UKC

Situated four hours north of Athens, Meteora is one of Europe's great unsung multi-pitch climbing destinations. When you first arrive in town, all you can see is conglomerate towers, many topped with monasteries. In terms of rock architecture it is one of the most impressive places I have visited, especially considering the semi-urban environment. Generally the routes follow strong lines and have been sparsely bolted (don't be put off; if the climbing is hard there will be a bolt nearby). This makes for very memorable climbing experiences and at the end of our week I could remember the names of most of the routes we had climbed.

Read more

Nice write up, it's back on my radar. Looks like good adventure value in the low-mid 6's. Are there harder routes there too? And what is the quality like on them?

An interesting comparison to Moy Rock - I rate the place highly but it might be more interesting to hear how Meteora compares to Montserrat.

The comment about a spare belay plate made me smile - I did indeed drop my belay plate at Meteora and never saw it again.  Glad to hear I'm not the only one.

Not been to Moy Rock, so can't compare, however the rock at Meteora was more similar to Montserrat but different to Riglos.  We had a great trip to Meteora, at the end of October a few years back, weather was perfect, and agree that Corner of Madness and Pillar of Dreams are superb. Egg-dance is also a great route and we did the 6b+ (Gordian Knot) on the Spindle which was also very good - but didn't do anything harder so can't help on the quality of those.  For a day off the pebbles we went to Pyli Little Gorge for more normal sport climbing, about an hour from Meteora and very worthwhile.

For Monserrat I remember Punsola-Reniu on the Cavall Bernat pillar being superb and the corner of Mas-Brullet as good and good value.  And whilst I didn't drop a belay plate in Meteora I did drop one off the abseil from Cavall Bernat but did manage to retrieve that after a couple of Italian hitch abs! 

I went here with two friends in March 2023. We arrived in wet weather where the rock had a greenish colour and was really slippery. I thought it was a BIG mistake as it was so sparsely bolted that we would surely die. Then the weather improved and the dry rock and sunshine seemed to improve my mind. It took a significant change of attitude to cope with the long run outs and the scare factor but as time went by we became more and more relaxed and confident with it. At the easier grade end in the 5's the runners are sparse. Maybe two or three bolts in 50 metres. When the difficulties came into the 6's they were a bit more generous with the gear. I loved the place and the spring flowers were a real pleasure. It is not crowded or popular enough to find others on your chosen route. I would recommend it to anyone as long as they are used to easy soloing and can keep a clear head and laugh at danger. 

Superb article. I’ve long been meaning to go. I first saw the place on an old postcard: it pictured a monk - caught like a fish - in a net being hauled-up to a cliff-top monastery, on a rope. 

I love long run-outs, so long as the moves are not desperate, and the routes you describe look wonderful. Why have I left it so long?

Many thanks. 

You won’t be disappointed. 
 

Was that the Tony Shepherd who used to work for Outward Bound in one of the photos ? Don't think I've seen him for some 30 odd years, good to see he's still climbing.

We visited a couple of years back, just puntering, but I couldn't believe we had never been back when we could really climb - a truly astounding place,

https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/destinations/greece_-_in_search_of_soli...

Chris

Thanks Tom - enjoyed the article which brought back happy memories and very much captured the magic of the place: 'Suspended in the air'. Also agreed with a couple of your recommended routes:

Eiertanz (Egg dance) (6a+) https://rockaroundtheworld.co.uk/2017/09/30/egg-dance-in-meteora/ 

Seidener Faden / Silken Thread (6a+) https://rockaroundtheworld.co.uk/2017/09/26/more-meteora-doupiani-and-adrac...

We were lucky enough that a passing tourist snapped a pic of us on top of Adrachti / The Spindle which has to be one of the most extraordinary bits of rock I've ever climbed on!

Looking forward to having a go at your other recommendations - I'll report back! Cheers, Dom

Well yes, it might be worth pointing out that Meteora has a somewhat dubious reputation in some Greek climbing circles. To cut a long story short one of the East German pioneers had a very bad fall at a later stage in his career destroying his hip. This made hand-drilling the bolts on lead too painfull so he resorted to cutting the bolts shorter and matters came to a head when a) his climbing partner refused to climb with him again b) a young Greek climber at a climbing school took a fatal 60m fall when the only bolt failed  which proved to be only 25mm long.

No information was available regarding which climbs were affected so the traditional climbs were widely shunned by the climbing community. 

That's exciting/terrifying. I did not know that, and am glad I didn't when I was questing on pebbles.

These days most of the older routes have had additional bolts added to them. It is rare to find a single bolt belay, which I imagine was standard in 1980s. 

Very good write up Tom, and exactly the sort of stuff I like climbing. I just need others who feel the same way!