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You are here: Home / Archives for Climbing

Kalymnos Climbing

10th April 2020 by Andy Hudson 3 Comments

Article by Chris Heald

On a recent rock climbing trip to the Greek island of Kalymnos, we found a route called “La Troisieme Age” (The third age). Perhaps a French U3a member had been here and created the route?

It was a lovely 30 metre long route and climbing it prompted me to write this, for several reasons- partly to illustrate how changing fortunes have affected the island, partly to explain to friends in the Walking Group about how climbing works and partly to see if there are any other climbers in Craven U3a (as there are in Ambleside U3a).

Kalmynos is part of the Dodecanese Islands, 183 nautical miles south east of Athens and a 40-50 minute ferry ride from Kos. The ferry arrives at Pothia the island’s port and capital.

The island was the centre of the sponge diving industry, (a dangerous occupation), in the Mediterranean until the 1980’s when the industry declined and the economy was hit badly.  Now, Greek tourism has grown to fill some of the gap. When the Greek holidays are over, the west coast  village of Masouri in particular now offers a home to visiting climbers from Europe and all over the world.  The peak climbing seasons are Autumn and Spring, so the many climbers extend the holiday season substantially and are welcomed by the local people involved in tourism.

Other villages like Emporios, Palionosis and Vathy offer havens to visiting yachties.

Kalymnos has considerable archaeological interest, with sites dating back to Byzantine and Paleochristian eras. The sites I have seen are protected, but low key and just a part of the landscape. There is a recommended archaeological museum in Pothia.

Generally the islanders are warm and welcoming and a typical exchange in one of the many good restaurants may go like this – “But, we didn’t order any soup.” “Ah, this is Mama’s homemade soup. Everybody can have it. It’s complimentary”. Followed later by,” But we didn’t order dessert.” “Ah, this is on the house”.   Add to that good Greek wine for a brimming glass at 2 euros and all is good!

Prior to 1997 there was virtually no climbing on Kalymnos. Then an Italian climber visited in 1996 and was stunned by the huge unclimbed limestone cliffs and caves above Masouri.

Soon after this, Aris Theodoropoulos , a Greek climbing Guide, liaised with the local authorities to progress the potential of the island as a climbing destination. Top climbers were invited to visit and create new routes.  Aris began to do new routes himself and produce guidebooks to the new climbs, with updates provided between guidebooks by a Brit expat living in Masouri.

 In 1997 the first 43 routes were climbed. Now there are over 3,500 climbs of all grades.

Kalymnian climbs are what we call “sports” climbs. This is where the route creator has picked out a potential line to climb, then has drilled bolts into the rock at intervals for protection. There are also  fixed bolts to provide a “lower off” at the top, if it’s a climb of 40 metres or less. She or he then gives the new route a name and a grade (of difficulty) and it goes in the guidebook.

Subsequent climbers leading the route clip karabiners in to the bolts as they climb upwards and their rope into the karabiners, in effect to act as pulleys if they fall off.

 At the top of the climb the leader clips the rope through the ”lower off” and is then lowered to the ground by their belayer, nowadays using self-locking belay devices.

It’s a far cry from “ traditional”, or trad climbing, where the leader places his or her own protection into cracks as they climb upwards, then you generally walk off from the top of the climb, or abseil down, if you can’t walk off.

In the 50 years that I have been climbing my aim has been to maximise “reward” and  to mitigate risk. So I take into consideration – the choice of the right climb for the conditions and my level of fitness. I also ensure that I have a very reliable partner. I do  lots of research about a climb and have the best equipment and training.

Both climbing and hillwalking are activities with a risk of injury or death.  Interestingly, according to ROSPA you are actually more likely to be injured playing football or cricket than hillwalking or rock climbing. ROSPA also reports 1000 accidents per 100m hours for walking and 4000 for rock climbing. Cycling scores 7000 and horse riding 10,000.

 Accidents in sport climbing are rare and generally avoidable.

When I started climbing in 1968, doing trad routes, the mantra was still that “the leader must not fall”. Now for many climbers doing sports climbing, falling off is part and parcel of trying harder routes, often falling off until you have worked out the moves and can then climb the route in one go (which is called “red pointing”).

Kalymnos is not the only “sun rock” destination for Brits looking for warmer climes during our winter, but for me it offers a lovely combination of good weather, great climbing, friendly local people and that special island atmosphere.

If there are any climbers in our U3a I would be happy to get together for a chat and a session at the Harrogate climbing Wall.

Chris Heald

Filed Under: Climbing

THE EDGE- 100 YEARS OF SCOTTISH MOUNTAINEERING

9th April 2020 by Andy Hudson 1 Comment

This series was aired some years ago on the BBC, for those that didn’t see it then here’s a chance while socially isolating. If you’ve got YouTube on your smartTV then just search for The edge mountaineering

Filed Under: Climbing

Long Roost Ridge

8th April 2020 by John Brayshaw Leave a Comment

Last year’s trip to Lundy saw us based at Tibbetts, which is the ideal location from which to explore the northern section of the island. 100m beyond Arch Zawn, and recognisable by the curiously shaped block perched just below its top, the Long Roost Ridge forms the basis for a 60m V Diff, first climbed in 1969 by those redoubtable south-west pioneers, Rear-Admiral Keith Lawder, his grandson Iain Peters, and Mike Banks MBE. The ability to follow in those illustrious footsteps was an obvious attraction, but I was curious as to why a route with such a pedigree should be devoid of UKC ticks (in fact, it wasn’t even listed on the database – most odd). Only one way to find out……..

