The first route I did here called "Trous dans L'air" (8b+) takes one of the steepest lines of the crag. The climbing is varied and sustained for the first half until a burly bulge (the first crux) then an easier section on huge traversing pockets which takes you to the hard crux through the final bulge. It suited my style and felt more like 8b than 8b+, but the climbing was awesome nonetheless.

The second route I did is called "Fake Friends" (8b+). This is a left hand variation on the last route with a more sustained (but not as cruxy) finish. Initially graded 8c (don't ask me how), this I felt was similar in grade to "Trous dans L'air" but perhaps a little harder with it's sustained finish.

I also did another route today currently graded 8c called "Keep Going". The climbing on this was the weirdest climbing I've done in Kalymnos. On orangey Australian style rock, it has three distinct cruxes:

1) Bouldery on Pockets
2) Bouldery on Slopers
3) Techy Bridging

The climbing wasn't that hard, just really sequency and balancy at points. The upper section of the route felt like the climbing on "Zoolook" (8a) at Malham, smeary bridging on edges. Compared to the other routes, the climbing wasn't as hard physically and it felt more like a soft touch 8b or hard 8a+. Amazingly, this route was confirmed by some really strong climbers as 8c, but I'm now starting to think that they might all have been on 8a.nu crack at the time.

All these routes have had relatively few ascents, so there is still time for the grades to even themselves out. Kalymnos has a massive reputation for soft touches, however, I have found that in general the grading is pretty standard and could be compared with any other European sport crag (even the UK). Just like everywhere you go, there are your soft touches and your sandbags. The former tends to be more popular and that is why you hear about them more often.

The main routes in Kalymnos you always hear about being soft are the ones at the Grande Grotte sector. There are literally around 12 routes in the grotte and they are all mega long stamina pitches on stalactites - grading these is much like grading cracks - an issue that Tom and Pete are dealing with right now in the U.S.

My point is that there are soft routes in Kalymnos, but there are also some sandbags and a lot of quite rightly graded routes, and because there is a lot of new routing being done now, there is also going to be a lot of routes needing confirmed by the masses and not simply slagged for being too soft.

Anyway, I've had such an amazing trip this year. I am too lazy to bolt routes, but this is something I am going to have to amend for the future as I've simply been a consumer in Kalymnos this far, I guess it would be good to give something back to the island too. Spending time with Neil Gresham, Simon Rawlinson and Lee Cujes this trip has inspired me to take my hand to the drill in the future. These guys have endless enthusiasm for bolting and looking for new lines, it seems they love the adventure of finding a line, cleaning it and bolting it almost as much as the climbing (Freaks!?!?!?).

So I have 2 days climbing left, today I will rest and tomorrow I'll finish of an 8a+ I put my quick draws on. Hopefully I have one or two climbs left in me before I'm homeward bound, however I'm definitely feeling the exhaustion of the trip setting in now. Psyched for getting home and back into the training regime, winter is coming on fast and there's only 4 months until Spring/Spain next year : )

See you all soon : D

ROBZ OUT

Robz

I am currently sitting in the empty Kos airport, in the dark, with Olly sleeping to my left and a snoring greek guy behind me. I am finally at the end of my trip, I won't be seeing the sweet shores of Kalymnos until next October when I am coaching as part of the masterclass coaching holidays, check it out here! During my last week, all I was aiming to do was get as much climbing done as possible! With only a week, starting any big projects was out of the question and there was still a few classic routes I hadn't done!

I checked out an 8b at Odyssey called "Indi Watana". This was an absolutely incredible route, slightly sustained until just over halfway, only mildly overhung and on very small crimps! I onsighted straight into the start of the crux and even managed to get to the crux move without falling, however, the crux move was absolutely sick! I have never pulled on a hold so small in all my life. I didn't have anyone helping me with the sequences, so its hard to tell if I was doing it right, but the way I read it meant that I had to pull of a tiny 1/4 pad edge with my right at full extension, straight into a good pocket, then do some more big moves into slopey pockets and a final crimpy section on blade edges! I am not the best at vertical filth (I have learned that) and I know it is an area that I need to work on, so I am going to leave this one for next year along with Adrian Berry's "Spartan Wall" 8b that I found very unpleasant after 5 weeks of pulling on jugs (8b slab urghhhhhh)!

