UKC

There are now 2 recent guidebooks for Leonidio - both of which have their supporters in the "Which book contributes most to the local community?" debate. I read a lot of comment in that debate, hoping but failing to find out enough about the background to decide which to buy. 

Leaving that debate on one side: does anyone have a view on which one is best? And by best I simply mean, which has best coverage of the crags in the area? Which is easiest to use (better layout, topos, photos........)

Chris

The Panjika guide has no star ratings. You may prefer this, but I like them. However the Panjika guide has a couple of crags - notably Cemetary Gates, which are not in the Aris guide.

I found the Aris guide a bit easier to use.

I ended up getting both, but was there for while. Maybe get your mate to buy one and buy the other yourself.

Whereas Aris' guide gives everything 3 stars 😉

Personally I prefer the panjika guide. Bit more character than Aris' guide (which is admittedly very subjective) and the grades are more realistic.

Messaged you regarding the two guidebooks. Hope this helps.

I have both guidebooks and prefer the Aris one, it has short route descriptions and also some new crags in a slightly wider area.

As you know, I use both and cross check.

We went to Sabaton the other day, a crag I usually drive by as it’s always packed. I got on a couple of ‘musical note’ routes and found them to be slippy, polished, caked in chalk and not enjoyable as a result. So much for star ratings. After that I avoided the higher rated routes and had a great time on, especially Uprising, 2 stars and brilliant. 

Looking at the bigger picture, it’s amazing how fast this sector has polished up considering how young it is. So while I find the Panjika guide a little lacking in descriptions, and often harder on the grade side, they cover every crag without the need to use/sell an app, and their anti star policy does spread the load better. 

8a.nu had an article a few weeks ago which mentioned that sabaton was the most popular crag in their database in 2022 by ascents logged. With that in mind it's not surprising it's getting polished!

I think the main attraction is shade - at least that is why I have been there more often than other sectors.

Panjika. The other one has made up stars and grades (literally pulled out of the air!). Panjika has Lots of useful info on local foods, rest days, local walks etc. that’s what I’d go for. The stars aren’t necessary there are very few bad routes (the odd crag was grid bolted but not many) and they don’t guide you to the best routes anyway

Sabaton is good for shady, easy access, short fun routes 6-7b. Doesn’t look like much but it serves a good purpose 

Easy access and shade. It’s very popular. 

Grades in both are a bit wild - product of being a fairly recently developed area in a country with a tradition of wacky grading, I suppose - but Panjika's are generally more realistic. Aris has very soft grades, comparable to some of the early Kalymnos grading, but I find the book as a whole with descriptions and star ratings more approachable than Panjika's minimalist "name & grade, get on with it" attitude.

Note that there's a new edition of Panjika - light blue spine instead of white - that I've only seen for sale in their bar. The guy there said it's not much different - some grade updates, couple of new sectors, and they mainly did it because the print run of the old edition was nearly sold out, not because a major update was needed. But still probably worth waiting and picking up the new edition when you arrive, rather than buying the old edition in advance.

... But still probably worth waiting and picking up the new edition when you arrive, rather than buying the old edition in advance.

... the new Panjika 2023 updated guide will be available in the UK in the next week or so...

Thanks for the update Richard. Do you happen to have any information about the upcoming new Kalymnos edition?

Hi Chris. Hope you're good and looking forward to your trip. I have the recent Aris guidebook which I can give to Tony before you go if you'd like. 

Cheers 

Bram

I think its probably the easiest shaded crag to access Mike, for instance Jupiter is a big hike up the hill. 

Sabaton is just a pretty average crag except for that shade!

Whereas Jupiter is just so, so, so, so good and I wish I could go back tomorrow! Ah, one day.