Kalymnos Greece- A Climbers Paradise
A Lesson on What Not to Do
Train and Bus to Athens Port
14 hour ferry (2nd class of course) to a small Greek isalnd Kos
Bus from Kos port to other side of island
30 minute Ferry from Kos to Kalymnos
Taxi to our place
Total: 24 Hours!
On the 14 hour ferry ride we maybe slept 2 hours as our class only had plastic chairs on the OUTSIDE deck...it brought me back to Titanic times . . . as I scoured the boat I thought to myself, wow if we hit an iceberg in the Meditteranean there is definitely a shortage of life boats and we are just like Jack, 2nd class...I may just die at the jaws of the worst animals on the planet--sharks of course. BUT we didn't die, and we slept for 2 days straight to recover :)
So WE ARRIVED
And of course got right on that rock
The NorthFace Competition!!! Dun dun Dun
Two days of non-stop marathon climbing in the blistering heat (9am-5pm). The goal is to climb as many of the hardest routes until you just can't go on. Having to hike for 45 minutes straight up crumbly rocks just to get to the cliffs was enough to make us want to stop, but our competitive natures just wouldn't let us.
Wearing the Kalymnos Competition shirt on the first day
Quick Carbs!
The guy in the background with one leg actually won 1st place in the hardest division besides pros (7a-8a)!
Ryman is dead from the first day of climbing
Finisshhheeeddd
Finisheddddd!!
It was truly grueling, Ryman said he was going to climb his last route about 5 times but we kept going as the skin on our feet and hands became so raw you could see blood through them
SCORES
Total Routes Climbed: 43 (20 Harm/23 Rym)
Average height of each route: 75 feet
Total feet climbed: 3,225 feet
The Pros Winning the Big Money
The Participants
For some reason Ryman and I always ended up being surrounded by the pros.....it was nice until they all got called up on stage and we were the only ones left haha
The Pros--Anna Stohr, Kilian Fischuber, Johnathan Seigel, Dani Andrada, Dalia Ohera, and others
We didn't win but we fought our hardest
Lesson on what not to do: Don't not cheat
Although we would like to blame our loss on others cheating (which we legitimately witnessed a few of the winners do) we simply were not training enough as we have been too busy with drinking pina coladas out of coconuts and whatnot
And 8 Days After We Arrived, it was Time to Say Goodbye
Off to Italia!!
Sweet guys! That one pic of Ryman silhouetted against the cliff while climbing is pretty awesome. You guys will have to give us all the inside scoop on Greece and Italy once we move to Albania--crazy!
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