UKC

Hi Guys,

I am heading to eastern Europe in a couple of weeks for just over a month. We intend to drive to Istanbul and then up through Romania and back via Poland and Germany way. There is not much of a plan other than we want to climb, bike, boulder and possibly canyon on the way, and some drinking .

Can any of you let me know of good locations for any of these on route? Preferably areas which have a bit of a scene so we meet some cool people.

So far we are planning to stop at Les Gets Morzine for some biking and then Arco in Northern Italy for some climbing, then we will continue East through Serbia etc

Any recommendations on guide books also recommended.


THANKS

SImon

bump

In reply to 01wills: If your heading up through Poland and Slovakia , make sure you dont miss the Tatras mountains.
The Slovak side has the larger mountains/walls , but the Polish side is also well worth a visit.
Morskie oko , Gasienicowej valley are the most famous areas on the Polish side..
Check out the link , information can be hard to come buy.. if you have any questions just get in touch.

http://taternik.net/

Im based full time in Zakopane ..if your passing and need a climbing partner..feel free to get in touch.

In reply to 01wills: Cool thanks for the information. Any one know of any decent bouldering?

In reply to 01wills: OK, still looking for some good sport areas or bouldering in Bulgaria, North of Istambul, Serbia, Romania and the Ukraine.

Please let me know if any one knows of any!

I'm talking the Font of easter europe and like wise for sport!

Thanks

In reply to 01wills: I dont know of any climbing north of Istanbul, there is a popular climbing area called Ballikayalar a little to the east though, it wont be a problem if you have a car, only 1.5 hours or so. Have a look on my website:

http://www.myturkishadventure.com/istanbul.html

In reply to 01wills: Don't miss Elbsandstein at the German/Czech and Adrspach at the Czech/Polish border. Amazing trad on sandstone towers.

For canyoning try Slovensky Raj in Slovakia, just south of the High Tatras. I can recommend the campground in Cingov.

For something alpine I second the Tatras but also try the Julian Alps in Slovenia.
Have fun,
Mike

In reply to 01wills: Thanks all!! Keep it coming! I will using this thread as a rough guide when on the road!

In reply to 01wills:


Coming FROM Serbia your best bet for sport climbing in Romania is Herculane. You can see an online topo here: http://climbingtopo.ro/area.php?area_name=Herculane

Climbing in Romania there is galore - mainly limestone but also conglomerate. Sport and multipitch, bolted and adventure. There is also some bouldering, quite OK, but fairly obscure and not easy to find if not familiar with the lay of the land

We are offering guiding services as well as climbing courses. Check us out on http://www.alpine-style.info and get in touch at contact@alpine-style.info if we can be of help or if you would like to book one of our guides.

For Turkey the weather is def way too hot now to make climbing bearable in the major destinations (like Olympos and Antalya). They are 1k km SE of Istanbul anyway... Your best bet would be Ala Daglar National Park which is high up and cooler but still further E/SE from Istanbul.

Now, if you are driving FROM Istanbul towards W the I suggest you follow the highway all the way to the Bulgarian border through Edirne (Turkey) to Svilengrad (Bulgaria) and up to Veliko Turnovo (sweet climbing spot). Check out in town (town centre, up on a cobble stone road from the little fountain ) a nice British owned B&B and you cna get topo and crag informations from there. sport / bolted. Eat well at 'Tempo" pizza downtown and they have wifi as well

Follow then up north into Romania through Ruse (BG) - Giurgiu (RO) border -- bypass Bucharest unless you plan on having a city break (big, buzy, torrid) and head up north o Sinaia - Busteni (DN1 - National road no 1). Stop in Busteni - multi pitch bolted and adventure climbs from 100m to 500m on conglomerate - loads. You can camp or use one of the gazillion B&Bs. Free hut available but tricky to find if not familiar with the place. Good hiking opportunities.

From Busteni you have several options: up North in the heart of Transilvania Turzii Gorge (sport single and multi pitch on limestone - easy access, short walk in, cheap campsite) then E to Vadul Crisului (similar as Turzii Gorge) then south towards Herculane (see link above) then out into Serbia to Croatia (Paclenika probably too hot) then into Slovenia which i highly recommed. In Slovenia at this time of the year i would recommend Kotecnik crag (near Kranj) and for multi pitch Vezica (in the Kamnik Alps). A new guidebook just came out (last month) for sport climbing in Slovenia and is excellent on all accounts.

Exit Slovenia through Maribor (n highway) and carry on towards Budapest then up to Czeck Republic and Poland.... there is lots tehre but am sure you have that figured out.

Happy climbing!

C

In reply to 01wills: You should take a look at the Rock Climbing Atlas series.The Southeast Europe volume, in particular, should be of value to you. Unfortunately they don't have a volume that covers as far north as Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Poland though there is a good deal of climbing in each of those counties. In addition to the Tatra, Poland has good cragging in the Jura just west of Krakow, as well as a few other areas in the Carpathians further west. Slovakia is overall a more mountainous country than Poland, so has a good number of areas with different rock types and climbing styles throughout the country in addition to their share of the Tatra. Czech is most famous for the bold climbing in the Bohemian sandstone "rock towns" similar to the nearby Elbe sandstone area in Germany, but also has a number of bolted sport-climbing and bouldering areas as wll--after-all this is Adam Ondra's home territory.

In reply to 01wills:

Arco is a paradise for all the things you want (and others)

In reply to Erstwhile: I am afraid at this time of the year Arco as well as Southern Slovenian crags (Osp, Crni Kal, etc) or Turkish crags (Olympos, Antalya) or Greek (Kalymnos) are way too hot to make climbing enjoyable.

Crags in the woods (Frankejura in Ger or Kotecnik in Slo) or high up might be better choices ...