On my 3rd to last day, Olly and I went up to Iliada sector to try Neil Greshams new 8a+ "Valley of the Dolls", unfortunatelty due to a heavy rainstorm the previous week, it had sustained heavy seepage and we had to knock this one back for the time being. This is what lead us to the intimidating and very un-climbed section of rock behind "Iliada" and "Odyssey", "Olympic Wall"! "Olympic Wall" is a dominating face of long clean pipes (single tufas) running up and down the wall, very impressive and amazing lines (literally). I find myself intrigued by the art of climbing tufas, I imagine it to be the limestone climbers answer to crack climbing, but not : P I suppose its really the opposite of cracks, coming out of the wall rather than into the wall? Anyway, I find the art of climbing tufas a very odd experience... no tufa is identical, but the approach is always the same:

1. Pinch!


2. Look for knee bars...


3. Pinch!


4. Heel hooks?


5. Pinch!


6. More knee bars anywhere???

With this in mind, I have found that I am rather good at climbing them (unlike cracks) and therefore I enjoy them, so "Olympic wall" was going to be good fun for me. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Olly... He has not had the best luck with tufas on this trip. It has become apparent after long discussions and debates, that Olly is perhaps the worst single pipe tufa climber in the world! So when I suggested "Olympic Wall", I just didn't tell him that it was primarily single pipe tufas : P

So on arrival, Olly's face dropped as he stared at the wall (covered in single pipe tufas) which was then followed by me getting a lot of abuse : P In the end though, he couldn't be bothered walking all the way back down the hill, so opted for the easiest of three single pipe tufa lines on the wall (7b). I however, fancying myself a bit of a single pipe tufa master now and went for the beautiful blue one going straight up the middle of the wall! Weighing in at a sturdy 8a, the route "Hellas Rodeo" flowed elegantly up the clean white face as a single blue pipe, all the way to the top of the wall with the exception of the final clip to the chain which was a techy face climb.

I scoped out the wall in search of potential rest positions, chalk marks, a sequence as such and most importantly, the bolts! What I found was, there was no chalk as it had been raining previously, sequencing tufas is bloody hard and for  a 40m route, there wasn't that many bolts! This was odd, it couldnt be? Could it? There wasn't more than 7 or 8 bolts for the entire pitch and most of them seemed to be at the bottom part of the wall securing the easiest climbing. Trying to block this out of my mind and avoid thinking about the guide book comment "VERY SPACED BOLTING!", I set out for some fun loving tufa action!

As I made my way steadily up the wall, I hadn't approached any seriously difficult climbing for the first 10-15m. This section was largely on a lay back, single pipe tufa leading into a much bigger tufa which would take me the rest of the way. I got established at the base of the biggest tufa and looked up... 1... 2... bolts... 10m? maybe more! OH MY GOD! I plucked up some courage and went for it! The first part of the tufa was easy, just establishing myself into the groove between the massive feature and the blank face which I was smearing off on the left. I noticed that I had to make my way round to the other side of the tufa to climb it, doing this put me into a very precarious position as my rope was now twisting around the tufa and rubbing against it as I continued to climb! Suddenly the tufa started to get really slopey, the footholds vanished on the face and i was now just laybacking up this thing, smearing all the way up and occasionally bridging out a bit when I could (reminded me of Dean Potter on the tombstone). I must have been a good 4m above the last bolt, so I looked round the corner of the tufa to clip the next one... nothing!!! WHAT? WHERE IS IT??? I looked up and only another 2m higher I could see it glistening in the sun, so shiny and beautiful, never had a bolt looked so attractive! To get there though, how was I to do that? I was already slipping of the tufa with sweaty palms, I was miles above the last bolt and I was properly crapping myself! I rolled my body round to face the tufa head on, and then again to try and get on the left hand side, the holds where even worse on this side, I told myself that it was all ok, sport climbing is safe and everything would be fine... but I was still flippin' miles above that last bolt!!! I slapped my way up the tufa some more, praying to god at each slap that i would hold something juggy that I could clip from. Looking up, I suddenly saw it, a rugged, spikey slot in the wall, it was the king hold, the jug of wonders! I sketchily dabbed my feet up the smeary tufa and layed one on for the jug... LATCH!!! Never has clipping a bolt felt so good... I will never forget that sound... CLICK (crisp)! Perfect, the sound of safety : )  I suddenly came to terms with what I had done, where I was and what I was doing... After a few minutes, the hyperventilating slowed down and I regained my self. The rest of the route was certainly not a pushover, I moved from the jug into a clean, blank face with very small edges separated by the odd slopey pocket, not to mention the massive runout from here to the chains as well (as big as the tufa runout, except this time I could crimp and rest). What a crazy route! Never have I been so mentally challenged. Even though it was sport, I felt that it really pushed me into the realms of the trad climbing experience, where your decisions count for more than just success, but also safety! I certainly won't forget this route in a hurry and I am eager for my next trip back here so I can do a bit of bolting myself (closer bolts I think). There is a clean white tufa just to the right of the 8a that looks absolutely immense, so heres hoping no one snatches it before me : P

So I had a succesful on-sight of the 8a, Olly on the other hand had "tufantastic" (waaayyyy I made a joke) a time on the 7b to the right... not really... He had a good burn on the on-sight making it about as far as the second big tufa, however, doing the usual Olly thing when faced with tufas, he missed the key points from the tufa 101 guideline I wrote above, namely numbers 2, 4 and 6... He got in plenty of 1's, 3's and 5's, but without the necessaries... this can't be sustained! Oh well... its something he needs to work on and gives him a good excuse to come back, more tufa training!

