Adventure Magazine

Dusting for prints after the front passenger
window of our car had been obliterated
Kyparissi is a tiny seaside paradise where the only visitors, due to a lack of road access, used to be
the rich and famous who had a helicopter or super-yacht
And then there’s always some kind of body
wrap or full embrace with whatever alien
structure the limestone is presenting you with.
But there’s always a finite level of life-force
on such physical terrain. With my life-force
fading, I pulled up the rope in desperation
to clip the chain-anchor at the top of the
climb, but my fingers holding me to the
wall started failing.
Abort … snatch a hold with my hand
that’s already holding the rope … all as
my belayer eyed the loop of rope slack in
my hand and readied himself for a fall of
intergalactic proportions.
This is another bonus of overhanging tufa
climbing: massive whips are often into
nothing but air. I managed to avoid it this
time by the slimmest of margins, but there
would be plenty of airtime during the trip.
It was dark by the time we trudged down
the hill to the car, where a friendly local
was waiting to tell us where to file a police
report. The carpark is a dirt pit on the side
of a remote mountain road, the perfect
spot for out-of-town gypsies - the prime
suspects, we were told - to have enough
time and gall to smash and grab from
every vehicle.
The front passenger window of our car had
been obliterated, showering the interior
with shards of glass, and an 80m rope was
taken from the trunk. Others had had their
vans in the carpark, and the thieves had
made off with thousands of Euros.
I drove to a local restaurant where police
were taking driver details. A translator,
answering my question of what she did
as the policeman filled out forms, told me
she lived in a nearby town and worked,
cooked, walked but didn't climb, and
"netflix".
I’d sent a message to our Airbnb host
about what had happened and inquired
about a vacuum cleaner to vroom up the
glass-icles. He replied, at 1218am, that he
was "very upset”, and if the police couldn’t
handle it then the local council will, adding
that his "shotgun is armed".
In the morning several of us - a
hodgepodge mix of climbers from around
the world - returned to the restaurant to
meet police investigaters. With coffee and
banter and a view of the pristine waters of
the Myrtoan Sea, it was easy to forget our
unhappy circumstances.
Kyparissi is a tiny seaside paradise where
the only visitors, due to a lack of road
access, used to be the rich and famous
who had a helicopter or super-yacht; it was
supposedly a favourite playground of Bush
Senior, and royal couple Charles and Di.
New road access over recent decades
has still done little to swell its population
of around 400, which is misleadingly large
because they’re split into three suburbs,
two by the coast at opposite ends of a
beautiful bay, and a third slightly higher up
the hill.
It has all the charms of a quaint European
village: narrow roads that weave around
groves of olive, lemon and pomegranate
trees; pebble-beaches that offer warm,
salty dips; white-washed homes with blue
shutters, red-tiled roofs and wee balconies;
an infinite number of cats who cuddle at
your feet as you eat at local taverns.
The hamlet includes a small smattering of
shops including a tiny supermarket and
a bakery with many feta-filled goods, a
coastal trail to a tiny St George church in
the neighbouring bay, and, if you look up,
a plethora of limestone cliffs hugging the
sides of Mount Parnonas.
At the time of writing, the town’s
Wikipedia entry consisted of three
sentences: the town’s whereabouts,
its official municipality, and that it had
recently become a famous rock climbing
destination.
There are several crags that range in
accessibility from the middle of town to a
45-minute drive along magnificent, hilly
roads the plunge to the sea. Most of them
have a handful of excellent routes and are
worth at least a one-day visit, depending
on what grades you’re hunting.
There’s Kapsala and Psilovrachos, where
the best routes are around 7a (23) and
move through an overhanging section on
bright orange tufas and pockets.
There’s the beachside Vlychada, which
includes a scenic drive on a mountain road
that passes through goat farms and then
drops vertiginously to the coast. With a
collection of great routes in the high 6s and
mid-7s (22-25) and a gorgeous setting for
an obligatory after-climb swim, expect a
crowd. And mosquitoes.
Just above the town is Watermill, which
has a steep section of awesome 3D
stalactite-hugging routes in the high 6s
and 7s (22-28), a steeper cave of alien tufa
blobs with 8s (27+), and a wall of vertical,
crimpier routes starting in the 6s (18-22).
And for those hunting harder grades,
there’s Babala. This is the higher and
longer cliffband above Watermill, and is
famous for its tufa-mazes on overhanging
routes up to 50m long. For the privilege,
you walk 50 minutes up 280m of elevation
gain, but at least the air up there is thinner
on those muggy October days.
It is here that one can best practice the
art of tufa-negotiation, which all come into
play on Gaining Elevation.
Firstly, chicken-wing jam via the chimney
between dual tufas past the first few
bolts. Then bridge with wide feet on into
a shoulder scum behind an alien bubblehead
for a no-hands rest just before the
angle steepens further. Pinch some tufas
into a knee-stuff, then move higher until
you can scum the back of your shoulder
into a tufa hip near the top. If you have
enough life-force left, power-scream your
way to the chain via some big moves
between side-pulls.
It’s a spectacular route, as they all are,
with little that climbing in a gym can really
prepare you for.
There’s a sense of going into battle as
you don knee pads and crack gloves
before climbing, and a sense afterwards
of having been through the wars and
The beachside town of Vlychada, offers a gorgeous setting for an obligatory after-climb swim, expect a crowd.
Blue 7a Psilovrachos
Watermill, famous for its tufa-mazes on overhanging routes
Tiresias, 7c+ Babala
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