Always game for a laugh, Shirley accompanied me on this venture, and having scrambled down to sea level declared that she liked the look of the first pitch and racked up accordingly. I was a little perplexed at such enthusiasm as the pitch follows a wide crack formed by a steep corner and looked like it might prove quite testing at the grade. In fact, to my eyes it had sandbag written all over it, but knowing it wise to keep my own counsel, Shirley donned her rose tinted glasses and set off with gusto. An early hex placement added confidence, but then the corner reared up and progress tailed off. A search for more gear proved fruitless, so with cries of “this is very bold” a retreat ensued. With the tide having turned and being faced with an incoming sea, I was only too happy to take over the lead. Reaching Shirley’s high point a touch of guile and cunning saw a Rock 1 firmly located in the granite, which provided protection for some very wide bridging that was rewarded by a placement for an HB Offset 10 – ah, bliss! The crux now ensued with a shin scraping throw of the leg onto a slopey ledge and a semi-mantle to get upright. All very challenging and, to my mind, more like HS 4b than V Diff. A series of strenuous layback manoeuvres completed the pitch. Clearly the Admiral and friends were made of stern stuff. Shirley’s comments on the route grading are unfit for publication, so it’s time to review the second pitch.

References to scrambling upwards were a little misleading as vertical rock endowed with flaring cracks made for difficult progress, and required further dipping into the guile and cunning box to fashion any sort of protection. The guide mentions an optional stance at a grassy col, but with Shirley out of sight and the wind blowing, I elected to belay early. Shirley then led over the grassy col to a couple of small spikes that I assured her would form an adequate belay. Alas, these did not meet Plas-y-Brenin standards, but having joined her, I reasoned that with nothing else on offer, we might have to relax our standards a little. The guide advises further progress up a leftward slanting crack, to which Shirley’s only comment was “well, I’m not going up there!” The difficulty seemed to be that the crack had become home to some rather luxuriant vegetation. In fact, it wasn’t apparent that a crack existed at all. However, reckoning that the Admiral would be appalled if we made a disorderly retreat from the grassy col, I felt compelled to lead on. A couple of moves saw me atop the dubious spikes and then a wholesale ransacking of the guile and cunning box was required to find a protection placement. Lacking shears and trowel, I resorted to pulling out vegetation by hand. Shirley advised that she thought this wasn’t allowed on Lundy, but on grounds of preservation of life, the excavation of a sound Dragon 4 placement felt like a necessity. Buoyed up by this I moved jauntily up the flora until an undercut flake offered a couple of more easily accessed gear placements.

The final pitch is described as easy climbing up a broken chimney, but there was a catch; the chimney appeared to have been covered in a carpet of deep, green sea grass. The jaundiced look in Shirley’s eye told me it would be unwise to offer her the lead at this stage, so off I went again. I’ve climbed a number of pitches on Lundy where the sea grass makes things look unappealing from below, but the passage of other climbers has kept the holds clean. Sadly this wasn’t the case on Long Roost Ridge. In fact, I was beginning to wonder if there had been any ascents in the fifty years since the Admiral and friends first climbed it. Lacking a stiff hand brush, the required technique seemed to be to rub vigorously with the palm of the hand to remove a patch of sea grass in the approximate position in which the feet might be positioned. Consequently progress was slow, but the revealed granite was super grippy (no polish here) and further wide bridging manoeuvres allowed progress to be made towards the top. With muscles and joints beginning to ache I was rather glad to make it to the final belay, and before long a rather hungry looking Shirley arrived to join me. Pausing only long enough to shoot me another withering glance, she pulled the ropes through to the sacks and set about devouring some well earned rations.

Little travelled it may be but Long Roost Ridge is now firmly on the UKC database, sporting two ticks. I’ve voted it HS for the difficulty of the first pitch and awarded it one star on account of its compelling nature. For those in search of an adventurous experience, well away from the crowds, I strongly recommend it – just remember to pack a variety of gardening tools and a stiff hand brush!

John Brayshaw

The vegetated crack
The final chimney

Filed Under: Climbing

Plas Y Brenin meet

5th January 2020 by Andy Hudson Leave a Comment

Plas Y Brenin June 2020

Through the BMC we have found a great opportunity to book the Moelwyn Bunkhouse at Plas Y Brenin for the nights of Friday 26th and Saturday 27th June 2020. Plas Y Brenin offers a great base for climbing and walking, with it’s facilities and bar right next door!

In addition to the two nights we have a provisional reservation for a third night on Sunday 28th if enough members are interested for a three night stay, and we may also have the opportunity of a free short climbing coaching session with a Plas Y Brenin instructor during our stay.  As such the club is keen to promote this meet and get early interest so bookings are open for members now, and for guests and provisional members on 27th January. Cost is £16 per night.

Details of the bunkhouse:

Accommodation

The bunkhouse sleeps 16 with rooms of 10, 4, and 2.

Please email the organiser Kara Heald to confirm availability and we will then request payment to reserve your place. At the same time please also let us know if you would be interested in a third night stay (Sunday 28th June) and / or the free climbing coaching session. We will request a separate additional payment for the third night once we confirm if we have enough interest to extend the booking.

Filed Under: Climbing, Hut, Walking

Faulty Karabiners?

4th September 2019 by Dick 1 Comment

I have just been informed (by Martin Annis) that some Carabiners sold under the Simons name by Decathlon are being recalled in America due to a risk of failure leading to serious injury or death.

The Carabiners are called “Rocky” and are blue in snap gate and yellow in screwgate. Whilst it is an American recall, I note that the blue Karabiners are currently on sale in Decathlon UK (possibly a different batch of course.)

If you have any Decathlon Karabiners that might be called “Rocky” and are blue or yellow I would check up with Decathlon before using them again.

For more info on the American recall see https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2019/Decathlon-USA-Recalls-Carabiners-Due-to-Risk-of-Serious-Injury-or-Death

Filed Under: Climbing

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