This is the end my friends. The final trip report from Upskill 2011 Kalymnos climbing camps. This'll be a good-un though, so read on for your last little hit of Kalymnos for the year.
ODYSSEY
A bit of a fave, you've probably gathered by now. Day nine of climbing and there were some tired bodies! But only two days of climbing left, so time to pull out all the stops and give it heaps!
Besides, it had to be Odyssey, as Bo refused to leave the island without
Atena 6b+ in her satchel.
We headed up to the left side of the cliff which is home to a whole host of 20m high pitches. Most are tufa-laden, and quite hard, hovering around 7b, although there are a couple of easier routes.
Mythos 6b+ provided a warm up for Owen and Bo, while Andy and Susy found
Feta 6c to be exceedingly 'warming' :) I put the gear up on
Kulturistika 7b which had caught Andy's eye and
Island In The Sun 7a+ which had Owen and Susy's name on it.
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| Owen ticking off Island in the Sun 7a+. Look at those tufas! |
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| Sam is on climber-watch. |
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| Enough rock for ya? |
DAY 9 HIGHLIGHTS
- Andy had several solid burns on Kulturistika 7b which ended up going with one fall. Next year!
- Andy also went up Island In The Sun 7a+ with a rest and proclaimed it Mega Classic, like everything he got on on this end of the wall. Another 2012 project.
- Bo sent her project Atena 6b+!
- Susy ticked Feta 6c and came within a metre of sending the powerful Island In The Sun 7a+
- Owen went on a spree with sends of Mythos 6b+, Feta 6c, Island In The Sun 7a+, Satyros 6c+, Il Gigante E La Bambina 6c+ and Morfeas 6b+. He actually did 10 pitches of climbing on the day.
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Bo is happy. She bagged Atena 6b+ on her second shot of the day. Stoked!
"We can leave the island now Andy ... Andy?" |
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| Bloody knuckles, chalky digits. This is the life we love :) |
LIGHTFOOT CHALLENGE
Last year Andy
set the challenge. One large margarita pizza from Prego Restaurant. He didn't achieve the send in 2010 and was up for setting the bar this year. All camp he was talking up the training he'd been doing over the past year and how this time, he'd smash it.
What he didn't bank on was having a couple of challengers to the title.
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A double thumbs up photo is required to start the challenge.
Facial examination: 100% confidence. |
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I thought I would up the ante by adding salami to the margarita. This gives a higher degree of difficulty to the challenge.
Facial examination: 60% confidence. |
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Owen went for broke ordering the Mexican. Extremely high degree of difficulty.
Facial examination: 40% confidence. |
And now ... the results!
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Valiant effort from the Hustler - two pieces remaining with all crusts gone.
Next year mate? |
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| Done and dusted! Dual 2011 champions. |
SECRET GARDEN - the final day!
We loved it so much the first time, we thought it would be an ideal place to finish.
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| Bo starts up Achinos 6b |
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| Susy crushing tufa blobs on Melodrama 7a |
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| Susy on the final tufa curtain of Melodrama 7a. She flashed it! |
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| Andy blitzes up the start of Ballos 7b+ (we think more like 7b). |
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Susy going for broke on Bratsera 6c+
Don't downgrade this Aris! Sam will come for you! :) |
DAY 10 HIGHLIGHTS
- Susy was absolutely torched. But still managed to redpoint Bratsera 6c+ and flash Melodrama 7a
- While the number might not look impressive, Owen's onsight of the pitch one slab of The Flood Gates 6c+ was "one of the best onsight fights I've done on Kalymnos". Hell yes it was! I got on after Owen to warm-up and nearly fell in several places. Super technical and hard!
- Owen's clean redpoint and Andy's one-hang on Ballos 7b+ (we actually thought 7a+/b because the routes are so squeezed in here)
ROUTE OF THE TRIP!
We always like to find out what our guys thought was the best route they climbed all trip. And here they are:
Bo:
Pirates of Kalymnos 6b+, Sector Ghost Kitchen
Andy:
Nickel 7a+, Sector Kalydna
Susy:
DNA 7a, Sector Grande Grotta
Owen:
Ixion 7a, Sector Kalydna
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Upskill Kalymnos 2011 Team #2
Thanks guys, you're legends! |
FINAL THOUGHTS
Well it's been another amazing season here in Kalymnos and both the camps we've run have been terrific. The great thing about having such a high return rate from our team members is that we get to see their progress from year to year. I can honestly say that the crew climbed better on this trip than I have ever seen them climb before. Love that.
Climbing is an evolution. Rarely do people have a linear progression of non-stop "getting better". We all have other things going on in our life, different amounts of time we can devote to climbing and training, injuries which crop up and hamper us, weird mental blocks, loss of confidence or decreased motivation.
What I have personally learnt is that one of the most valuable things I can do as a coach is help people discover (or more commonly, re-discover) the pure joy which is at the heart of climbing. If you can remember why you loved climbing in the first place and re-connect with that, improvement will take care of itself.
We have the trip video coming soon but in the meantime I want to sincerely thank you all for reading.
Now go have some fun on the wall :)
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