On the second to last day, I also made a repeat ascent of a route called "Polifemo" 7c at Odyssey sector. This was probably my first 7c I ever redpinted, in fact, it was probably my first real project outdoors! I had climbed this route about 3-4 years previously when I was 16 years old, Olly and another friend Jason had been trying it on off throughout the trip, so I thought as a parting goodbye to Kalymnos, that I would do it again for old times sake... in the dark! It was kind of a flash cause I couldn't really remember that much beta, only that it had a crux in the tufa and the finishing slab. I love climbing in the dark, its such a strange experience. I have climbed a few routes in total darkness before (a 7c in Margalef and 7c+ in Rodellar) with a head torch of course! I always find that I trust my feet more, not sure why, maybe because I can't see them so I don't know how bad they are? What is really annoying but again, part of the experience, is thinking your going to a hold when actually your going to a shadow of the hold cast by your head torch, that can be doozy!

The last two days I racked up quite a good wee tick list:

"The beginning at the end" 7b+ (on-sight)

"Polifemo" 7c (Phantom Flash ; P )

"Aegialis" 7c (on-sight)

"The Poison" 7c+ (on-sight)

"Pindaro" 7c+ (on-sight)

"Helios" 8a (2nd go)

"Hellas Rodeo" 8a (on-sight)

Not bad for the last few days and I must say that I am really happy with how I climbed throughout the trip. My training seems to have payed off, I have new goals for 2011, new motivation and nothing to hold me back!

I've gotta go now catch a flight to Athens, so I'll finish with that!

See you guys at Ratho!

ROBZ OUT

Only 2 weeks left :'(  Still a good length of time to send some awesome routes though! The past week I have been taking it a bit easier than before... It is very important that when on long trips like this one, you must pace yourself and listen to your body, otherwise you will burn out! This has happened too often on many of my other trips, in fact, this is probably the first one that I've managed to sustain a decent level the entire way through the trip (touch wood)! So after completing a few projects, I'm now taking a little break and am going more for on-sighting and mileage days... The past few days I have done a couple of 8a's redpoint (close to on-sight), three or four 7c+'s (all on-sight) and another few 7c's (all on-sight).

A few days ago we went to a new crag called Cave! We hadn't been here before, but Olly had been bugging me from the beginning of the trip to go here as there was apparently an amazing 7c with a dyno in it, so we went to the cave to check it out! When we arrived, we saw an amazing line going straight through the centre of the cave on massive juggy pockets. The main thing I noticed about this was as it turned the lip of the cave, all the holds stopped and there was only a jug pocket and mono before a massive blank section and a second huge pocket about a metre and a half span from the jug! Noticing this was essential, I knew that this move was big and I would have to really go for it to reach it... On the climb I cruised the first 3/4 of the route, every hold was a gift and every few metres was a no hands rest. I got to the lip of the cave and managed to squeeze a knee-bar into a giant pocket before the lunge. Scoping out the bulge, I tested the next holds... a giant jug pocket for my right and a single pad mono for my left... I built my feet up onto some small edges... looked up towards a dent in the bulging wall... LAUNCH!!! I hit a massive sloper and fell back... ARGHHHHH... my right hand still locked in the jug as I fell caught me and I dangled one armed of the hold! I pulled myself back into the kneebar, re-assessed the size of the move and decided to go for it as far as I could possibly reach, 1... 2... 3... LAUNCH (ROUND 2!)... I am probably a good 6ft with a +2 inches on my arm span... I caught a good edge in the back of the pocket with only a couple of inches to spare! This move was probably the biggest move I have ever done on a route outdoors (not indoors, especially when I am route setting : P ). Then it was easy to the top!

After placing the draws, it was Ollie's turn to battle with the route. Olly fought well into the crux and was looking strong, unfortunately when it came to the massive move he wasn't quite making the reach. This is what really intrigues me about climbing, and what separates it from nearly every other sport in the world (maybe with the exception of Golf?), every route is individual of another, every challenge is new and every climber must approach routes differently to see a successful ascent! For Olly, this move was just too big and he had to figure out a new sequence which would work for him. After hanging on the rope and scoping out the holds to use, and working out a good position on the rock, Olly got stuck into sending! On round 2 he cruised straight into the crux, it looked like he was approaching the crux the same way I had before, but then his body position changed! Instead of hitting the left hand pocket as a mono (like i did), he pulled his body up and stood into it as a two finger undercut pocket, then threw violently with his right hand into the massive hole that previously he was too short to reach! SENT! Another good fight by Olly, his first 7c second go!

