Turkısh Delight

From Kalymnos it was a surprisingly easy to make our way to Turkey. Just a quick boat rıde to Kos, then another quıck (20 min) boat rıde to Bodrum. From Bodrum we got on a bus for the 8 hour journey to Antalya, the ticket was surprısıngly cheap consıderıng Turkey has the most expensıve petrol prıces ın the world. We went to the main clımbıng area in Turkey which is Geyıkbayiri, just 30 km outsıde of Antalya. We stayed at the very nice clımbers campground JoSiTo. The only problem was that it ıs ın the mıddle of nowhere ın the hılls, and we had no food. Luckıly for us ıt was a Sunday and the local market was on, so we hıtched to that ın the back of a pıckup truck full of trash. It was a big market, but we dıdnt know what most of the stuff was, so somehow we ended up eating potatoes, onions, cucumber, and egg plant (all mıxed together usually) twıce a day while we were there. It got pretty disgusting very quickly. As for the climbing we were a bıt dissapointed with the first place we went (Trebenna). The rock was basicly conglomerate limestone, i.e. choss. It was very different to what we were used to on Kalymnos. But as we explored different areas the quality improved. The area prides ıtself on having great tufa climbing, but ıt couldnt really hold a candle to the stuff in Kalymnos. We mostly clımbed easier stuff, it was nıce just rolling up to a crag having not don any of the routes before. I managed a 7a+ onsight, and laura a 6b+ flash here so ıt wasnt all easy stuff. The nice aspects of the area was that it was cooler that Kalymnos (at least for the first few days) there was a lot more cloud cover and more variety of when different crags were in the shade. Also the crags we literally on our doorstep, the walk ins ranged from 1 minute to 20 minutes at most, which was nice.


Laura joining in with the fun with the Hot Rock crew at the JoSiTo campsite



We shared the campsite with a few other independent climbers and a big group of Hotrockers. They are basıcly a group of mostly British clımbers who travel around the world in a huge truck and climb along the way. They were on there way from Africa, to eventually eastern Asia. If anyone readıng thıs ıs ınterested ın clımbıng ın more exotıc parts of the world, ı would hıghly recomend them to check them out, they seemed lıke a really cool bunch of people. They were a lot of fun to hang out with, and they ıncluded us in a lot of their activities, so we had a blast. They recommended to us the nearby climbing area of Olympos of the coast about 90km south of Antalya. They had been there and really liked ıt and were planning on returning in a few days as well. We were getting pretty sick of the food by this point so it was an easy decision to move on to another area.



Laura warming up on a 6a+ in the Horguc Magara Sector



In Olympos we stayed at kadirs treehouses which is the 'climbers hangout' ın Olympus, but ıt seemed like most of the climbers there also worked there taking backpackers out for a intro session. There were a lot of backpackers from all over, we seemed to meet a lot of Canadians. So it was cool to meet more normal backpacker tourısts. We didnt stay in a tree house instead we got a specıa clımbers deal campıng for 15 lira a night ın a rıverbed, including buffet style all you can eat breakfast and dinner. Maybe it was because we were starved of good food for the past week, but the food at kadirs was delicious, but I soon learned all you can eat doesnt necessarily mean all you should eat! The climbing in Olympos is less extensive, probably only a hundred or two routes to choose from ınstead of 500 or so at Geyıkbayiri, but it still had plenty. The style ıs a bit different, there is less steep stuff, but more crımpy vertical walls which I like. It was a bıt warmer than at the other place, cause ıt was a sea level, but ıf we stayed ın the shade ıt was ok wıth a breeze. Towards the end of the trıp (today) ıt got pretty hot up to 35 (mıd 90s) so we were glad to be movıng on.
Dom enjoying a steeper climb in Olympus

Overall I thınk laura and I enjoyed the clımbıng ın Olympus much better, probably becasue of the atmosphere of the town and the dıfferent style routes. The hıghlıght of my trıp here was onsıghtıng a 7b+, my second hardest onsıght after the 7c ın Kalymnos. It was a 28m vertıcal wall wıth fıngerlocks, laybacks, hıghsteps, very technıcal. I kept on expectıng to come off but ı kept on pullıng hard and got the onsıght. At the chaıns ı had a great vıew over Olympus Bay and the shıps ın the sea, ıt was a moment to remember. Laura also clımbed hard, onsıghtıng a tough 6b whıch equals her hardest onısght on the trıp so far. I thınk both of us are ın really good route clımbıng shape rıght now, our confıdence ıs hıgh and were eager to get on more hard stuff, but maybe were the clımate ıs a bıt cooler.

Dom on a rest day at the Olympus beach

I,m defınately glad we came to Turkey, ıt has been very dıfferent to what I was expectıng, but ı have grown to really enjoy ıt hear. Were takıng a bus up to Istanbul tonıght for a few days sıghtseeıng, then we,re headed back to central europe ın search of some cooler clımbıng, and were lookıng forward to fındıng some chıllıng.

