Sikati Cave

Last day climbing in Kalymnos! What to do to make it memorable? Sikati Cave!

What to say? Epic crag. Huge hole in the ground, 100m deep at the lowest point, covered in stalactites. My first trip here in 2008 I did the runout classic Lolita 7a. This time I had to step it up and onsighted the long Mort Aux Chevres 7b and also Morgan and its extension Adam, given 8a in the guidebook(!)

The first pitch (given 7c) is mostly very steep 6c-7a climbing to an admittedly hard section. It probably is 7c. Then the extension is only another 8m of climbing and you can start it fresh because there's a great bridging rest at the first anchor. I won't spoil it for you, but it's definitely worth having a try for the extension. I was happy I did.
 

Me on Morgan, still a ways to go. T-shirt carried as sweat towel.

© Mark Kochanek 2010

I was so zorched after that effort I bit the dust.

And then it was time to say farewell to Kalymnos and hello to Turkey. Thanks Kaly, see you next year!

Fun de chichuune

Yesterday I managed to do something I've been dreaming of trying since 2007 when I first saw it. I climbed the mega line of the Grande Grotta, Fun de chichuune 8a. The route is 40m long and it's essentially a roof for most of its length. As you can see in the photos below, you climb through blobs and stalactites, interspersed with scary blank sections. 

It is #8 on this topo. 

There were tons of kneebars and other creative rests along the way. I spent most of the time hanging upside down by my knees. The weight of the quickdraws felt like it might pull my harness off. There are 28 clips.

It was a hot day so I was sweating heaps and the tufas were often damp or outright dripping with water. I managed to remove my shirt on one of the rests at halfway and use it as a towel. Later, towards the end, I had to thoroughly chalk up my forehead. That's a first.

Most of these pics are in the first third when it's not so steep (!)

 

Not even halfway yet!

 

Can you spot me here? I'm at about the 3/4 point. 

And the best part, it was onsight. The first try. Meaning I thankfully didn't have to try the whole enormous beast for a second time, which would be crushing. You might cry.

Route pics © C Vaillancourt 2010

FFS! Don't feed the goats!

Okay, well now I know. Fine.

So there's this goat, right? She hangs out at the base of Afternoon sector. We think she's pregnant. She'll sit, or stand, unmoving, at the base of one of the routes. Usually the goats are skittish. Not this girl. She stands her ground. You want to stand there to belay? Tough.

Dave Bateman and the other Aussies Brad and Adam met her on their first day. They turned their backs briefly, only to turn around and discover her casually flipping through pages in their guidebook. It looked as though she was checking out what to climb next.

So I was calmly eating my mandarin and thought "What the hey, let's see if she'll eat a piece out of my hand". Well she did. But then didn't want to call it quits at one piece. She was all up in my business after the rest of it. Being a gentleman, I obliged. Okay I was scared. Goats look evil. It's that slanty pupil. She then was rumaging through our food bag and the only way to disuade her was to clip it to the first bolt of one of the 6c's.

So unless you're made of mandarins, FFS, don't feed the goats! 

In less goat-related news, I did my hardest onsight today, Aegialis 7c/27 in the Grande Grotta. It's about 30m long and 40 degrees overhanging climbing a series of stalactites, blobs, and continuous tufa curtains. I wasn't very warmed up, having only done a 6b, so I was thankful to find a stack of kneebars (like 15 or something) and just managed to squeak my way through. I spent about 25 minutes on it, and I think it's harder than the other 7c's I've onsighted.

A nice French guy Oliver decided to try his luck after me, and I loaned my kneebar pads for him to try. An hour or so later he walked around the corner to return them looking exhausted, and I asked him how the pads went. He said "I couldn't find one kneebar!". Oh how we laughed! I couldn't believe it! He said I should go to one of his favourite crags Gorges du Tarn in France where there are no kneebars. I said that would be scary because I would have to get fit! :)

I'm now blogging from my new office, as we moved house yesterday. Picture below. The umbrella is today's new enhancement. I must say, I think this is the best office environment I've worked in to date. 

Video: Upskill Climbing Camp #2 - Kalymnos 2010

Not to be confused with the video from the first group a couple of weeks ago, this is all new material, all new actors, and is based on a true story.

