Ascents in Kalymnos by peta barrett

Repeat. Warm up.

Overly manufactured and weird. Not for me.

Really good. Done as one pitch as it was designed to be an extension. Not a multipitch.

A week of bad sleep will zap your energy. Really good but an empty tank.

Repeat. Warm up.

Repeat.

Draws on.

Draws on.

Surprisingly good friction for what looked like wet rock. Good to put this one away. Fingers even worked today!

If rain wasn’t coming, I would be resting. Probably should have looked at this more before we got on it. Short and pointless.

Will be nicer when it cleans up a bit

First shot to get the draws on and brush the holds. Second shot I got a high point to the side pull pocket but ended up missing the kneebar, which kept my foot too low. Poop. 3rd shot was fixing a draw for Scott. Wasn’t really a shot. 4th was on tr to swap the draws out for Chris and just get extra mileage.

Penultimate warm down in the sun.

Warm down in the sun. And ticked off the sector.

Getting myself reacquainted with it at the end of the day. If we get back here…

Finally! Warmed up bolt to bolt to get the draws on and give it a brush. Second shot got it. Fingers still did the open up thingy but I just pushed through and somehow stayed on. I yelled so much I’m pretty sure I chipped a tooth! How does that even happen???

Repeat. Warm up. This felt so bad this morning that I was reconsidering my existence as a climber.

After umming and aahing after our pathetic warm ups, spooginess, 4 nights of crap sleep and someone else’s draws on the proj…. Nearly just walked away. But at the last minute decided to chuck a lap on it. Conditions weren’t too bad… but we were terrible!! 😂

Repeat. Warm up.

Turns out.. winter isn’t here and climbing in the sun is still terrible. Luckily only had to do the top half in the sun. The climb is great,probably amazing in full shade haha, just get ready for clipping the anchors with the full weight of the rope… balancing on grey slab. Oooh so nasty. Still… the rest was enjoyable.

Repeat. First warm up. So spoooogy.

Bit spoogy and cold now after the rain. Really good climbing… it just keeps going!!

Repeat. Second warm up.

Was meant to be a rest day before we got carried away. This is good if you like dancing on razor blades. Slowly slowly don’t slice yourself. There are some comfortised holds…. Some…

Thought this was an Extension rather than 2 pitches. Did it as one anyway. Really good.

Repeat. Warm down. Little bit tired now.

Repeat. Warm up.

Probably my worst ever go… however once you get a high point that becomes your baseline. I was a bit crap today. High points: made a clip I couldn’t do before. Clipped the scary ones. 3rd shot to clean on top rope was actually my best shot of the day (humidity super low by then) and usually 3rd shot is toast!! Which means I really need low humidity to even stand a chance. (Hahaha why am I even bothering!!!! This is so beyond me!!!)

Filling in the gaps. Active rest day.

Shot 1 bolt to bolt. Shot 2 fell just at the last bad hold at the end of the crux sequence, the foot almost on. Damn TOS fingers just opened Shot 3… fingers are done. Bolt to bolt though.

Didn’t sleep so I was just playing around seeing if I can climb. Still don’t know because this felt more like a 7b!! (Or I was really tired… ). The lower supposed crux wasn’t too bad. The run out section is where I found it. It either meanders a lot and I missed it or it’s just hard and powerful. Either way… now I really am too tired. (And I still have to get down the canyon….)

At 18m you either clip ‘In Dubio’ anchors or continue straight up but then it’s not a 5b nor 18m. The bolts continue straight up, just to add to the confusion, but the guidebook gives it just a right hand variation in the centre, finishing at In Dubio. New climb continues. We didn’t try that one.

In a moment of indecision…. We repeated a climb. Kinda wish this is what we warmed up on…

Repeat for extension

Warm up. Given a grade of 6b+… I wish we’d noticed the chalk saying otherwise. Ahh hindsight. UKC gives it a 7a but that’s a bit extreme… maybe. Also in hindsight…. Not a warm up. Good though.

Good in a ‘oh god I wish I wore better shoes’ kinda way.

Bahahahahahaha. Pretty much what we said once we got past the crux. Holy crap……

So easy by comparison to everything else……

I won’t lie… I did think I was going to die. Not the 6b warm up you’d expect from Kalymnos. True, we did have to pull out half a forest to find two of the bolts (thanks Mike!) and then every good hold or footer was covered in leaves and dirt. And then I hit the crux. I didn’t cry though…. I may have wanted to. Thankful for panics and no unknown people around to hear me curse… non stop. Now it’s been uncovered you should get on it before it grows over the bolts again…