Celebrations of the beginning of summer and end of my first year of grad school are underway and are awesome.
The adventures (and prolonged period of decompression) began with a trip to Kalymnos, Greece to climb on what is (apparently) some of the best limestone climbing in the world. (
note: since people keep asking us how the Greek economic crisis affected our trip, I'll discuss it a bit at the end of the post. Feel free to skip the awesome fun stuff and go to the less fun bit)
The rock is mind blowing.
And Kalymnos smells like thyme. It is delicious.
Actually, there is a lot of thyme honey made in Kalymnos. Which means there are
lots of honey bees. They generally leave you alone, but given Ev's strong aversion to bees, it meant a hike was aborted because it went through a bee farm. Also, there are a lot of wasps. We can vouch for this because we got pelted in the face by wasps many, many times while zipping around on our scooters.
Scooters are fun. I highly recommend renting a scooter.
Anyways, we caught the ferry from the Mastichari harbor in Kos to the Pothia harbor on Kalymnos. It was a hot, bluebird day and the ride was quite lovely.
We settled in to our apartment (gotta love Air B&B) and wandered around Myrties and Masouri for the afternoon.
The next day (Thursday?) we struck out for the Sector School (one of the many, many crags/walls on Kalymnos) and took down the 5-pitch Platon (5c). To beat the sun (and associated heat), we headed out around 7:30am.
The pitches were pretty short, so we decided to link them two at a time.
This was not a good idea.
We climbed using half ropes because we had to rappel down. We decided to use them as twins (i.e. clipping both ropes in each quickdraw rather than alternating ropes). Unfortunately, we didn't realize the route wanders. A lot. And has some very, very shallow sections.
The hardest part of Platon was pulling up rope to clip. Neither Ev nor I have ever experienced so much rope drag. My arms hurt just thinking about it.
But we persevered (although there was a fair amount of bitching about our poor life choices), and the view from the top was beautiful.
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| The view from the top of Platon was almost worth the insane rope drag. |
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| So happy to be done with the hanous rope drag. |
On the plus side, the rap down took us over a fairly large cave, which made for a fun time.
As the sun hit the wall around 11am, Ev and I walked back to the scooters.
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Our days in Kalymnos consisted of getting up at the butt crack of dawn every other morning (except for a couple where we did back-to-back mornings) and going climbing. We tried to beat the heat and other climbers, with varying degrees of success. We have an advantage of being used to long approaches that require alpine starts (aka
really really early, as in before 5am), so being at a wall by 7am wasn't as bad as it could have been.
I should also note that island time is real. The pace on Kalymnos was relaxed and leisurely. We got up early or slept in, depending on how we felt. We climbed, swam, or hiked pretty much every day. We spent a lot of time being way too hot.
We also ate a lot of delicious, fresh seafood, souvlaki, Greek wine (highly underrated), saganaki cheese (flaming cheese with lemon; a Kalymnos specialty) and tomatoes. I kind of think the tomatoes deserve a shout-out. They were flavorful, juicy, and pretty much amazing. This is coming from a girl who generally picks them out of things because they just don't do it for me. Well, the Greek tomatoes do it for me.
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We did some climbs that were kind of meh (the rock is insanely sharp, so we both had shredded hands for the entire trip), and some that were absolutely incredible. The highlights include:
Pornokini (6a+ / 5.10a/b, 33m) at the Infrared Wall.
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| the route is marked in blue |
A little bit of everything, with some slab moves, beautiful pockets (Kalymnos has possibly the best finger pockets ever. THEY ARE AMAZING!), and a small roof at the top. Apparently it's an island classic, and it definitely deserves it.
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Karpouzi (5c+ / 5.10a, 18m) at The Beach
Hands down the best flake/crack climb I've done. Karpouzi was a bit off-width in places, but there are multiple ways to approach those sections. I opted to layback the off-width bits and follow the crack to the anchor, while Ev transitioned to the slab to the left of the crack and went straight up. This was one of the shorter routes we did, but was so fun that I don't even care. Plus, we got to go jump in the ocean when we got tired of climbing at this crag. Surprise surprise, the crag named 'The Beach' is located at a beach. Cross that one off the bucket list.
