Velebitaski

The crux of the route goes under a roof, and is slippery when wet, but fixed gear makes it doable. The chimney and ramp after are beautiful climbs, and overall the climbing is varied and fun, albeit awkward at times. As most routes in this area, the ratings are stiff. Only one pitch goes at 10b but do not underestimate! It's still burly.

Pitches break down like this:

P1. 39m, “5b/5.9”. Start at the little metal triangle. It starts okish, then gets harder & harder pretty fast. Follow a crack up, then move left and up through pretty vertical, polished and at times laybacky sections. After some runout, and progressively more awkward moves, move onto a (for a long time invisible) belay on the right.

P2. 25m, "4a/5.6". From the belay, move to the right up onto a block. (Don’t go to the left, or you’ll be stuck in a 6b+ pitch from Ranja). Move further right towards a crack and then up past a double-bolt belay. Don’t use this, but climb up another 15m to the belay.

P3. 28m, “4c/5.7”. Another classic Paklenica “4c”. Move right towards the corner and up, following the sparse bolts until you reach a spacious ledge.

P4. 20m, "4b/5.7". This is the ‘over a flake’ pitch. Move left, through the bird poop and the plants, making sure not to grab the slugs. Again: sparse bolts get you to the top of the flake (approx 10 m) There you can clip a bolt, and move down again, until you see the anchor for another route. Officially this pitch moves up on the much bigger flake/chimney on the left, but since the rope drag was heinous, I used these anchors to belay instead. There are no bolts between the top of the small flake and the anchor, so that’ll be an interesting fall for a follower, should they slip on a slug.

P5. 40m, “5b/5.9”. You’ll see bolts going up, but hat’s not the route. Go left, first on the face of the flake, then move right and chimney a polished chimney until you get to the massive stuck stone. Move right at the belay for a crazy 6c move which got lost in a 5b. If you feel like you’re in a German Expressionist movie, you’re in the right place. Go past the block, further right, and then wiggle up a slippery crack, past a stoic pigeon to a proper belay.

P6. 28m, "6a+/5.10b". The crux pitch. The (well bolted) crux is approx 4m above the belay, it’s a small roof with underclings and delicate feet, move out along the left up into a series of pretty solid laybacks. Then when you think it’s probably a one-crux-pitch, it isn’t. Keep your head together and move up the grooves and chimneys, past the hollow-sounding flake to the belay.
Compared with the rest of the pitches. This one ain’t bad for the grade.

As the Slovenian guide said “the climbing is not over after the crux pitch, they’re numbered 3 and 4, but it’s real climbing”

P7. 30m, “5a/5.8”. Awkward beginning in a chimney with reachy holds, then a couple of nice big flakes and sharp watergrooves, followed by some slab with mediocre holds until you reach the anchor.

P8. 30m, "3a/5.5". Move right, up the grooves, past 3-4 bolts to a belay under a massive roof where swallows will keep you company. Not the hardest pitch for sure, but pretty runout.

P9. 34m, "4a/5.6". Move left up the obvious watergrooves, following many bolts up to an anchor. You can link this to move to the middle of the next pitch onto a grassy ledge, but it will make your last pitch very long. Requires a couple of 5b moves for sure.

P10. 32m, "4a/5.6". Move further up to the grassy ledge. There you’ll notice a series of anchors, and a single higher bolt to the left. Make a couple of 5c moves up the watergrooves, and keep going for 20m without bolts and no anchors. I slung the big hole high up on the right to make an anchor. Never found any bolts (neither did my follower or the party behind us).

P11. 28m, “4b/5.7”. The hardest 4b you’ll ever do. Move up on the crack (no protection), and up the slabby watergrooves until you see a bolt approx 1m below a dead tree. Keep going up and into the vertical watergrooves, awkward laybacking, footjamming, chimneying and sheer determination will get you up, sling the tree, and further up and around the corner is the anchor.

For the final pitch, top out and sling a tree. The second to last pitch we could not find an anchor for either, and built one from a piton, bolt, and gear.

Descent: Walk up the big blocks for approx 90m until you see the red dots. Move right if you want to go see the summit, or move left, following the dots for forever over sharp blocks and flakes, until you finally get to a path. Follow it all the way around Anica Kuk, through the trees, over the screen, and back to the river. If you’re not fond of descents, it’s 2hrs to the parking lot, or 1h50 to the ice cream in the valley cafe.

Approach:
It's approx 30m to the left of Mosoraski.

Gear:
There are spaced out bolts, and solid belay-anchors. (except for the 10th pitch). Bring a single rack of cams if you want to make your mother happy.

Hike up the trail to Anica Kuk. Look for a sign pointing to Klin and Mosoraski. The turn off for this climb is only a little farther up the trail. A small plaque with the route name marks the base of the climb.

Bring at least 10 draws, and you will be very happy with alpines and doubles. You will also find a few medium cams useful.