There's nothing quite as amazing as taking a 3 week holiday directly after sitting for an exam that takes a minimum of 6 weeks for results to be posted. It's hard to obsess about your score when you're in Greece, playing on some of the best sports climbs on earth.
The first time we went to Kalymnos (back in 2015), we went in the middle of July. It was stupidly hot (90F/30C), and we could really only climb early in the mornings to avoid being burned off the walls. This round, we went at the tail end of the peak season. Temperatures were closer to 70F/20C, the weather was fantastic and sunny, and we still managed to avoid the worst of the crowds at the crags.
We also had some friends with us, which means that there are actually pictures from this trip.
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| Meet Dakota and Sarah, the crazy people who decided to come to Europe and climb with us. The weirdos. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
So we climbed every day and it was magical.
Dakota got a little artsy and took some pics through the belay glasses. Which I think turned out really cool.
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Kalymnos has majestic, huge faces, spectacular exposure, and well over 2,500 climbs. We went all over, sticking to our usual M.O. of getting up early so we had the crags to ourselves for a couple hours. There really isn't anything comparable to being 30m up a wall with the Mediterranean Sea at your back and no one else around. It's humbling and peaceful and slightly terror-inducing if you happen to be really far above your last bolt.
That little spec on the wall in the right pic is Dakota.
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I took this trip as an opportunity to climb really hard and practice taking lead falls. Well, the falling wasn't the goal, just a result of attempting to lead things that are right at my limit. Or slightly (*ahem* very) above. The outcome being lots of pictures of me mid-fall. In my defence, this particular route was a 6c (5.11a). A really lovely 6c. Which I did finish. Eventually. It was a struggle fest, but also one of my favourite climbs of the trip.
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| Ev making Panakia (6c/5.11a) look way easier than I did. The jerk. |
Dakota on Monohiki Elia (6a+/5.10b) and Ev on Azche zu Azche (6a+/5.10b)
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| Ev on Fouska (7a/5.11d) Terrifyingly steep, really epic looking, and proud owner of a quickdraw that he bailed off. |
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Climbing trips, like most things, are made better with good friends. Even when said friends try to lick your eyeball. Or someone gets bored while on picture duty and takes amusing selfies with the sole intent of making someone laugh when reviewing said pictures.
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There was a lot of sass, marathon belays (sorry boys), and card games. And a surprising number of photos of the belayer hanging in the air after catching a Dakota fall. Might I say, the Ohm is amazing when there's a big weight differential between the lead climber and the belayer. Also, there is a new rule that in order to climb with us, you must own a pair of yellow pants.
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On the way back from Kalymnos, Ev and I spent a couple days in the Netherlands to catch up with our Euro-friends. We hung out, wandered around Delft, went bouldering (cuz obviously we hadn't gotten enough climbing done in Greece), and I attempted to teach Lorraine to make pie.And now we're back in Alaska. Well, we've been back for almost a month, but I'm lazy and haven't bothered to finish this post (which I swear I started about a week after we got home).
Soooooooo happy whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year. Maybe I'll manage one more post before 2018. Although if my current track record is any indication, that's severely unlikely. Oh well.
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