More Cheese Please! Upskill Climbing Camp #2 - Kalymnos 2010 from Upskill Climbing on Vimeo.

Join our second group of the year on their tour of duty in Kalymnos, Greece. To sign up for the next one, or to peep more Upskillery, visit www.upskillclimbing.com

Kalymnos 2010 - Trip Report 13 (Spartacus, Seabreeze, Katherina, Odyssey)

Today, our second group of climbers flew out of Kalymnos. As we wave goodbye through the glass window at the Kalymnos airport, Sam and I are saying goodbye to our last links to Australia for the next ... who knows? But let's step back a few days.

After the big day at Ghost Kitchen, the group's seventh climbing day was scheduled for Spartacus (aka Spar-ta-klus). This big orange bowl is one of my favourite sectors on the island because of its looong routes. I quickly ran up Tales of Greek Heroes 6b+ to set a toprope on this 40m pitch. You can use a 70m rope just by the skin of your teeth.

Ronsley and Lena both toproped on this and Andy punched out a lead. Sam has a project up here dating back to 2007. The route is called Harakiri. Its modest grade of 6b belies its steep, pumpy climbing and sequency crux. It's basically Sam's anti-style. Andy was kind enough to put the draws on "Bloody hell I'm pumped!" and Sam decided to have a warm up burn. Long story short, the warm up burn turned into the send. Happy days!

It seemed the sendage gates were open so I jumped on Neska Polita 7c+ and dispatched it on my second try after misreading the tricky crux traverse. We needed a route that would take Andy out of his comfort zone and the steep, long and intimidating Kerveros 7a fit the bill. Andy fought the good fight but it wasn't to be. Another one to come back for!

After a well needed rest day, Seabreeze and Katherina were the sectors in mind for what proved to be a warm but windy day. Seabreeze consists of a sweeping expanse of the typical Kalymnian grey-blue slabs. The routes here can be quite long, up to 35 metres, which is nice. Some rock features that differentiate Seabreeze are the chickenheads (nice) and some very sharp gouttes (V-shaped pockets). Ruth got stuck in and led a few routes, as did Ronsley, who came down from one and immediately led the one next door.

We were also really keen to get Lena super confident with belaying lead climbers on the Sum, so I was the crash test dummy and Sam was the belay coach. I proceeded to climb a 5b, taking falls every few metres. There's quite a bit to learn in terms of giving a soft catch whilst considering any obstacles, how to help the climber regain their highpoint without expending much energy etc. She was quite intuitive with this learning and now seems rock solid on the catch.

After punching through a few routes from 5b to 6b, we headed around the corner to Katherina sector. This red limestone wall sits overlooking Arginonda and looks a bit chossy from the road, but it actually hides a few gems, one of which is the aptly named And Now For Something Completely Different 5c which Lena is climbing in the photo below. It's a big trench thing and contains some wacky 3D climbing.

Ruth and Andy climbed the saucy Pornokini 6a which is famous as the route an 84 year old guy onsighted. Ronsley led Tufa Slab 5a while Lena escaped the sun...

Dave got inspired by a newish route called Albi Bak 7a+. It's always a worry when a route in Kalymnos has zero chalk. But up he went anyway. It climbs a prickly, flowstone covered vertical wall to a corner, runout climbing to a roof, then the crux turning the roof on reachy crimps to a short, steep slab finale. Dave gave it a couple of burns and despite drawing blood and taking some big falls, couldn't quite put it in the bag. He knows the value of power endurance training now to increase that "six move pump clock".

Keen to share the blood and sweat, Dave talked Andy into getting on board, and the reachy route was right up Lightfoot's alley. He came off the roof on his flash attempt, methodically worked the sequence, and then on the second burn after going up and down on the roof for a couple of gut-wrenching minutes, inexplicably came off again (aka doing "an Andy"). Gahhhh! It was a heartbreaker. I had to hug the guy.

The final clibing day was dictated by the boys. Ronsley said "If we go to Odyssey, I'm going to sit and project Atena all day". Andy had unfinished business after "Andying" off the top of Dionysos 7a and Dave had his Itaca 6c (more like 7a) project from not only this trip, but the previous camp in 2008. So, it was decided.