Yesterday, I climbed a new 8b in sector Iannis called "Racomelo"! Racomelo is a hot, honey flavoured spirit made on the island of Racomelo within the Greek Dodeconese. They say that when you drink it, initially the sweet honey flavour can be tasted followed by a comforting, tingling warmth down your throat, however this is swiftly followed by a hard hitting punch to the head and usually results in leglessness : P All I can say is that the route was named well... "Racomelo" starts of with a powerful but fun single tufa-pipe, heading into some easier ground and a rest. After this, you are immediately hit with four bouldery and very powerful moves between positive edges, then another rest... After about 8 metres of easy climbing (7aish?) you come to the finale, 8 moves of hard climbing on small holds, smears for feet and a devilish rock over on a sloper to hit the final bulge leading into the jug you clip the chains from : ) I didn't expect to do this route the day I climbed it, I was knackered after my first attempts the day before, my skin was very thin and I hadn't had much sleep (we've been watching lots of scary movies - I half expect to see a blood-drenched Robert Carlyle every-time I look out the window of our apartment!). When I got on the route, it was the first time I had managed to get through the second crux without falling. I had made sure the attempt before that I knew exactly how to do the crux move statically without having to jump (which I had previously been doing) and when it all clicked into place, I just had to keep my head together for the final crux...

I got a good rest under the bulge on a sopping wet tufa blob and when I was ready, head straight into the meat of the route! The first move into the crux I duffed up, failing to reach a good pocket from the jug, I had to suffice with a smaller 2 finger edge, then I bumped my right hand up into a good pinch and threw it up for the back 2 (Pinky and ring finger) jam I had discovered. Traversing out left onto some of the worst footholds imaginable and only using small half pad crimps and edges to hold you in balance, I got the positive undercut and stretched up for the bad 2 finger edge that I had been struggling to use the day before, LATCHED IT! I matched next to it on a small crimp, adjusted my feet, looked up : O A small tick marked spike lay about a metre and a half to the left, I focussed my gaze on it, knew what I had to do and lunged, ARGGHHHHHHH!!! Just held it! I matched onto a sloper next to it, rocked over on a small smear to hit a crossly edge high in the bulge... as I reached over the bulge I hit a positive crimp and it was done! What a relief... Its quite amazing how you can be feeling pretty terrible, not expect anything to happen and all of a sudden just do the route! Climbing is strange that way, but its cool that it is : )

Whilst out here in Kalymnos, its become even more apparent just how much mileage can improve your climbing dramatically. Something I have always believed in is the simple idea that variation is key, constantly challenge your body and mind in different ways in whatever you are striving to improve at and you will succeed. My biggest improvements in climbing have always come about after long trips abroad, but why is this? I could argue that it might be new motivation after being at amazing crags and climbing awesome routes, that probably has a lot to do with it... also I could say that seeing some outstanding climbers at these crags and being inspired by them is another contributing factor, of course it is! But what I think is the biggest contributing factor is how on every trip I go on, I improve massively on a technical basis, I learn more about how my body moves on rock, where to position my feet and how best to use all that I have on the wall to my advantage... this comes about from doing masses of new routes, different styles, different rock types... basically constantly challenging my body and mind in new ways and forcing it to learn quickly and adapt to what its being put through. This concept of mileage is something I have had great pleasure in discussing with Olly. In the past, Olly has mainly gone to crags to push his limits every-time. This is great and its very natural for keen sport climbers/boulderers to do this, however what is interesting is his ability to climb really hard redpointing e.g. 8a, and yet not be consistent at on-sighting 7a/b? In fact, I would bet that within a weeks projecting, Olly could climb 8b but would still struggle to on-sight relatively easy sport routes. We have discussed this and its has only strengthened my idea that the majority of sport climbers/boulderers in the country are actually pretty bad on-sighters compared to their relative redpoint abilities e.g. it goes as far as some guys who redpoint 8c but struggle to on-sight 7b's or sometimes don't even do so at all... Why is it that we hear constantly of really strong climbers at our walls but don't see that many really hard ascents? I hear things like:

"This guys a beast! He can climb 8c on the circuit board!"

"He can do 10 one armers on 2 fingers!"

"He does 1 - 5 - 9 double dyno on the campus board"

Its all well and good doing this stuff, being that strong, but how does it translate onto rock? Most of the time we hear about singular hard ascents by these beasts (always red-point; never on-sight) but hardly ever does anything go down quick. These guys need a lot of time to work out sequences, tune their body to the moves and eventually, over time, the route falls to siege tactics. When you are a good climber though, the time taken to do these things decreases because it doesn't take you long to figure out the perfect sequence and your body is naturally tuned to moving on rock. Obviously we have climbers in Britain who are amazing and who do hard stuff quick and effortlessly, and even have their hard projects which they siege and eventually do, but rarely are they as strong as the others who simply live on the campus board/circuit board and believe that by isolating themselves to this singular focus that they will become better rock climbers! I can go to the crag and watch a 10 year old french boy do the same route on-sight that another 20 year old gym rat spent three weeks working! The gym rat is miles stronger in nearly every way, but he's nowhere near as good a climber.

