UKC

I wass looking for some interesting and scenic rock and Meteora definitely fulfills the latter. Have you climbed there and if so what was it like? When would be best for a visit and any useful pearls of wisdom?

In reply to Reach>Talent:

http://www.climb-europe.com/RockClimbingGreece/Meteora.htm

In reply to Reach>Talent:
Been there a few times (I lived in Greece for a while).The place is better than the climbing, it´s conglomerate and the actual climbing is very samey and generally has an insecure feel about it unless you actually like holding onto polished pebbles which might fall out.
The bolts tend to be a long way apart on the easier routes, like 20m or so and there´s generally nothing in between except perhaps a sling held on with finger tape and optimism. Get up into the mid-sevens and you start finding more normal bolting.
There´s plenty of good limestone sport climbing nearby though!

In reply to Reach>Talent:

There was an article about it in this months Escalar magazine here in Spain, by Caroline Ciavaldini and James Pearson. It sounded very similar to the climbing in Montserrat, near me.

Any route below 6a/b is basically a run-out horror show with a rusted nail 'bolt' hammered into the rock every 50 feet, and little opportunity for adding natural protection. The climbing on that sort of slabby conglomerate in general is very samey - you're basically doing the same move over and over again (pull up, lock off, sweep hand above head and choose from myriad of poor slopers, place foot on any one of a equal number of poor slopers, stand up, repeat).

They ended up visiting the nearby limestone sport climbing, which looked amazing in the photos and, reading between the lines, I got the impression that they much preferred it.

Suffice it to say that the article was enough to convince me that I probably won't be making the effort to go to Meteora to climb!

In reply to Reach>Talent:

Meteora is a great place, though as has already been mentioned, the bolting can be a little sparse. Also, the less traveled routes tend to be quite loose, with huge pebbles coming off in your hands. But if you stick to the classics, there are some really beautiful routes. There is also Mouzaki and Pyli litte gorge nearby if you fancy some sport climbing - these are really good!!

It might be worth noting that there was some speculation in the Greek press recently about banning climbing in most parts of Meteora. It is documented here though only in Greek:

http://tameteora.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24...

I think the Monastery's want climbing banned there as they don't want to look at climbers whilst they are praying to god!!!! Though in another article, it has been suggested that the Monastery have messed up the rocks by throwing all of their left over building works over the towers during recent building renovations.

http://www.zougla.gr/greece/article/ta-meteora-tis-katastrofis

Its only in Greek again, but the picture are supposed to show the damage.

In reply to Alun:

I didn't find all of the routes that "samey" to be honest. As long as you wise with your route choices, there are some really great routes. A lot of Greeks climb there, so you can always ask them for some advice on the best routes.

In reply to all:

Hmm, not sounding so positive. I'm not too bad with run-outs but I am not sure I'd plan an holiday around them

In reply to Reach>Talent:

Unfortunately according to Climbing Greece they've already introduced a ban! This is really bad news if it's true, I'm in Greece tomorrow so I'll find out more....

http://www.climbing-greece.com/en/news/549-nees-apagoreyseis-gia-tin-anarri...

The pic at the bottom shows a red area - this is the "proposed area of climbing" so guess you can still climb there.

Would need to look in a guide to see what's banned from that pic but looks like the big area just outside the town is banned as is the classic route and crag in that article from James Pearson....

In reply to Matt Vigg:

Hi. I'm not sure if they have banned climbing yet, they have just proposed the idea. The stuff I saw on the Greek websites suggested this anyway and these were more recent than the link you included.

There are normally a bunch of Athenian climbers up there at the weekend, so you could ask them....the Greeks are a friendly bunch!

Otherwise, there is some sport climbing within 45 minutes drive of Meteora in the Trikala region.

In reply to Reach>Talent:

I've been twice and loved it.

Multipitch bolted climbing in amazing surroundings, sunny campsites, cheap beer. What's not to love.

Never had a pebble pull out and didn't find it any more samey for a fortnight than say grit or limestone.

In reply to Garrouli:

Ta, I lived over there for several years, although in Northern Greece so know the climbers in the north, will see if they know anything. Not actually in Meteora itself this time (unfortunately).

In reply to Reach>Talent:

http://jacobclimbsthings.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/meteora.html