First up, Ronsley. I dunno if it was the fact that it was the last day, but something lit a fire under him and he came outta nowhere on Atena. One solid burn, then another - on lead - on a route that was grades above anything he'd climbed. He ended up one hanging it, and wrung the last of the usefulness out of a shoulder that had been dodgy all trip.

Andy on Dionysos. What to say? On his first shot the other day he climbed almost level to the anchors, so we knew today would be better, and it was. He put in several shots and fell at the anchors each time. On his best burn, he climbed PAST the anchors and still couldn't clip! I thought he was going to top out Odyssey and walk off the back. Well, that's about as close as you can come to sending, and yet not. 100% Andy!

Caught from Andy? Who knows? But falling from the top was a theme of the day and Dave loves carrying on a theme. He did with his burns on Itaca. It's a bloody burly route that spits climbers off the top time and again. On one burn he touched the victory hold but didn't latch it. Soooo close.

Everyone went down the hill exhausted, knowing they'd done all they could physically do on this trip. That makes me happy - seeing people give their all. The tick is actually not very important, but the process of learning, refining and giving it everything - this is what makes climbing so rewarding for me, and I love sharing this.

So this concludes yet another absolutely terrific camp here on Kalymnos. Even though the group came together with extremely varied experience and backgrounds in climbing, they were able to throw all of this in the melting pot and come out the other side with stacks of new learnings and motivations to train and progress their climbing when they return home.

And Kalymnos herself, well, she's gained yet more devotees, with talk of moving here, building houses, or at least being back on the next Upskill Camp.

Thanks for reading. This is the last post chronicling the progress of our Kalymnos Climbing Camps for 2010.

Now resuming your regular Upskill programming in 3...2...1...

Kalymnos 2010 - Trip Report 12 (Ghost Kitchen)

Group discussion this morning was on the mental game. What are those self limiting beliefs that are floating around in your noggin which are stopping you progressing your climbing? How might they be  serving you? How can you change them? Fear of falling may be in there, but often it's only a part. What about expectations? What about worrying what others think? So we discussed the importance of training mental toughness, why falls are a non-avoidable ingredient in climbing progression and some strategies we can use to reduce anxiety and truly enjoy the act of climbing on lead. This is the good stuff! Love it. [If this is stuff you're interested in, there's a couple of good books (like this and this) or you could join us sometime and get hands on.]

So, after me scrounging builders rubbish to build a bosun's chair (pic of field testing below), we jumped in the car and blitzed to Ghost Kitchen. GK offers some quality vert walls, gently overhung tufa madness, and the best warm down slabs on the island.

This would also be the crag we would test out our new CU belay glasses. Guaranteed to make you look like a Professor of Belaying (PBe) and a complete dork, these unusual prism-based glasses allow you to see directly upwards without tilting your head. This allows you to watch your climber while maintaining a relaxed stance. It's a tradeoff of fashion sense versus neck pain. Verdict: crystal clear and pretty awesome. Bloody expensive though (about $120 AUD). If you buy three it's free shipping and no tax which brings the price down some.

Dave and Ruth reaquainted themselves with Joy In The Garden 6a after Andy's onsight while Lena and Ronsley did Achilles 5c+. Warm ups over, I belted up the main wall and commenced hanging from my fencepost with the camera. Andy was up on the sweet Remember Wadi Rum 6c which just has the most crazy tufas and blobs.

It was a valiant onsight attempt, foiled with a slip of the foot on the finale, resulting on Andy wizzing down the tufa curtain. Second shot there were no such mistakes. Tick tick for Andy "I'm a delicate flower" Lightfoot! Dave got inspired by that effort, and girding himself in his Upskill kneepads, he proceeded to knee his way up the route. It was rediculous the amount of solid kneebars he found! He was however overcome by the unusual outtro sequence and took flight. By this time the sun was on the wall and a second try was off the cards.

Dave, Ruth and Lena enjoyed the nearby Delta 6a+, and my vantage point out in space on my fencepost afforded me some unexpectedly good angles and I snapped some great shots like this one of Lena. Perhaps my fave shot of this trip so far?