I suppose the big issue is the worldwide focus on the highest grade? Nearly everyone is overly focussed on simply achieving a higher level everytime they go out, even if it takes them a long time to do. I have the opinion that people watch videos of Chris Sharma and friends doing this all the time and think that this is all they do... no... its not. They have multiple projects they have on the go at once and even at the same time they are always out on-sighting new routes and doing quick redpoints which is improving them as climbers more than simply hitting the highest grade every time. If you look on 8a.nu, have a look at what Adam Ondra has on his scorecard. Lets take a look at it relatively... He has onsighted 8c and redpointed 9b (4 grades difference). That is the equivaelnce relatively of say:

Climber A

7c On-sight

8b Red-point

Climber B

7a On-sight

7c Red-point

Climber C

6b On-sight

7a Red-point

If we have a look at Adams list of routes in the past year, he has done: 1 x 9b, 2 x 9a+, 11 x 9a's, 9 x 8c+'s, 11 x 8c's, etc... This is a hell of a lot of mileage really! He had one really hard project, a couple of relatively long projects (9a+ - which for him would take a few days) and everything after those would take him at most 2 days work and more than less would take him only a few goes!

This really puts it into perspective when you think about it, really, he isn't trying that hard on the routes. If he had the same ethic to project routes as I've seen people in the UK have, 9c would have been realised by now :P maybe harder? But these guys see more than just the short term and what high grade they want to climb, they see that with the strive to improve as climbers, they must constantly be challenging themselves in new ways on new routes and new moves. This increases the bank of engrams held in their brains allowing them to move on the rock better and constantly improving them as climbers! Thats why the 10 year old french kid can on-sight 8b and the gym rat has to be spend his entire trip red-pointing it. Also, with mileage comes confidence, and with confidence comes the ability to climb consistently at that level!

Well... that concludes my rant for the day : P So Olly has taken my advice and decided to develop his climbing more rather than just go for hard ticks. He did his goal for the trip which was to redpoint 8a. He climbed "Daniboy" 8a last week and so now he is out to demolish as much 7'th grade routes as he can! We are going to Jurrasic Park where he has 4 x 7c's to do plus a bunch of 7b+'s and 7b's! I have the awesome Neil Gresham route "Atlantis" to get the second ascent of, so hopefully we'll be seeing some sweet climbing action over the next few days!

So I have 12 days left of the trip, I will be back in Edinburgh in no time and will be looking forward to the next big trip, which will be Catalunya 2011 next Spring! In between then I am hoping to organise a Font trip for New Year as well! Stay tuned guys for more updates on my trip to kalymnos 2010!

Check out next years masterclass font trip that I am coaching on too here.

ROBZ OUT

• Fun de Chichunne, 8a (on-sight)


• Daniboy, 8a (Redpoint)


• Sparticus Maximus, 7b+/c (on-sight)


• Nicola la tigre, 7c (Redpoint)


• Fouska, 7a (Redpoint) : P

Now I am here with my new pal Ollie Wheeldon! We met earlier this year in Ceuse and decided to meet up again for a trip to Kalymnos. Ollie has been her for around a week now and has seen some awesome progress on the rock since his first day, ticking a good number of classic routes on the island such as:

• Ivi, 7a+ (on-sight)


• Aphrodite, 7a (on-sight)


• Dyonisos, 7a (on-sight)


• Omeros, 7b (on-sight)


• Alfredo Alfredo, 7b+ (redpoint)

He has also been super close to ticking the very famous "Orion" 7c+ at Odyssey sector. This route is very bouldery and suited to Ollie's style, but along with redpointing comes the pressure of ticking a route, and after so many tries on one route, often it can become more difficult to climb the route as the pressure of the send builds! I have recently had a bit of experience in this department with another famous Odyssey sector route, "Gaia" 8b! Also a very bouldery route with several hard sections of sustained difficult climbing over a short 15m wall! On my first day trying this route, it looked like it would go that day, however, thinning skin and a lack of rest days held me back... On my second day, I was looking super solid the whole way up the wall, falling off the final move about four times, each time not actually that tired, but mentally exhausted and still dealing with the pressure of sending the route. Once you know you can climb the route, it becomes more a battle with your mind than your physical body... Everytime I have struggled with redpointing a route, its often not that my body is physically unable to climb the route, but more to do with the pressure I put on myself to succeed! I will imagine the feelings of my success before it has actually happened and this is what brings me down. Funny that though this is the case 9/10 times, when I actually succeed on a route, the feelings of completing the route are good, but only for a brief period after the ascent, and within ten minutes, I have almost forgotten about the route and am off to see what my next project will be : P In a way, its greed! I want to climb as many hard routes as possible and act a bit like a spilt child when I don't get it, but for me its all part of a process called redpointing!

As for my frustration on Gaia, it was soon relieved when I sent it yesterday! What a relief, I could see this thing turning into a proper epic, failing at the end every time, but thank god its over now : )  The route is definitely nowhere near my limit, it was just a mental battle that I had to overcome on the route, and as usual, I became obsessed with knocking down the wall and achieving success on the route! It was quite funny when I actually did the route, I had decided to step away from the pressure zone by going off and doing a bunch of easier routes that day. I am the kind of climber who enjoys doing lots of easier routes rather than spending lots of time on one big redpoint, so that day I set off on an on-sight rampage and thus ticked of both "Andromeda" 7c+ and "Orion" 7c+ two classic route at the crag. After having some fun, I felt the pressure was of for the day because I had done some good routes, and so I decided to go finish Gaia... and... I CRUSHED IT!!! Suddenly, no pressure and no difficulties : ) What a relief, and I thoroughly enjoyed the climbing during the send rather than having the sensation that I have to be completing the route to enjoy it.