A couple of Kalymnos videos

Im not in Kalymnos anymore, but I still can't stop blogging about it. I've found a good cheap internet connection here in Turkey so here are a couple of videos I took ın Kalymnos that İ wasn't able to upload there.

The first one is of the Deep Water Soloing Whitey and İ found near Dolphin Bay in Kalymnos, its just a small area, not too high, but we found some good hard climbing there. Did I fall or jump? You decide.

This is a video of the very last climb I tried in Kalymnos on my last day. Its a 7c roof climb thats only 6 bolts long or so. I managed it all except for this one crux move, I've never done a route like it before.

Turkey is a lot of fun, i'm glad we chose to come here, we,ve done a lot of routes, but mostly easy stuff, but we've stıll got a few days of clımbing left. I'll blog agaın soon...

Farewell to Kalymnos

Our time in Kalymnos is finally over, it has been an awesome 6 weeks, but its time to move on.

Me on a token onsight attempt of the Kalymnos classic Aegalis 7c, I got to the 9th bolt of 14, its hard!

The time has flown by, we were originally thinking of only staying 4 weeks in kalymnos, but i'm glad we extended it by a couple of weeks, there is so much there to do, and i feel I still have so much more i want to do there, i just have to get stronger. But I got my main objectives done, I sent my 5.13 project! The route is called Neska Polita, its a 10-bolt 7c+ in the Spartacus area, it took me 9 attempts in total, over 3 days. On my last day working it, i didn't think it would go. The beta I was using at the crux was really complicated, it involved 5 intermediate moves a foot swap and a toe hook, to get to the crux crimp. On what i thought was my last attempt, i almost snatched the crimp, but agonisingly came off, it was way hard. I didn't think i could try it again, so in an act of desperation i tried some other beta that i had seen a guy that onsighted it use. It was basicly just one big sideways lunge to the crimp, instead of my 5 intermediate moves. I changed my feet and i somehow latched the crimp. This might just work, i thought, so i got lowered back down and de-pumped for a good hour or so while Whitey tried one of his projects. When I got back on it I let out a power scream at the crux move and got it! It was the first time i had made it past the crux from the ground, I still had 6 bolts of 7b/+ climbing to go though, i puffed and panted my way through, and used the good rest above for about 10 minutes, and got to the chains. It was a milestone for me my first 7c+ (5.13a), and I felt like i really deserved it. I knew if i didn't finish this project before i left Kalymnos, it would haunt me, so i'm so glad I have closure.

Me onsighting Daphne a cool 7b at Odessy

I'm glad we spent 6 weeks here, staying here a long time has given us the opportunity to meet other climbers. We climbed a lot with Dimitris a greek climber form Athens. He showed us a secret bouldering spot by the beach, its not amazing but its worth a quick session or two. We tried his project a 15 move roof traverse, and after working it for about an hour me and Dimitris both sent it, it goes at about V5, and he is calling it Jump-A. We've also met some other locals, we took Yiannis a local DJ out climbing, he took to it very well, and i belayed him up his first lead on his third day climbing! he is adding to the number of local Kalymnians that are taking up climbing. We've also met some cool americans and other climbers from all over.

Whitey starting up Alexis Zorbas another 7b he redpointed in the sun

Its also interesting seeing how Massouri (the town here) has changed from when we first arrived in April to now. When we first arrived it was practically a ghost town, with most of the bars and restaurants closed still from the winter, the only tourists in town were climbers, and we could have the whole beach to ourselves. Now if you walk down the street, it is busting with English and German holidaymakers out here to soak in the sun. The beach ispacked with literally hundreds of sunbathers on the weekends. Its great that theres more bars and retaurants to chose from, but it defiately lost its climbers-town feel to it.

Our favourite rest day activity, Laura snorkelling in the Aegean Sea

Whitey has left for the states again now. He will go back with lots of memories, he has climbed really well over the last few weeks. He completed almost all of his projects including a 7b+ and 5 7b's I think, which is awesome, he is keen to continue his hard climbing back in the US. Laura has also exceeded her expectations, she flashed yet another 6c the other day taking her tally to 5 6c's which is awesome. Before this trip she had only done 1 and even that one was thought to be a bit soft. She has gained a lot in confidence, and has learnt to really go for it on her flash attempts.

Right now i'm on the neighbouring island of Kos waiting for our ferry to Turkey. The next stop on our european trip is Antalya, Turkey. More sport climbing in the sun, we can't wait!

Me latching the dyno (only to fall off a few seconds later) on an amazing 7c in the Illiada cave.

The view from our balcony of the sun setting over Telendos.