We then headed down to the "skateboard slab" which hosts some great very slabby, smooth and pocketed slabs. One day I'll bring a skateboard and see if it's possible to drop in and ride it out on abseil. I slammed the draws up on Persephone 6b in my sneakers (my new hobby; 7a is my best so far), and nearly everyone climbed it clean I think. Lena absolutely killed it on the slabs, with first try clean topropes of Parasitos 6a+ and Zyklop 6a+. Sam flashed Zyklop which was notable for it's un-Kalymnian-runout-ness.

And then came Serena. "6b? I'm calling bullshit on that!" Dave had been spat off the top section of this awkward number on the last camp. Rematch time. Using good tactics ("Nah mate, I won't ruin your onsight!"), he sent Andy up to put the draws on. With his reach like a sick dog, Andy grunted his way through the overhang and with difficulty, got himself into a position to clip the anchor. Draw on. Pull rope. Go for clip. Fumble. Draw swinging. Try again. Fumble. Swear. Draw swinging in a mocking, "you can't catch me" manner. More swearing. Final scathing stare at the anchor. Fall. Noooooooooo! It was in the bag!

Suitably padded up, Dave jumped on, cruised the slab and engaged the steepness, finding some no-hander kneebars. Up in the business, Andy passed on the crucial beta "Stick your arm up there like you're helping a cow give birth!" Dave had clipped the final bolt then started to gibber. ("I only had about five seconds left!"). He then somehow wrangled double kneebars which gave him enough juice to clip the tricksy anchor. Yeah boy! What will you be doing at 60? :)

Today's fun fact:

To the belayer of a top-roping climber, a red upturned helmet on the ground broadcasts thusly: Dave has initiated a game of pebble basketball. Would you like to play? You have selected...yes.

Kalymnos 2010 - Trip Report 11 (Odyssey)

Welcome to the fifth day of climbing for this group here in sunny Kalymnos.

Sam on the walk-in to Odyssey, while Ruth cranks in the background.

Funny stuff with Ruth today on the slippery and tricky Femio 6a+ (pictured above). It's stiff - no gimme for the 6a+/19 grade. Because of its position it gets tons of traffic and is therefore super polished. Ruth gave it one burn and had plenty of rests and claimed "There's no way I'm leading this, it's just too slippery!" After sorting things out on toprope a couple of times, she was suddenly tying in for the lead. What the? Ruth is highly vocal when climbing and if she's thinking it up there, she's saying it. So we get a great insight into what's going on in her head as she's climbing, and yet me tell you, there was a lot of self-doubt and uncertainty during this lead! We've all been there. To Dave's great credit, he played his role of belayer (i.e. climber supporter) perfectly and was able to help Ruth make her way through the doubts and push through to the anchors and her hardest lead climb. Congrats Ruth! From now on I suggest less judging what you can't do, and being more curious as to what you can do. There's so much ability there waiting to be unleashed...

This little orange domino spider (not the technical name) was way cool.

Dave decided on the tough Itaca 6c (perhaps more like 7a?) as something to get a workout on. He'd been on it on the 2008 trip and in this shot (above), tries like hell to remember the sequence. On his second burn, he went all the way through, skipped the last bolt, only to fall on the final hard move. A very near thing, and 100% energy output. Just what we want - awesome!

With that kind of effort, you get special personal shade privileges. All part of the Upskill Service ®.

Andy's day proj was Dionysos 7a. I put the gear on, ticked up some holds for him and then gave the beta rundown. He fell on the last move on the flash. Effort! On the second shot, same deal - that powerful final move! He woke up the next day sore across the back and shoulders and is now booked in for a massage.

Another day, another shot of Telendos. I never get sick of it.

Kalymnos 2010 - Trip Report 10 (Dolphin Bay)

We awoke to another perfect day. After our big day at Poets, we aimed to downshift and do some volume. On the menu was the rather unassuming looking Dolphin Bay. Located on a headland near Kastelli, this white marble cliff requires either a steep scramble on scree, or an abseil to access. We chose the abseil for some extra spice. Some of the group hadn't abseiled for ages, so we did some rigging practice and set up different methods with autoblocks, Grigris, ATC's, munter hitches etc. All good learning.