As I have said before, everytime I go on a trip, I learn something new. I have learnt a lot already and I'm only halfway through the trip! I think the most important thing though from this experience has been understanding that although its important to keep fighting at a project/redpoint, its also important to give yourself time off as such, and just to go try some easier on-sight routes. I think this helps to maintain motivation for the project and in general have a good time climbing different style climbs.

Today was pretty exciting, I headed up to the cliff with no intention to climb, but simply to hang out at the crag with Ollie and Gaz (Parry). Gaz wasn't sure what to try that day but I was keen to see him on either "Rendez-vous Avec Platon" or "Labarynth" both possible 8b's he could go for the on-sight/flash! Ollie and Gaz warmed up on a nice 7a called "Dike", then moved onto steeper and more serious stuff! Gaz quickly despatched another 7b+ at the crag, "Paleolithic Line" and only twenty minutes later, onsighted Neil Gresham's new 7c+, "Raptor"! Ollie had a play about on "Paleolithic Line", but was pretty tired from the day before. After another long rest, Gaz decided to go for Rendez on-sight! To cut a long story short, he battled his way through the roof crux, doing what i thought was a harder sequence (which turned out to be not too bad), straight into the final headwall! Power-screaming his way up into the final section of the wall, he latched a good solid jug and managed to rest for a bit. As he continued up the final section, he was still looking really solid, sticking the clips in as he went up... he then came into the final bulge! On the redpoint this section is not that hard, but on-sight, it was desperate. He got solid on a good pocket undercut, looked over the bulge to where he was going and slapped for what he thought was a hold, he held it!!! 1... 2... 3... and was off!!! ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!

Gaz after a a few seconds of screaming came down and sent the route second go.

So altogether, its been a pretty awesome trip so far! We still have another three weeks left of it and I'm hoping to get stuck into some harder stuff before then. Ollie is after his first 8a out here, so he's gonna be getting on some in the next week!

Anyway, stay tuned guys for the next installment of Robbie's trip to Kalymnos!

ROBZ OUT

Welcome to yet another installment of the Kalymnos series of my blog : )

I am sitting in the Glaros bar right now, sipping on my freshly opened can of Sprite, writing my blog and contemplating on the previous days climbing... What a week it has been! I am absolutely knackered right now but am still looking forward to an evening session climbing at my favourite sector, "Jurassic Park"! Yesterday I came agonisingly close to climbing an 8b "Rendez-vous avec Platon" on my second try, only to be thwarted by wet holds on the easiest part of the route! After having a good old tantrum (a common occurrence with me after failing on a hard route), I took a chill pill and relaxed at the foot of the cave in the heat of the mid-day sun. Will and Paul where warming up on an easier climb to the left, unfortunately thanks to chossy rock and a lack of traffic on that particular route, Will managed to yank a hold of the wall resulting in a very nasty rope burn across his leg! Feeling up to the challenge, Paul stepped into the ring and fought hard for a new Neil Gresham route at the sector, "Raptor" 8a!!! Paul was eager for an 8a onsight, having so far been denied one (of course he did Flash an 8a). Paul stepped onto the wall, looking as focussed as if he was stepping into a competition. Paul is a seriously strong climber with a good head for on-sighting, he is good at reading routes, but this one seemed to have a really awkward crux where the holds were all quite blind. As Paul headed into the daunting overhang, he looked unnerved and concentrated on his objective. The head wall was closing in, he was still cruising the juggy overhang but the wall was easing out  now and the holds where thinning. Paul approached the lip of the overhang, still looking solid he locked deep on a slopey pocket and clipped high into the upper wall before coming down to rest on the jugs... As I watched Paul building himself up for the sequence, I am reminded of how I feel heading into similar circumstances on hard on-sights... what is coming up next? Can I afford to make a mistake? Are these holds as bad as they look? Where the hell am I going? Paul confirmed himself and his position, he slapped back into the slopey pocket, left hand thrown for a bad sloper, right foot high, left foot high, locking off, SLAP!!! And he's off... Paul sitting on the rope looks disappointed briefly, but soon it changes to intrigue as he pulls up the rope to figure out what went wrong. A quick scope of the holds above and Paul realises that what he thought was a non-hold actually had a massive jug right at the back of it... DAMN! Paul quickly scampers up the remaining part of the route and works out the sequence. Within the next half hour, Pauls back on the route and sends, 8a second go!!!

