In reply to ebachini:
It’s no easy task to come up with 10 ‘best’ routes when you’ve been climbing on the island for ten years, so first I had to break it down into 3 lists. Inevitably any individual’s list will be biased towards the subjective and mine are no different. Almost all of my most memorable ascents are ones close to, or just exceeding, my on-sight limit therefore my most memorable experiences are all around the 6c to 7b range . However, that’s not to say I haven’t enjoyed hundreds of lower grade routes and my first list attempts an objective assessment to name 10 of those below 6c.
Guillot’s Corner 5+ A really strong and compelling line.
Joy in the Garden 6a+ - delightful grey wall pocket pulling.
Another Day in Paradise 6a – Top quality and the most appropriately named route on the island.
Harakiri 6b+ - Steep and audacious line slap in the middle of Spartacus Cave.
Kavavis 6b – Not typical, but probably the most eye-catching ‘true’ line.
Facetelendos 6b+ - Best route of this grade in Kaly. Strangely overlooked by the milling hoards 200 metres right in Symplegades!
St George’s School 6b - A long and high quality pitch on Dodoni, a less frequented crag.
Lily 6b(+) Brilliant steep slab climbing – just like High Tor with bolts.
Wild Country 6a – A grand mountaineering day out.
General 6a+ - Marginally the best of the similarly graded magnificent trio (Telendos Star and Nordend being the others) on the right hand side of Llambda.
List 2: These are all in 6c/7a range and probably most memorable to me because I managed to on-sight them.
Kaly Dream 6c – A Skalia Pillar special. Spicy runouts and several cruxes. I still ‘dream’ about it!
Resista 6c – A bit of a soft touch perhaps but still needs confidence and a few big flowing moves.
Vlassis House 6c+ – Lesser known gem on Magoulias Wall. Tricky low crux, left or right? Then delightful wall climbing.
Dike 6c+/7a – Well worth the hike to Jurrasic Park. Big pitch but never too hard if you read it right.
Aphrodisia 6c+ The best of the 6s in the best sector on the island. Long and sustained but so satisfying.
Lucifer’s Hammer 6c – A most improbable looking pitch for its grade. Vertical wall climbing doesn’t get any better than this.
Chnosi Family 7a - Possibly the best of many classics on Panorama.
Gunpowder Plot + Ext 6c+ - Brilliant steep slab climbing. Do it in one magnificent 40m pitch but don’t underestimate the allegedly easier first half!
Sickle 7a+ Virtually every route in Kalydna could go into my top 10. This is 35metres of the highest quality wall climbing straight up the middle. My only 7a+ onsight on the island so it’s probably a soft touch?
Chocorelo 6c - Worth the trip to Dodoni on its own!
List 3: Routes that I failed to on-sight but was inspired to work on, or repeat, for a Red-point.
Nestoras 7a – Brilliant, steep juggy moves and a short technical crux that i just didn’t work out in time first go.
Gladiator 7b – Magnificent varied climb and probably my most satisfying red-point (only after several attempts).
Yanap 7b+ - 50 mega-metre pitch on my favourite wall.
Aegean Sea 7a+ - Steep tufa is not my favourite medium but this route sticks in my memory from my first trip in 2004.
Nickel 7a+ Another unmissable tufa fest but with the crux at the top when the tufa runs out.
Verikoko 7a+ High quality wall climb on Iannis. I should have on-sighted this but a miss-read high up meant I had to enjoy it all over again!
Barbarossa 7a+ A quality pitch on a less frequented part of Telendos. Worth the walk in the sun though.
Kyprios Angel 7a/+ Steep but also a real technical challenge. A worthy contender.
Lava/ Eruption 7a – 50 metres of steep juggy joy assuming you think about the potential for rope drag whilst equipping the lower slab.
Chardonnay 7a+ - 40 metres of the very best on Lambda. Blowing the crux first time means 80 metres of climbing to claim the red-point!