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Pillar of the Sea (6a+ / 5.10b, 28m) at Kastelli
Pillar of the Sea was a sustained 6a+ with every style of climbing imaginable. Technical slabs, small crack section, heinous roof move, and a couple questionable bolts that would have been cause for concern if the route wasn't bolted every 1.5m. One of the classic climbs on the island, everyone takes pictures of the route, with its spectacular exposure, view of Telendos (the adjacent island with a bunch of really, really spectacular multi-pitches that are on our to-do list), and beautiful bay.
After we finished climbing a bunch of routes at Kastelli, we hiked up to the ruins at the top of the crag overlooking the sea.
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| It's hard to get pictures of both of us when we don't have a third person along. Oh well. I suppose this is why selfies exist. I guess. |
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The crowning glory of our Kalymnos climbs was Thetis. Thetis is a 'classic' 6b tufa climb that follows a massive stalactite. A very popular route, short, overhung, and brutal.
Disclaimer: I am not good at overhangs. I have lousy upper body strength (I was super proud of myself for doing 2/3 of a pull-up last week) and tend to manage steep, overhung routes by throwing heel hooks like crazy and wedging myself into whatever corner I can find.
Which brings us to
Thetus (6b / 5.10c, 18m) at the Aire wall
Thetis had a couple firsts for me:
1. Ground fall. I failed to get the first clip on my first attempt and biffed it. Not too far - only about 4 feet - but enough to leave some marks and hurt like hell. Luckily I mostly landed on my butt/lower back and only smoked my knee and elbow on the way down.
I did get back on immediately and get that first clip. And then I let Ev take a run at it, cuz I hurt. Also, ground falls shake you up pretty good.
2. Upside down fall. I finally managed to thrash my way to the 6th and final bolt and, needless to say, was absolutely exhausted. I had wedged my butt into the corner (I may have chimney-d my way up 60% of the route), and had to transition onto the actual wall to make the clip. I managed the transition and reached out to check that I could clip the bolt. My right hand chose that moment to slide off the sloper I was precariously clinging to and I tipped backwards, ending up hanging upside down and quite displeased with my new orientation. Luckily, because the route is so positive, I didn't hit my head on anything (plus, we always wear helmets because we are attached to our brains).
3. Climbed my first 6b. Sure, I hang-dogged my way up the route and (apparently) sounded like a buffalo giving birth, but eventually I managed to finish it. Although I must admit, at one point Ev flat-out refused to lower me off and told me I had to finish what I started.
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| So happy to be off that hellish route. Oh, and I hurt for days after it, although that might have been because of the ground fall... |
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Other highlights include our trip to The Cave crag (some of the climbing area names are oh-so-creative), where we climbed a couple un-remarkable routes, then went into the cave the crag is named for. The entrance is covered by a metal grate and there are two ladders you climb down. The cave itself is beautiful and well worth the visit to the crag.
On a 'rest' day, we hiked out to Sikati Cave, a massive cave home to the highest concentrations of ridiculously hard routes on Kalymnos (and that's saying something, since Kalymnos has an insane amount routes). To give an idea of how hard the routes are, the Petzl Rock Trip went to Sikati Cave a few years ago. Then we walked down to the beach (well, more of a scramble) and enjoyed the solitude, sun, and ocean.
Since the food was cheap and fresh (and delicious), we ended up eating out most nights. This wasn't much of an expense, since dinner for two ran about 20 euros. It also came with free dessert and a glass of wine or ouzo.
One of the allures of eating out was the sunset over Telendos. Every night, and just as beautiful every time.
We also caught the ferry to Telendos (the island adjacent to Kalymnos. Fun fact, the two islands used to be connected until around 500 BC when a massive earthquake caused them to separate). We picked a direction and headed off, initially following a trail that, it turned out, kind of stopped being a trail when we started walking uphill.