Earlier on this week, I had a very exciting day in the Grande Grotte along with Buz, Paul and Will! As Buz and I warmed up on a couple of 6c's, Paul and Will where scoping out some potential routes to get on... Will's focus was on "Ivi" 7b, whilst Paul was looking at finishing of the mega classic 8a "Fun de Chichunne"! His previous attempts at this route had been thwarted by the burning pump from hanging upside down for twenty-odd minutes, this route takes the steepest section of the cave and looks more like 9a never mind 8a! Buz was keen for a go on the uber classic "Aegialis" 7c while I was just keen to go to Jurassic to crush some 8b's! The annoying thing about this place is the fact that its so god-damn busy, every route is taken, and there is always a massive queue of people waiting to get on the route. Buz and I approached a couple of spaniards trying "Aegialis" to see if we could get a go on after them, they replied with:

"I will go, then my friend will go, then I will go again, then my friend will go again, then maybe you?"

Not the best when your wanting to get on a route, so we opted for the route next door, a classic 7c+. So Buz took his turn to step into the ring to do battle with the route. Unfortunately, a few minutes later and one stalactite less on the wall, Buz was spiraling down towards me and Paul with a big chunk of rock flying out of his hands! Buz had yanked a large stalactite straight off the wall and it had only just missed Paul by inches! Buz decided to have a bit of a rest (he was a little unnerved by the experience) and it was my turn on the route! I was keen to try the extension to the route which was given 8a and possibly the second extension 8b at an incredible 55m in length! With only a 70m rope I was a bit hesitant, but I got on with it anyway... I managed to reach the anchors of the 7c+ fairly comfortably, not really pumped at all, now for the 8a. I scoped out the rest of the route from my comfortable position 35m up, I could barely see what was coming ahead, there was way too many stalactites and tufas getting in the way, it was difficult to see...

I built my confidence up, a few deep breaths and headed into the great unknown! The moves seemed fairly steady, a little harder than the previous section but there was always a good rest in between the hard sections, before I knew it, I was hanging next to the chains clipping in for the 8a on-sight! All I had left was a further 10m or so for the 8b, I might as well go for it aye? So I shouted down to Paul that I was going for the full thing. ALLEZ!!! I directed myself into the line of slightly chalked and sharp broken holds which was apparently 8b, the rope drag was getting a bit crazy now, I was struggling to pull myself up the wall (it was like dragging a dead body up the wall), I got to a big move to what looked like a sloper, but I wasn't sure if the rope would drag me off the wall when I lunged for the hold, so I dragged as much slack up as I could and made a quick stab at the hold, PSSSAAAAAHHHH! Held it!!! It was pretty bad but the next one was a bomber jug, I grabbed it and could rest a bit for now... I could see the chains now, only one section to go, but it was blank! After resting a bit, I slowly made my way into the final crux, the last bolt was miles below me (equivalent of skipping at least 3 bolts at ratho!), the rope was dragging me down as I was pulling myself up on razor edges, the chalk on my hands was running out, I was sweating profusely, SLAP round the corner to an edge, SLAP AGAIN!!! Slipping... Slipping... NOOOOOO!!!!!!! I was flying through the air, screaming and flailing wildly, hurtling towards the ground and never stopping!!! Suddenly, I felt the rope stretch, I swung fast and swift into the wall and missed smashing into the wall by inches, and back out again I go... As I swayed from side to side in space, it suddenly dawned on me that I had fallen around 25m and was hanging in space with no more rope to get me down... I was well and truly... stuck! To cut a long story short, around an hour later, I was saved by Mountain Leader Busby (thank god he did his mountain leader training the week before!). He climbed up the route next door and through me a rope to get me back into the wall. It was like something out of cliffhanger... Buz and I were trying to reach each other and it was only inches between our fingertips before I could reach him. A pretty crazy day that was!

The day before that I got a really good 8a+ second go called "Punto Caramelo"! This route has recently been bolted and doesn't have many ascents. It was originally given 8b but I think 8a+ is more suitable for this, Its definitely quite a bit easier than "rendez vous avec platon" 8b. When I did it, the light was failing quickly and the wall was looking quite dark, I started up the route and within the first five or so metres I broke a hold off and got dust in my eyes! Not a good start to the route? On my on-sight attempt I broke of a bloody stalactite off as well! I continued on regardless of the broken hold and made it into the last rest before the crux without much difficulty... Summing up the sequence in my head, I was confident that I could do this here and now and all I needed was some aggression and not to get flustered by any crumbly holds... I moved on into the crux, slapping my way into a poor side-pull, I threw my right heel onto a positive ball and cranked through into a sloper, PSAAAAHH!!! It was all good, I managed to grab a good jug and rest my right arm before throwing again into the last few moves! As I lowered, satisfied with my climbing, I realised just how much a good mindset has so much to do with a successful ascent. I was tired, broken and my hands were killing me, but I managed to conger some psyched from the deep recesses of my mind before attempting the route and with this, snatched a successful climb!

Yesterday, I completed "Rendez vous avec Platon" 8b, at Jurassic Park! Before I attempted it, I was knackered from the day before, my hands were sore and it was getting late, but I was absolutely determined to do this route! I got psyched up and went for it, I flew straight up the start, nothing was going to stop me now, straight into the crux, I was determined to send! I grabbed hold of the big pinch with my right, slapped into the undercut with my left, feet up and PSSSAAAAAAAHHHHH slapped round the lip of the roof into the jug! Latched it!!! I pulled over the lip and finished the route of... Another good day on Kalymnos! Jonathan Field, who has just arrived, went on to flash his first 8a yesterday. Unfortunately, its been downgraded to 7c+... I've not told him yet : / Don't think I have the courage...