While the cliff looks a bit ho-hum, it hides some real gems. The easy routes here are of great quality and during 2009, a whole stack of new routes got bolted, so there's now about 40 to choose from.

Ronsley and Lena really enjoyed their time on Wisteria Lane 5c+ to begin the day. A great route on featured white marble with an overhang to overcome up top. Lena in particular really styled it. I went crazy with the camera all day as the blue background of the ocean contrasted so starkly against the white rock. I love sea cliffs! I'm going to not write much and instead let the pics do the talking...

Andy against the sea on Trokrakhan 6a+

Sam put in a great effort to flash the sequency Baklava Maniac 6b. Ronsley also really enjoyed this route. His route of the day. He did seven routes I think.

Ruth battled through and redpointed Trokrakhan 6a+. I like this landscape shot.

Me playing around on the slippery Kalymnian Lightning 6b+. And for the record, no, this is not photoshopped.

Dave and I had fun on this route. It's mostly an overhung crack route up slick polished limestone. Being down quite close to the water, it cops the salt spray, and the main challenge of the route was to not have your feet blow off the holds as you laybacked with various levels of desperation. Dave was blowing like a chimney up there with his feet skittering around like a cartoon character. You can see the steam coming out of his ears in this next shot...

Nearly there Dave!

The furthest left route on the wall necessitated belaying from a low rock platform. You can see Sam down there belaying as Andy onsights Too Fat For Tufas 6a. The tide was slowly on the rise and the shelf was getting more and more wet from the waves. It was more exciting belaying than climbing I think. At least it was for me when belaying Sam. When she was at about the fourth bolt, a HUGE wave pounded over the top of the rocks and drenched me and the rope utterly, while the group looked on from their dry perch just above. Much laughter!

So the verdict on Dolphin Bay for an easier day of climbing by the sea - total winner. 10 out of 10 eh Dave?

Kalymnos 2010 - Trip Report 9 (Poets)

Guest blogger for today - Ronsley Vaz:

"What does a good day of climbing mean? Does it mean that you've ticked a whole bunch of routes? Does it mean that you've onsighted your hardest route? Or, does it mean that you've made it to the bottom of the crag alive? I know everyone will have a different definition, but for me yesterday wasn't a good day ... it was a great day! Let me explain...

We woke up in much the same fashion, breakfast at nine and talking about the climbing for the day. We looked out the window and the sky was overcast with no prediction for rain. So ingredients for a good day of climbing: conditions - check!

We spoke about how important a belayer is to the climbing experience. We spoke about the energy and what you bring to the crag even if you're not the person on either end of the rope. I can tell you of such kind of energy when I went for the flash of Carlo Juliana. I know that without the "good vibes" around, I wouldn't have made it anywhere past the third bolt. In my opinion, the morning chat set the tone for the day.

We met at Saki's and headed to the crag. Today we were going to "Poets" sector. The walk was amazing. The longest and steepest walk we've taken to a crag so far. We were all warm and breaking into a mild sweat as soon as we touched the bottom. We waited for a good five seconds before ropes came out, and climbers started getting ready to climb. The view behind, in front and around was much like the rest of Kalymnos ... spectacular!

Lee jumped on Alcamane a 30m 6c climb to set a photo rope and Lightfoot made an easy onsight of Anacreonte a 25m 5c+ 3 star beauty. Anacreonte became most of our warm ups; brilliant climb with some nice flowing moves. Dave decided that warming up needed to be done in style, so he jumped on Ibria, a pretty wicked 30m 6b+. Ibria makes its way up straight before getting a bit technical on the sequencing and moving right. I believe that this is the crux of the climb and after a good 20 seconds, Dave worked out the crux and clipped the bolt. Great effort for the first climb of the day. Andrew followed and ticked it quite easily with beta from the old man. After this, the crew moved left from these climbs. We moved toward Sapfo and O' Brothers where the day developed from a good one to a great one.

Lena warming up on Anacreonte

I don't remember who went up these climbs first, but I know that I got tied into O' Brothers a 20m 6b+/c while Lena climbed Sapfo a 25m 6a+. O' Brothers starts off very technical and when on lead, becomes a whole different ball game with a ledge just under and to the left of the first bolt. Clipping the second bolt is probably the crux on the climb. I gave it a good effort and couldn't work out making it past this point. I now remember, Dave put the draws on O' Brothers and fell before making the second clip. After he worked out the sequence he made easy work of this climb.

