Anyone Climbed in Greece?

I will be heading to Greece in March and am looking for any input on where to climb. Meteora is defiantly on the list as is Varasova. Still trying to decide if we want to make the trek to Kalymonos or not. I am looking for sport up to 5.12 and easy trad. We will not have a car which probably limits our choices. I have done a fair amount of research and can tell that there are obscene amounts of limestone in Greece. Where should we climb?

Not sure how long we will be there as we are going to try and see as much of Europe as possible. (Request for info on other parts of Europe to come!)

Thanks in advance for the help!

PS: if anyone in the boulder area has much experience climbing in Europe that they are stoked on and would like to share I will gladly buy the beer!

Edit to change title.

I have been to Kalymnos twice. Lots of fun. No trad (all sport on limestone). Good climbing, safe...harder routes are steep, overhanging tufa-pulls, easyer and popular routes are starting to become polished. Absurd amount of potential. Recently a push for multi-pitch routes.

Stayed at the Climbing House, Stefanos Gerakios, kalymnos-stafanos.gr (really nice people, you will meet other climbers from around Europe). Complementary home-cooked meal offered once a week. Inexpensive, clean accomodations (no camping in Kalymnos). Stefanos will pick you up and drop you off at ferry station.

The travel time is a bit long... Boston to Frankfurt; Frankfurt to Athens; Athens to Kos; then Ferry from Kos to Kalymnos. A bit of a mind bender... even if everthing goes right.

Hope this helps, good luck.

AB

jmac wrote:I will be heading to Greece in March and am looking for any input on where to climb. Meteora is defiantly on the list as is Varasova. Still trying to decide if we want to make the trek to Kalymonos or not.

Some good beta in Stewart Green's Rock Climbing Europe on both Meteora and Kalymnos.

Spent a week at each. Both great. Very different areas. Meteora is like Maple (UT) and/or the Pinnacles (CA) but bolted like the Pinnacles (very sparse, some, very very sparse). Its a world heritage site, and, the monasteries are very worth visiting (and flat amazing).

Kalymnos is bolted sport with requirements that bolts have to be a very close distance between each other (etc). So, very different styles of climbing. The climbing is really fun, the scene great, and the food great too. You're on the Med!

You could do either place without a car. On Kalymnos, you take a cab to your lodging, and, pick a place that's close to climbing and for the first few days, you could just walk to the crags. After you exhaust those, then rent a scooter. Easy and cheap.

For Meteora, you could take the train (we had a car). Then, either walk or take a cab to Kastraki (although, we stayed at a place on the uphill side of Kalambaka that was very close to that side of the rock climbing).

Have a great trip!

-Brian in SLC

I climbed in Meteora a few years ago. I assume that you saw my entry about it here.

There's not much true sport climbing in Meteora. There are a lot of routes with bolts on them, but not many bolts on those routes. You can certainly go out there and not place any gear. Many of the cobble-covered face climbs don't have any placements aside from the occasional knob to sling and it's anyone's guess if the cobble will hold body-weight anyway. The run-outs are exciting and the questionable rock quality in many places is terrifying. Plan on dislodging a lot of your hand and foot holds.

Spent about 2 weeks in Meteora in late Sept. '08. Loved the place & the climbing (esp. if you like towers)! The weather was shitty for us though (surprising). Posted a TR (M. is the bottom 1/2):

Dolomites & Meteora

Green's guidebook comes up a lot for Euro climbing but it's not really anything to write home about (maybe if you're a hard sport climber). However, for Meteora he does do a decent job highlighting some of the classics. My opinion only of course. Once you get there, it might be worthwhile to blow some Euro's on the 2 volume Meteora guidebooks (it's in Greek/German/English - very nice). By the way, I think a car rental is nice there despite what the books tell you esp. if you're on a time budget (& see my shitty weather comment above). If you're on a severe $$ budget, well different story then.

I think Meteora is one of the most idyllic places I've ever climbed. Beautiful scenery, great food, good camping, and amazing formations. Very runout, so I stayed well within my abilities. I think getting around Greece would be a challenge for anyone not familiar with the greek language. Photos Here

Thanks! This is getting me really excited/scared for Meteora! Anyone been to any of the smaller less famous areas?

"I think getting around Greece would be a challenge for anyone not familiar with the greek language."

Jim, I would respectfully disagree. Most Greek people we ran into spoke at least some English (another example, English movies on tv are subtitled & not voiced over...just in case you have a rainy day & are stuck watching tv in a taverna :). Many were fluent. Road signs are posted in both Latin & Greek alphabets. Also, pretty much everyone we ran into was very friendly! I gotta admit though that we spent only 1 day in a large city (Thessaloniki) but we criss-crossed the country sightseeing during the long rainy spells. All of this was quite a change after South Tyrol/Dolomites (not unfriendly but a little different). Food was great & relatively cheap after N. Europe too. Man, I'd love to go back...

PS Great website.

Where did you guys stay in Meteora? Is there camping. I was planning on staying in a hostel, but so far have only come up with hotels.

Thanks again for all the help.

I climbed in Meteora for a couple of weeks about 8 years ago. It is a really small town and anyone will point you to the two campgrounds. We found a cool cave and lived in that for a week. Climbing is suberb, and the scenery amazing. Also climbed around athens. There is a climbing shop with lots of beta. Have fun.

Chris- Tucson, AZ

I can attest to what has already been said about Kalymnos. I was there for almost 3 weeks in October and loved everything about it: the climbing, the people (both locals and traveling climbers from everywhere in the world), the food, the accomodations, the scenery. Would go and probably WILL go back there in a heartbeat. Let me know if you have specific questions about anything. Would be more than happy to answer......