By Jonathan. With temperatures plummeting to a mere 22 C we decided to explore the climbing at Hauteroche, near the medieval town of Flavigny. The crags at Hauteroche enjoy shade early in the day and the surrounding deciduous woodland shelter the base of many of the sectors through much of the day. With over 250 … Continue reading Hauteroche and The Grotte du Maquis Bernard
By Jonathan. Over the past 30 years the popularity of climbing has sky-rocketed. An important trigger for this was the development of sport climbing, which began in France in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Since that time the number of sport climbing destinations has grown exponentially. With a constant stream of new and / … Continue reading Climbing in Burgundy – Escaping the heat at Geligny
By Gaynor. Pushing yourself to the limit and reaching beyond what you thought possible, striving to achieve new milestones. These are challenges that inspire and motivate us as climbers. But if all our climbing was like that we would never be able to warm up and we would burn out quickly, both in our daily … Continue reading The importance of 4b
By Jonathan. I was born and grew up in County Durham and am now living in Northumberland so I can't pretend to be an impartial observer, but for me the North-east of England is a special place. The scenery tends towards a gentle beauty rather than awe inspiring but at the same time it is … Continue reading Climbing at Stanhope Quarries, Co Durham, UK
By Jonathan. Our three month journey, which is taking us between the two capital cities of the Roman empire, is coming to a close. The general shape of our route was set by the start and end points, Rome and Istanbul, and the desire to see more of Sicily and climb on the island of … Continue reading Climbing near Izmir, Turkey
By Gaynor. We arrived in Izmir on the western coast of Turkey after 4 hours driving through the rain soaked country. The entire west coast seemed to be under rain clouds on the day we traveled. We are staying in Izmir to go climbing at Kaynaklar, a climbing area just to the east of Izmir … Continue reading Climbing in Kaynaklar – The Drama of Day 1
By Jonathan. Articles about sport climbing don't often describe failure. In part, this could be because the basic premise of sport climbing is that if you work a route for long enough you will eventually do it. A premise that obviously doesn't apply if what motivates you is on-sighting routes. In this mode, success and … Continue reading You Lose Some, You Win Some
For our last week on Kalymnos we were joined by our friends Penny and Mark. This was Penny's first climbing holiday, and we are delighted that she agreed to write a guest blog for us, giving her perspective on the week in Kalymnos. Penny and Mark climbing at Summertime It was with some trepidation that … Continue reading Climbing on Kalymnos: A Beginners Perspective
By Jonathan. Whilst Kalymnos is a world renowned destination for sport climbing it is an otherwise relatively obscure place. It has a rugged beauty but few of the historical or hedonistic attractions that tempt people to many of the other Greek islands. We were therefore a little surprised by how much the character of Masouri … Continue reading Climbing on Kalymnos: Reflections
By: Gaynor Sevasti is a village in northern Greece which has a population of around 650. It is also the name of a route on the Iannis sector in Kalymnos. A route that was a milestone for Jon during this trip. We first saw Sevasti the day after we arrived in Kalymnos. It had rained … Continue reading The Story of Sevasti
Ordinary Climbers 