The last post of a long trip is always really hard to write. There's a always a whole lot of mixed emotions: sadness, happiness, tiredness, nostalgia... The last post I wrote, it all sounded way too serious, and I can tell you that the whole trip was far from anything serious. We all tried to work on our goals, but this particular trip, we had loads of fun in between the hard cranking.
Hanging out with Andre has been a inspiration, learning how you can survive on a diet of just muffins, cakes, cookies and beer, and still crank hard. This young monster deserves a special mention. It has been an inspiration for me, to learn from the youngsters, a different approach with a different set of standards. I loved his advice to me for climbing hard. The most important is to not let go, no matter what, do not let go, even if your forearms feel like they are bleeding inside. And the least important thing is.... to clip the bolts! If you think you are gonna fall off, just carry on, keep going, forget about the rope he said! Hilarious. Belaying this dude is palm sweating stuff, specially in all his onsight attempts. And there's nothing you can say once the guy is off the ground, because the dude is bloody deaf! But I think that actually that is his best attribute, I haven't see anyone so absorbed and focused when climbing. It was heartbreaking that he didn't get his first 8b on this trip. He put a lot of effort on "Rendez with Platon", and 8b in the Jurassic Park sector. The worst was that he did get through the crux once, and he fell off on the easier ground above. And for the rest of the days, he couldn't get through the crux move again. But he took it on the chin and move onto other things. We still had a great time getting up there and getting spanked by hard routes. I had my fair share as well, being rejected by Raptor 7c+, The Sickle 7c and Neolithic Line 7c. But I got Carnivore 7c on my second go.
We've kept very positive through the month we've been stationed here. We have developed our own philosophy, called the "positive magnetism". Serious stuff folks. You see, there's also some intellectual thinking in climbing trips, not just conversations about hot girls, small crimps and route grades. The theory goes that if you think positive, it acts like a magnet, it attracts positive things. And if you think negative, like a magnet's opposite side, it will repel the good things. That also applies to climbing, if you think positive, your hands are like magnets and they stick to the holds. Just like the comic heros with special powers, curl your fingers around the crimp and think positive!!! Boom. We've been having some fun, I tell you.
I feel like I've been chasing the summer around Europe. When I mentioned this to Andre, he reminded me of a surf movie called the Endless Summer, where surfers go around the world chasing waves and, obviously, the summer. I felt a bit like that, in fact, every end of summer is always a bit nostalgic. But all good things come to an end. The weather in Kalymnos is totally crapped out now, a good preparation for the British weather. So I don't mind leaving the island, I'm now ready to go home, good things are waiting there.
Hanging out with Andre has been a inspiration, learning how you can survive on a diet of just muffins, cakes, cookies and beer, and still crank hard. This young monster deserves a special mention. It has been an inspiration for me, to learn from the youngsters, a different approach with a different set of standards. I loved his advice to me for climbing hard. The most important is to not let go, no matter what, do not let go, even if your forearms feel like they are bleeding inside. And the least important thing is.... to clip the bolts! If you think you are gonna fall off, just carry on, keep going, forget about the rope he said! Hilarious. Belaying this dude is palm sweating stuff, specially in all his onsight attempts. And there's nothing you can say once the guy is off the ground, because the dude is bloody deaf! But I think that actually that is his best attribute, I haven't see anyone so absorbed and focused when climbing. It was heartbreaking that he didn't get his first 8b on this trip. He put a lot of effort on "Rendez with Platon", and 8b in the Jurassic Park sector. The worst was that he did get through the crux once, and he fell off on the easier ground above. And for the rest of the days, he couldn't get through the crux move again. But he took it on the chin and move onto other things. We still had a great time getting up there and getting spanked by hard routes. I had my fair share as well, being rejected by Raptor 7c+, The Sickle 7c and Neolithic Line 7c. But I got Carnivore 7c on my second go.
We've kept very positive through the month we've been stationed here. We have developed our own philosophy, called the "positive magnetism". Serious stuff folks. You see, there's also some intellectual thinking in climbing trips, not just conversations about hot girls, small crimps and route grades. The theory goes that if you think positive, it acts like a magnet, it attracts positive things. And if you think negative, like a magnet's opposite side, it will repel the good things. That also applies to climbing, if you think positive, your hands are like magnets and they stick to the holds. Just like the comic heros with special powers, curl your fingers around the crimp and think positive!!! Boom. We've been having some fun, I tell you.
I feel like I've been chasing the summer around Europe. When I mentioned this to Andre, he reminded me of a surf movie called the Endless Summer, where surfers go around the world chasing waves and, obviously, the summer. I felt a bit like that, in fact, every end of summer is always a bit nostalgic. But all good things come to an end. The weather in Kalymnos is totally crapped out now, a good preparation for the British weather. So I don't mind leaving the island, I'm now ready to go home, good things are waiting there.
There's quiete a few isolated chapels dotted around the coast, only accesible by boat. The story goes that when the Turks reigned the Greek islands, Christianity was forbidden and churches burned down. So the islanders built little chapels out of the way to carry on their workship. I assume back then, the path leading to the chapel wasn't painted bright white...
One of the last sunsets in the island, finely engraved in my memory...
Tapped Dragons for added friction in the crucial toe hook in the crux move in Rendez with Platon 8b
That particular day in Jurassic Park was very humid, and our skin suffered big time. We both saw a bit of blood.
Sheffield strongman Joe Cook on Neolithic Line 7c, one of the route that spit me off.
Joe at the top of Jurassic Park
The last send of the trip, the classic Eros 7b+ at Arhi. I didn't onsight it because I was running way past empty, but got it second go. Sweet! Andre of course flash it
The Muffin Monster in action, trying to break the rope with his Positive Magnetism power
The Sikati Warriors. Plenty of serious business in the cave
On Agealis 7c. I kept this route for the end of the trip, but maybe a bit too late. It was at the tail end and with no rest days and climbing in the blasting sun felt desperate to onsight. I didn't get a chance to go back and send it, so it will have to wait until next time.
Here is the list of all the routes I've sent this trip of grade 7 and above. There's plenty I didn't sent, which I'll get a rematch on my next trip:
Dike 7a (os)Trela 7a (os)
Lolita 7a (os)
Kerveros 7a (os)
Dna 7a (os)
Kastor 7a (os)
Nike 7a+ (os)
Lucky luka 7b (os)
Kalinycta mer 7b+ (os)
Tufantastic 7b+ (os)
Eros 7b+ (2rp)
Alfredo alfredo 7b+ (2rp)
Polifemo 7c (3rp)
Priapos 7c (os)
Carnivore 7c (2rp)
Zawinul syndicate 7c+ (os)
Super-lolita 8a (3rp)
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