Another stunner sunrise and breakfast on the balcony, but this time, despite the beautiful looking sea, dispensed with the morning swim in favour of setting out on a climbing adventure in Katafyki Gorge.
The 178m route follows the ridgeline that is just visible in the photo below (leaning diagonally upwards above the bridge from left to the right hand high point. It was only first climbed (and bolted) this summer, so we were keen to check it out.
As expected, the newness of the climb (and indeed the whole area in terms of climbing development), there was not a beaten track to the base of the rock. The route has probably only had a handful of ascents so far and we had to do a bit of bush-wacking up some steep ground to reach the base of the climb.
In the dry river bed below, there were some little cairns to follow, but with the ridge in view, you just had to follow your nose! We joked that it was definitely going to be easier to continue upwards than retrace our steps, and that was before we even got on the rock!
Thankfully, the photo of the route from local climbers at Olympus Mountaineering, matched up with the cliff in front of us and we soon located the bolts with marked the start of the climb. The route is very generously bolted, so we didn't need to use any of the extra cams we'd brought along with us.
At this time of year, the ridge is in the shade, but it's still perfectly warm enough for climbing in a thin fleece. There was a bit of loose rock on the first pitch where the route had been 'cleaned', but as we got higher, the quality of the rock increased, as did the views.
We swung the leads and each belay was equipped with a very reassuring bolted belay station, which gave comfy change overs as well as good ledges to enjoy a snack on and soak up the views. My prototype rucsack which I am testing was performing really well - it was made for long routes like this.
The final pitches had the better sections of rock as the middle bit had a scrambling type pitch.
On the final belay before the summit, the views were amazing with the gorge laid out below us. Until this point we'd barely heard a sound and certainly hadn't seen another human since leaving the main road in the car. Overhead a raven 'calked' and swooped past doing some acrobatics as it passed. Once it passed, the silence returned and we continued upwards towards the sunshine.
We had to strip off layers and pull on sunglasses as we basked in the warmth of the cliff top. It was like a different world up there!
Being a new climb on a 'new' cliff (new to climbers - obviously, the cliff has been here for a very long time!), there was no path down from the summit. Or even a cairn to start us off. After soaking up some sun and enjoying a huge picnic of falafel and humus pittas, we pulled out the compass to follow the directions of 'East for a bit, then South, then descend South East'.
Picking our way through the bushes, rocks and trees, we left a trail of cairns until we arrived in an old olive grove.
From here, easier ground led to the dirt track the led into the Gorge and our lone waiting car.
A celebratory swim in the sea was a fine finish to a fantastic day of (very well bolted) adventure climbing.
- Maia, 5c,5b, 5b, 5b+, 5a*** (178m)
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