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Olympos Climbing: Day 1
Oct. 15th, 2017 10:33 pmUp early and down to sit in the square surrounding the fire pit, all the better to use the wifi. At eight, they started serving breakfast and I settled down with plenty of bread and honey, some excellent Turkish tea — they brew it in a samovar — a few bits of tomato, and a boiled egg for extra protein. I decided not to go for a fresh omelette, despite being assured of their excellence because I suspected mushrooms were involved in their preparation. The others gradually appeared, as did an increasing crowd of other breakfasters. By the time Coras arrived, people were queuing out of the door — something Gav assured us was a consequence of a party & climbing festival over the weekend to mark the end of summer.
After getting our gear together, we walked down the road a kilometre or so and peeled off down a river bed. Once there, the hardcore crowd went off with the two Toms while the others — including me — went with Gav and Rhoslyn into a little canyon.
After Gavin ran through the basis details of rethreading — something I haven't done for a couple of years — we started racking up a series of 5s. I was pleased to discover that I could still lead climb and, after a slightly rough start, my lead belay skills were still up to standard.
During the course of the morning, C made a grim discovery. Leading a long, easy 5 on the other side of the canyon from the slab the rest of us were leading, he came up over a ledge to discover a huge quantity of blood. He made a joke about it — he's a firefighter with a gallows sense of humour — but came down immediately realising that something was very wrong. Gavin connected the dots and realised that the story he'd heard about a young woman being seriously injured during the festival the day before related to the route C had just climbed. After we returned to base, Rhos subsequently discovered the woman who’d taken the fall on the route had hit her head on the ledge and hadn’t survived; terribly sad news.
Not realising the worst of it, we carried on and AH on-sighted a newly bolted route he reckoned was around 6a+.
E repeated the route and, despite some initial nerves, I also led it — wearing my helmet and warning Rhos that I thought I might fall. To my surprise but no-one else's, I flashed it, with only the smallest of concerns on the crux — and that was more a worry about blowing my flash than a genuine problem with my climbing.
On the way back from the crag we wandered up and down the road to the beach in search of smoothies. Close to the gate that gives access to the ruins of the Hellenic town, we found a place that served fresh orange and pomegranate juice while you waited. Once we’d juiced up, we walked back up the road and stopped one of the very few open bars — the season has very much finished — and caught up on events of the day.
We returned to Kadir’s for supper — lots of rice, lentils, and an excellent green bean dish — and a round of Cards Against Humanity. Newberry did extremely well, as might be expected, with H picking up most of the rest of the tricks. I won one, as did AB with AH picking a couple, and the rest going home empty handed. A fun way to end the evening...
After getting our gear together, we walked down the road a kilometre or so and peeled off down a river bed. Once there, the hardcore crowd went off with the two Toms while the others — including me — went with Gav and Rhoslyn into a little canyon.
After Gavin ran through the basis details of rethreading — something I haven't done for a couple of years — we started racking up a series of 5s. I was pleased to discover that I could still lead climb and, after a slightly rough start, my lead belay skills were still up to standard.
During the course of the morning, C made a grim discovery. Leading a long, easy 5 on the other side of the canyon from the slab the rest of us were leading, he came up over a ledge to discover a huge quantity of blood. He made a joke about it — he's a firefighter with a gallows sense of humour — but came down immediately realising that something was very wrong. Gavin connected the dots and realised that the story he'd heard about a young woman being seriously injured during the festival the day before related to the route C had just climbed. After we returned to base, Rhos subsequently discovered the woman who’d taken the fall on the route had hit her head on the ledge and hadn’t survived; terribly sad news.
Not realising the worst of it, we carried on and AH on-sighted a newly bolted route he reckoned was around 6a+.
E repeated the route and, despite some initial nerves, I also led it — wearing my helmet and warning Rhos that I thought I might fall. To my surprise but no-one else's, I flashed it, with only the smallest of concerns on the crux — and that was more a worry about blowing my flash than a genuine problem with my climbing.
On the way back from the crag we wandered up and down the road to the beach in search of smoothies. Close to the gate that gives access to the ruins of the Hellenic town, we found a place that served fresh orange and pomegranate juice while you waited. Once we’d juiced up, we walked back up the road and stopped one of the very few open bars — the season has very much finished — and caught up on events of the day.
We returned to Kadir’s for supper — lots of rice, lentils, and an excellent green bean dish — and a round of Cards Against Humanity. Newberry did extremely well, as might be expected, with H picking up most of the rest of the tricks. I won one, as did AB with AH picking a couple, and the rest going home empty handed. A fun way to end the evening...
