The North Face Kalymnos Climbing Festival 2013

A week after we returned from Sardinia I went to Kalymnos to take part in the PROject competition of The North Face Kalymnos climbing festival. The North Face team, including good friend Hens Auer, bolted a brand new crag for the competition. Eight male and female rock climbers from around the world were invited to take part. There were four routes for the guys and girls opened which were graded between 7c+ to 8c. In two days the climbers tried to climb as many routes as possible in the least possible attempts. Megos Alex climbed all four climbs on the first day and fixed his win, 2^nd  Kili Fischhuber and 3^rd Daniel Woods, also climbing all four routes. Caro Cavaldini climbed three routes in less attempts than Nina Caprez (2^nd) and Barbara Zangerl (3^rd). I climbed two of the four routes, but particulary happy with my fight on the steep and pumpy 'Banana Party'. What I most enjoyed, however, was the company of the other climbers each with different climbing backgrounds and goals. Such a diverse gathering of different climbers is very seldom. 

Photos and videos you will find unter: http://www.thenorthfacejournal.com/category/kalymnos

Now I am back home and looking out at 40cm of fresh snow, thinking about my projects for autumn.   

Climbing in Sardinia

Mid-September it was time for the yearly Watson-Bacher climbing holiday. This year however we met up with our good friends Kili, Anna, Reini and Tanja to spend 10 days on the beautiful island of Sardinia. First stop was in Cala Gonone where we could not get enough climbing done and therefore climbed 5 days in a row. The fourth day was Stew´s birthday where we hired a boot from Cala Gonone to cross the sea to the amazing peak of Cala Goloritze. Stew and I went on the classic multi-pitch route "Sole Incantatore", which felt rather hard for me. However even if my toes killed me (climbing slabs in the sunshine) all the pain was forgotten sitting on the peak and enjoying the view. I have to admit sometimes in the wall I would of rather been in the beautiful turquoise water right underneath me ;-). The day after we went in a climbing area called "Su Telargiu Oro" (according to us: The Czech-Crag) where there were two enormous caves with steep tufa routes. It was a shame that we only climbed here for one day because this was one of the coolest areas we went to, however in the same evening we left for the south east side of Sardinia. After a day of swimming and snorkelling we went for two days to the "Gutturu Cardaxius" canyon. I enjoyed climbing on a wall named Banana Republic with steep, crimpy routes, just how I like it. Then it was time to go back to Olbia to catch the ferry back to Genua. This was my first time in Sardinia and beside the climbing on the various kind of rock, I loved the time spent by the sea chilling, snorkelling and eating fresh fish under the Mediterranean sun.