Another fun fact: every piece of vegetation on Telendos is pointy and wants to murder your legs.
It took us a couple hours to get back to an actual trail, dodging some ravines and super prickly areas. Basically, we attempted to follow goat trails down. Fyi, goats are apparently ninjas. I am not a goat.
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| yaaaay we found the trail! |
All in all, Kalymnos was wonderful. We're definitely going to have to go back in winter and tick off some of the multi-pitch routes and super-sweet 6b's and c's.
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So now, I suppose, I'll talk a little about the Greek crisis.
For those who follow world events (and believe me, this particular situation should be on everyone's radar), Europe and Greece sat down to negotiate the terms of a third bailout about 6 months ago (+/-)(the Greek economy was demolished after the 2008 financial crisis). Because the terms being offered by the IMF, European Central Bank, and European Commission were not viewed as acceptable to the Greek prime minister and finance minister, an agreement was not made in time for Greece to make a couple payments on their previous bailouts. As a result of this deadlock, the prime minister held an emergency referendum for the Greek people to accept or reject the offered bailout deal, which was widely perceived to screw over the Greeks. While the Greek government prepared for the referendum, negotiations were put on hold. The ECB was forced by its own bylaws to stop sending emergency liquidity funding (ELF) to Greek banks, and couldn't continue lending to Greece until a bailout deal was reached, which resulted in the Greek banks being shut down, the government running out of money and failing to make a payment to the IMF (the first developed nation to ever do so). Capital controls were put in place by the Greek government, which included limiting the amount that could be withdrawn from an atm to 60 euros per day, which is as big a deal as the banks shutting down. When the PM called the referendum, the ECB released some emergency money (but stopped the majority of the ELF, essentially keeping the banks 'solvent', but not much else), but the banks remained closed. (Disclaimer: I'm not positive the timeline here is right. Google is your friend on this one)
The referendum was two days before we arrived in Greece (5 July). Overwhelmingly, the Greeks rejected the proposed bailout, so negotiations restarted and talk of Greece leaving (or being forced out) of the Eurozone increased.
So basically, the Greek economy is a mess.
Enough of that. I haven't said anything typing 'Greek debt crisis' into Google wouldn't tell you (and in probably much more detail with a greater breadth of understanding. Try
the NY times, or, my personal favorite,
the moron's guide to the Greek Debt Crisis).
Since many of the Greek islands are heavily cash-based economies (and we had been following the situation in Greece), we went to Kalymnos with much more cash (in small denominations) than we'd normally carry. We knew that some stores were no longer taking credit cards, and, although many tourist places (hotels, car rentals, tours, etc) were still taking them, we figured we should assume that our cards wouldn't work. Some of my Greek classmates warned me to be careful at the airports, public transportation, and crowded areas, since pick pocketing skyrocketed when the banks shut down.
People were talking about the debt crisis everywhere, with varying degrees of concern. It seemed like nobody wanted to leave the Eurozone, but felt like they were getting shafted in the bailout deals (cuz they were/are. The bailout eventually agreed
to really screws over Greece and
isn't sustainable (don't take my word for it, see
latest statements by the IMF).
Interestingly, many places on Kalymnos (markets, restaurants, etc) were still able to take cards, but all of them expressed a strong preference for cash. The place we rented scooters from, who I had assumed would take a credit card, really really wanted cash.
I also noticed a shortage of coins, which meant several times I was given a small discount on an item because they were unable to give me the proper change. Once we realized this, we started carrying more coins and people were very happy to get it. I'm sure a large part of this is that atm's don't put coinage into circulation.
On the other hand, it seemed like the island wasn't as affected by the crisis as the main land, because its economy was already significantly cash-based. Ev and I did avoid using the atm, since we had enough cash and were able to put some purchases on the card.
The bailout deal eventually reached (summarized fairly well by
BBC) is pretty.... for lack of a better word, unsustainable. We'll see how it plays out.
So, in summary, while the impact of the Greek debt crisis (which is still ongoing, btw) was relatively small on our magical climbing vacation, we
did witness firsthand some of the effects.
