According to The Crag, there are 3,950 climbing routes in Kalymnos with most of them being sport routes.  The rocky little island is 183 nautical miles southeast of Athens and is located in the Aegean Sea.  Interesting, Kalymnos was once known as the sponge trade center of the Mediterranean for the abundance of sea sponges.  Now it is most famous for the rock climbing with thousands of well bolted sport routes on a high quality limestone with unique formations like massive caves with stalactites or tufas.

Grande Grotta/ Afternoon/ Panorama  

Grande Grotta is the trademark climbing area of Kalymnos with challenging routes (6a to 8a+ French Grading System).   It’s a massive 50 meter high cave with a multitude of stalactites and a reddish limestone coloration.   The only climb in our range is Happy Girlfriend which is a 6a / 5.10a/b.  It was a short fun climb that allowed us to experience cave climbing and tufas with an insane view.    

To the left of Grande Grotta is a crag called Afternoon which has a much wider range of grades.  There we climbed Tsopanakos 6a, Bi climbed Swiss Baby 6a+, and I climbed Nonno Ringo 5c, and Blu 6a.  The mountain goats in the area are fearless and very focused on stealing food so hide your snacks!  Sydney tried to scare them away but they didn’t seem to mind her at all.  I guess she’s not very scary.

On the right hand side of Grande Grotta is Panorama with primarily high level grades.  I climbed a couple routes there on top rope after Amanda led them called Uncle Ernie 6b+ and Uncle Bert 6c+.  These routes were fun but polished with a high level of difficulty.  I found them challenging even on top rope.  

Summertime 

One crag we really enjoyed is super accessible with a very easy, short approach and is called Summertime.  While many of the other areas get extremely hot in the afternoon, this one stays cool and shaded.  The route on the left above that Bi is waving from is called Leuchtturm 5c and has an epic view at the top of the spire.  My photo on the right above shows the view standing on the top.  Pulling the rope after the climb is a bit of a challenge though and ours got stuck in a crack.  So, we took the other end of the rope and I lead climbed back up on that end to free the rope from the crack.  I down climbed from there but it made for some interesting problem solving to free the rope and stay safe while doing it. 

 Other routes we climbed on this crag were Til Tanit 5b+, Yeraki 5c, Orea Dana 6a+, Maria 5c, Dill 6a, Ammohostos Vasilevousa 6a, and Salamina tis Krypros 6a+.  Even the view from the base of the crag is nice (see above). 

Poets  

Poets is a 15 minute walk from the town of Masouri up a steep and gravely slope.  There are a good range of grades but the Main section is mostly 6a and up with only three climbs at the 5 level.  We climbed Pindaros 5a, Alfa 5b, Oreads 6a+ (Bi Onsighted), Styx 6a+, Mustass 6a (difficult last clip), Quando Tramonta IL Sol 6a, Wala Wala 6a+, Un Culte 6b (Flashed), and Harry Hole (1st Part) 6b.  This last one, Harry Hole 6b, was only our second lead climbs at that level.  The challenging parts were the first couple clips and then an overhang section in the middle of the climb.  I definitely had a hard time on the overhang section but mostly from a mental standpoint as it felt sketchy and the holds were fairly small until you got above the bolt.  The book says the route is 27 meters but my 60 meter rope was barely touching the ground when we lowered down.  We always, always put a knot in the end of the rope and this is a good reminder why it’s important.  

Above left is my photo from the top of Wala Wala 6a+ and the photo above right is of all of us at the base of Poets. 

Below is a little video Bi made from the top of the 6b (Harry Hole – 1st Part). 

The far right side of Poets is appropriately called Poets Right.  In that area there are shorter routes with easier grades but we actually found the 5c+’s in this area more difficult than some of the 6a’s in other areas.  Here we climbed Oyzo 5c+, Mao 5c+, IL Gino 5c, and E’Tardi 6a+.  

Last Day! 

On our last day of climbing we woke up early.  We were thinking we would just rest and catch the ferry to Kos but we didn’t want to miss a final few climbs.  So, we grabbed our gear and hiked 20 minutes up to Poets.  I climbed Oreads 6a+ (Flash) since Bi had climbed it the day before.  It’s a tough climb with small finger holds and careful footwork.  Then we both climbed Dryads 6b (Bi Onsight/ Eric Flash 5.10c/d YDS) and Karoubalo 6b (Bi Onsight/ Eric Flash 5.10c/d YDS).  Onsight means Bi climbed them first without any prior knowledge of the climb and had no falls or rests on the rope.  Then I climbed them Flash since I had belayed Bi and had some knowledge from watching her climb but also had no falls or rests on the rope.  We were super stoked about the day and excited to have sent the 6b’s!  Super proud of Bi for the Onsights!

What a great trip!!   We will miss you Kalymnos!