UKC

I’m considering a trip in the campervan to Slovenia and maybe Croatia in the late spring (end of May). I would be interested to hear any recommendations for crags suitable for a beginner. Not that I am a beginner, it’s just that I don’t really do more than 5+ these days. I’m wanting some reasonable quality routes, not just the odd easy route at the fag-end of a hard crag, and I’m not keen on very polished rock. Single pitch routes are probably of most interest, but if there are any good easy multi-pitch routes that would be of interest. Big walk-ins aren’t wanted, either!
If there are any comments on suitability of that time of year, or suggestions of non-climbing venues not to be missed that would be good too. Any gen on guidebooks/topos would be welcome. Are local topos available?
Thanks in advance.

In reply to Rog Wilko:
west to southeast:

trieste (napoleonica, sistiana, val rosandra (ca 1000 routes, lots of easy stuff),
osp (good campground, osp&misja pec have some easy stuff, crini kal lots of),
kamena vrata, for a days stopover,
rovinj (rovinj, dvigrad, limski kanal ... stuff for a week)
baska (easy stuff for a week and probably empty but good climbing)

all reasonably documented on ukc ...

siddarta "climbing without frontiers" for triest/osp/istria, climbinbaska.com & ukc for baska.

all good for may.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

I have campervanned and climbed in both of those places - lovely part of the world.

Will you be driving through europe? If so, Lake Bled is a nice spot to stop, and Ljubliana is a nice city - the castle is worth a day.

There *is* climbing around Bled (bohinjska bela) but we weren't that impressed, especially in the 5s. I'm not sure about the rest of the climbing in Slovenia.

Once you get to Croatia, Pakleniça is the place to go. Decent camping, lots of good climbing (generally not too polished) and it's a nice area. Some long walks, but a lot 0mins.

Split is nice for a visit - apparently sea kayaking is nice but we didn't get the chance as we were out of season in Novemeber. There's some fun, but not easy DWS in Split.

We have a VW T4 which is clearly a camper, and we didn't get any hassle "wild camping" (strange term) in Slovenia, but I think croatia is a bit stricter in season.

In reply to Fultonius:

... i did not find paklenica impressive for single pitches. multipitch is great, as is the landscape.

mane sure you visit one of the big karst caves (skocjan or postoina) en route - they don't get much better.

In reply to tjekel:


What's the good stuff at Rovinj? My experience was a lot of polish and very crowded. Definitely an easy approach, though.

Had a look at Limski Kanal and it looked very steep. There's no info on here, but perhaps there were some 5+s.

In reply to humptydumpty:

rovinj is the worst of the three;-(. dvigrad does not have a full representation here, but there are probaly 50 pitches or so up to 6a.

limski kanal has two sectors that give a days climbing each up to 5+.

In reply to tjekel:


Are these for caving, or are they more Wookey Holey?

In reply to tjekel:



Thanks! Will check the guidebook when I get home - might be worth another visit.

In reply to humptydumpty:

the caves are tourist caves ...

http://www.plezanje.net/climbing/db/showCrag.asp?crag=681
http://www.plezanje.net/climbing/db/showCrag.asp?crag=688

In reply to Rog Wilko:
Hi Rog,

Our Geriarty group went to Slovenia this year: a trip report and photos can be found here:

http://www.cliperati.com/#!trip-reports/c17ns

I also have a guidebook which covers Slovenian crags from the Austrian border to the Croatian Border. A good second hand price could be reached - eg a tenner inc postage?

I found some online topos to crags on the Istrian coast - will try to find the link and post it.

Dave

In reply to full stottie:

Here's one of the links I mentioned above

https://27crags.com/areas/1837

Dave

In reply to Rog Wilko:

check www.climbistria.com. There are also some guidebooks available for the area; Climbing without frontiers covers coastal part of Slovenia, Istra & Trieste, but you also have guidebooks for Slovenia and Croatia (the latter doesn't cover Paklenica, you have to get another one for that).

Crni Kal is nice, but expect some polish in easier routes. Avoid Osp & Misja pec. Val Rosandra might be a good choice, but some sectors are really old school - especially when it comes to distance between bolts. The good thing is that it's not as polished as Crni Kal.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

Many thanks for all these responses. The UK community at its best!

In reply to Rog Wilko:
Meant UKC community of course! Think this might have been an auto correct - makes reading through what you've written even more necessary.