Whats next on the plan? Well... I fancy going to a new sector called Odyssey tomorrow, there is an 8b there called "Gaia" that I want to do and an 8a that I will try and on-sight, although I have heard both of them are really stiff for the grade! If they are as good as any of the routes climbed so far though, they won't disappoint!

Finally, here's a quote from an unknown source to remind yourself when your on that hard redpoint:

"When you feel like giving up, remember why you held on for so long in the first place."

“I think that was the best single pitch sport route I’ve ever done!”



After another stellar 40m Kalymnian sport route, we headed into the main part of the cave i.e. where all the radical grade 7 and 8 routes are. For my first hard route of the day, I chose an epically long stalactite pump fest, a 40m 8a that traverses the entire roof! Half an hour later, I had on-sighted the first 8a of the trip and it was Buz’s turn for some stalactite hugging action! Buz chose the super classic of the crag “DNA” 7a+, a 45-degree overhanging wall, littered with massive branches of rock stalactites. Buz’s very apt comment on the climbing was:

“It’s like climbing a tree”



The stalactites indeed seem like climbing on upside down trees, its great fun but Kalymnos ain’t all hanging upside down… The rest of the team where enjoying themselves in the sector “Afternoon”, a pleasant little crag set in the shadow of “Grande Grotte”. They all challenged themselves on a particularly tricky slab 6c, which both Will and Chris managed to on-sight including John the next day!

As the sun set, the rock turned an amazing orange glow… As I lowered from my route, I looked out into the horizon, the sun setting into the sea behind the neighboring island of Telendos, and below me, what looked like little ants scurrying amongst the fallen stalactites, which was actually just climbers packing up for the day. We headed down the hill, eager for the next days climbing…

Sunday, the day of rest… not for us! This is only our second day on the island and there’s so much rock, we can’t contain ourselves, we MUST CLIMB!!! Today we headed to the next sector up from the “Grande Grotte”, “Spartacus”! This crag is very impressive, a prominent feature is the awesome bulging barrel flowing out a massive cave, and straight up the middle of this is one of the best routes I’ve ever done, “Daniboy” 8a!

I tried this once years ago, but couldn’t remember anything about the route so I was well up for a retro-flash attempt. Buz and I warmed up on some easier routes, first of a bouldery 6c+ and then a very nice endurance 7a called “Kerveros”. Will decided, because the crag was packed with climbers and getting on a route was bloody difficult, that he would warm up on this too. So Will, without having any previous route to warm up on went for 7a on-sight. Unfortunately, the boulder crux 1/3 of the way up caught him out and unable to finish the lunge to the jug, he fell… Next up was me on my retro-flash attempt of “Daniboy”! So of I went, I climbed all the first section super steady, not feeling at all tired or pumped. As I entered into the start of the overhang, the holds got bigger and increasingly more positive! Still climbing up everything felt really easy and now I was climbing out of the cave and into the last section of the route! I was now climbing with care, not wanting to risk any unnecessary jumps or dynamic moves that could prevent a successful ascent (of course still taking care not to climb inefficiently and too static). I scoped out the nest section from a good rest, jug, sidepull and cross into the edge… then what? It looked like you pulled through and into a pocket, but I wasn’t too sure? So commited to the route and ready for a fight, I commenced into the crux… Every move was flowing and feeling really easy, as I grabbed the crimp, it became apparent suddenly that what I was holding onto was the worst hold I’ve ever held this steep! I pulled on it and attempted to move… impossible, so I readjusted my already very contorted and uncomfortable position and applied the same move again… once, twice, three times, and off! DAMN IT! Oh well, I pulled up on the rope only to find that the edge was merely a show and that below it about an inch was a massive, jug pocket, cleverly hidden and unbeknown to many in search of the elusive on-sight. A second go and the route was dispatched with ease and only a slight pump that wouldn’t feel uncommon on my warm ups : P

An impressive show was the flash attempt by Paul Williamson (who showed up earlier on the Sunday afternoon). After going over the route with Paul, and making him well aware of my pitfall and the subtle moves I had found to make the route easier, he went for the send! 10 minutes later and a fair bit of screaming, he was at the top of the route, successful and very happy! A good first day for Paul!

Not soon after that, Buz also had a very successful on-sight asc

ent of “Sparticus maximus” the classic 7c of the crag and once again Paul was on fire and got the second Scottish on-sight ascent of the route that day!

Another good day climbing on the climbers answer to heaven… the island of kalymnos! More to come tomorrow, hopefully we’ll see my first 8a+ on-sight in the “Grande Grotte”? Keep reading guys, I’ll be blogging again soon!

Thanks to Edelrid for my awesome new gear and Evolv for my fantastic new Optimus Prime climbing shoes : P

ROBZ OUT