Climb: September 2017

Portland 2017

We managed to sneak a one night trip to Portland over the August bank holiday. Heading to the battleship crags we found the access was very different to the guide books because of all the land slides and changes which was a bit unnerving. We ended moving around a fair bit climbing at battleship back cliff then blacknor South and then the cuttings. Weather was fab but the a we did notice the fragility of the rock this trip-falling off as hand holds snapped off!

Appraoch

Battleship back cliff

Slab behind the cuttings

Decent for battleship crags

Battleship back cliff

Blacknor south

fab weather and aspect

Siurana

With another extra weeks holiday to take before August we took the opportunity to visit Catalunya staying in the campsite at Siurana. Famous for its stern grades we were a bit apprehensive! The rockfax guide was limited and although the Siurana guidebook from the campsite was more comprehensive it was the worst guidebook I've ever seen-so it was a case of climbing which ever crags we came across to start with! There was little choice but to leave the egos at the airport and we opted to just get on routes that looked nice rather than chasing hard grades, especially with the temperatures often above 30 degrees C. Despite much lower grades than we would normally get on the bolting was at times terrifying, but most of the rock was great.

climb of the trip a very run out 7a

great crag with some memorable climbs

Evening climbs were the way to go

Some intimidating climbs down in the valley!

Kalymnos 2017

This was our sixth trip Kaly and the only issue with that is some of the crags become perhaps a little too familiar and so we tired to seek out those crags we hadn't ever visited. Arginonta valley is a new crag which was really good. Red wine wall just opposite that crag, not so great-sharp and crumbly. Dudoni was a great find and we managed to tick off everything we wanted to in a single visit. Our first time up to black forest was interesting with a bolt hanging off half way up a route that was feeling really good!
looked nice rather than chasing hard grades, especially with the temperatures often above 30 degrees C. Despite much lower grades than we would normally get on the bolting was at times terrifying, but most of the rock was great.