you get to see a guy dressed in Lederhosen play a mini trumpet to the mountain... and the mountain plays back Yes Germany!

Konigssee
The first klettersteig, graded "E", was a non alpine but pretty long route (something like 500m up) and Jen's first Via Ferrata. Needless to say she was pretty excited!


Grunstein Klettersteig

Jen not containing her smile!

Getting started on the first hard stuff.... still having a blast!
Exposure creeping up



Yes, as fun as it looks...
After walking back down via an full Umpah band and biergarten at the top of the mountain we headed for a well deserved boat ride.

Trumpet-Man-Boat

Frish Milch!

Obersee, Jen's take on the classic boat house shot

Leaving Konigssee

Austria was calling, so after some confusion with the toll system, (YES you need to pay tolls in Austria and NO there isn't any booths or much warning, you just need to know and get a sticker for 9eur a week), we head down to Hallstatt.

Hallstatt - thanks wikipedia!
Hallstatt is really nice, so much so that the Chinese have made a replica and it's basically an Asian pilgrimage to see the original... yep, really. However it's kept it's Austrian feel, and is surrounded by beautiful alpine mountains including the Dachstein range.

Echernwand in the background

Having driven down during the day, we made a speedy afternoon of the short but steep Echernwand. This was super fun, other than the "Panorama leiter".. which is basically a ladder overhanging over the edge of the cliff. Jen loved it. I shat myself.

Starting up the Echernwand (or should that be Urchin Wand?)

Jen definitely not taking Via Ferrata seriously.....

Can you see the whites of my knuckles? This I did not like.

Amazing views of the Hallstatt and Dachstein range in the background

Happier to be back on Rock (and Iron)

After a crazy night of red wine and cards (plus a couple of spectacular thunderstorms), we were ready for a bigger challenge....

Who needs Berlin Clubbing?

 Keen to attempt something more Alpine we head over to Krippenstein Nordwand, which is 2100m, and in May still very much covered in snow.

Oscar and Jen with the Krippenstein in the far background

The only way up this time of year is by cable car. It was getting pretty obvious that it was too early in the year to be trying this.... but someone was too excited!

Snow Fields below Krippenstien, and Jen's first Gondala ride!
Wondering if the Blizzard, and Snow Fields can be navigated through...
We took a walk out to the Five Fingers viewing point to take a look anyway, and instantly hit a problem. The way in to the Klettersteig was a 3m cornice and cliff edge, no sign of the cable hidden deep in the snow. Just about to give up and Jen convinced me on a slightly crazy idea, "let's downclimb the "hard" route, traverse along the bottom, then climb up the "extreme"..... Convinced we were going to hit a snow field half way round, but safe in the knowledge we could simply reverse it.... I humored her....

Left - way in totally covered in snow, so we downclimbed the hard route...
As it turned out the way down was totally snow free. But there were some serious snow fields still left on the face. We gave it a go.

The long and exposed traverse across the bottom of the north face
Here's where it goes up... can you spot the ladder? 400m of gently overhanging north face klettersteig
As it turns out most of the North Face was also free of snow, with the exception of one small field really close to the top, where clearly at least one other party had been mad enough to try it and dug the cable out for us...

Half way up the Krippenstein

Enjoying the Metal Pokey Rods. Not too hard but stamina needed!
So, we got there! and as it turns out the route was absolutely awesome. I definitely want to come back here later in the season and do some of the higher ones.

Back on the tourist route!
Proud, we treated ourselves to a visit to the Eishöhle - really impressive ice cave!

The Eishöhle
Next up was a visit to somewhere more rural. So we hopped in the van again and headed round to the other side of the Dachstein.... here it quickly changed. No American or Asian tourists in sight, just some local German and Austrian walking and Via Ferrata groups, and some really nice rural camping.

Away from the tourists, south of the Dachstein
Here, there is a lovely gorge called the Silberklamm. It has 3 klettersteigs. Apparently you are supposed to do one each day, and make half a week of it. Clearly not, we did all 3 in an afternoon, including a quick stop for a Cola in the refuge!

Jen showing her moves in the Silberklamm


Still not quite adhering to the Official Austrian Guidance for Safe Klettersteig
After the alpine day before, the routes were almost a bit tame, despite climbing the infamous "Rosina" which is basically a 400m vertical ladder. Very easy if you can hang on for that long, one handed moving over all the cables, and I am sure very tiring if you can't!

The awesome Vertical Ladder pitch of Rosina

The third of three Klettersteigs, hidden at the top of the Gorge
I loved the Silberklamm gorge.... even just to walk around the place is soooo peaceful!

After some debate as to what to do next, we eventually settled on a rest day. It was windy and a storm was brewing after all.... A visit to the local Therme and wander around some of the local sport crags, debating whether trying an 8 pitch 6- with 1x30m rope, 1xBelay device, and some quickdraws, while absolutely knackered... was a sensible idea or not.... nah.

The day after, it was back to Hallstatt for a 4 hour epic tour of the Salt Mine. No photos unfortunately but just to say it was super cool. We did the non-tourist extended tour...

And with the final weekend coming up I couldn't resist.... 2 days in the Franken! As it turned out it was the Marmot Kletterfestival. So after crushing some 8-'s at Verte Dimension, we head over to join the Freibad, Fun, and DWS Competition....

Nice weekend for the Kletterfest!
Jen hoping to catch a glimpse of Alex Megos' abs (who unsuprisingly won the competition)
Finally, a Sunday visit to the Norisbrettel, to do the mega no star classic 8 "Meglomania". Perhaps I got a bit power crazy on the onsight... falling off the last hard move and then spending another 6 attempts to get it. Jen flashed it and got straight on an 8a project.... schooled....

So after another amazing week in the Van, reality felt like a vague blur. It was time to come home, feed the bunnies, and sleep in a normal bed again....

Awesome.