Determination. Ronsley on the slab start of O' Brothers

On Sapfo, Lena had a few troubles on the crux up the top which she worked out and made it to the anchors. She was closely followed by Ruth who really blasted up the route with no signs of there being a crux at all. I did Sapfo and loved it. In the meantime, Andy got on Omero. This 25m 7a climb proved to be just what the doctor ordered for Lightfoot. This climb has two cruxes from what I could tell. He got to the first one and fell. Worked out the moves while he rested. Worked past the first crux, clipped the next two bolts and fell just before the next crux. Again, same drill. By the end of it, Lightfoot made it to the top and worked out the moves to go for the redpoint later in the day.

Dave and his new shoes on Sapfo

On Sapfo, Ruth was so steady on top rope that she decided the redpoint of the route was the call of the hour. She got ready, did her checks and Lee belayed her up. She was solid and the redpoint was in sight. She got to the second last bolt and had the devil inside tell her of all the reasons why she couldn't do the route. All climbers can relate to this. Now, I have to say that Ruth is petrified of falling. Even a little fall is a no-go for her. She would downclimb to a safe point and ask for a take or rest on a pocket, but falling? Yeah you don't mention that option. This makes what happened over the next few minutes the achievement of the day for me.

She moved past the second last bolt and in reaching distance of the last one before the anchor. At this point she decided that she really needed to hold the draw. After feeling the disappointment from the bottom, she apologised, rested and went for the final moves on Sapfo to the anchor. She made it past the bolt and onto the crux, threw for a move and took the fall. Nice soft catch, and a great way to push your comfort zone. This for me at the bottom was inspiring. This was truly a huge step for Ruth and despite making it to the top in the next attempt, that fall would have taught her more than anything else she did yesterday. We ate lunch, spoke about the climbing so far and moved on to better and brighter things. Yes, the day got better.

Dave then ran up Styx, a 30m 6a+ with nice stalactites up the top which Lena thought she needed to be up there to experience. That would have been Lena's most solid climb yet. She was so impeccable on foot placements and technique that she didn't have any issues getting to the top. That would be her first clean attempt of something at that grade. Very very cool. All that energy gave rise to some other nice outcomes.

Lightfoot got back on his project and went for the redpoint of Omero. He made it past the first crux and just when I thought he was through, he fell on the second. He made it up the route again and for me, he made a massive improvement. He got the first crux! There are a whole lot of factors that would have stopped him from getting his redpoint and I don't think they were the moves. He had the moves, he knew how to do them. He just needed to be fresh and put it all together.

Andy grimacing on his project Omero

After all this, we still have room for another great step in the forward direction. Sam, after toproping O'Brothers and having the conversation of "should she or shouldn't she", went for the redpoint attempt of her hardest lead yet. So we all stopped what we were doing and gathered at the base. Lena and Dave went to great lengths to position themselves in spots which would provide the best photo opportunities and after final checks, Sam was off.

Ladies and gentlemen, this climb was truly inspirational. Sam made it past the second bolt with no hassles, pushed past the top bit very steady and solid on her foot placements, rested when she needed to, listened to her beta when she needed to, started talking to herself out loud when the need arose, and even stopped to get her breathing under control despite the pump. She clipped the anchors and everyone at the crag was proud. Another step in the forward direction.

Your monkey fist style is no match for my tiger claw style!

In the midst of all this, Lee got to know Charles Bukowski 6c+ and Ruth went up Styx.  Andy then flashed Styx.

I think deep inside we all had that feeling, that we contributed a little to the achievements of the day. You know it was a great day of climbing when you get to the bottom and you hear it about 10 times from every single person at the crag. You know it was a great day of climbing when you gel together as a team and the whole team takes ownership for the outcomes of the day. And, you especially know you have had a great day of climbing when your eyelids won't stay open at the dinner table.

I have been part of many great teams in the past and have shared many a great experiences with those. This team however, seems to be topping that list. And, I am very very proud to be part of it."

-- Ronsley Vaz