Recently in Yours Truly Category

We decided to cut loose from Provence for a *leetle* while. (On the 14th of July, lousy timing.) I'll be frank: it's too hot to climb here. We're heading northeast to the Haute Alpes region, to climb at high-altitude Céüse. Céüse is one tall, long cliff at the end of a 45-minute walk, with run-out climbs where the bolts are spaced far apart (3m or more) from each other, so your falls are spectacular, hee hee ha ha. It's also the home to Realization (9a), and this  shows Dave Graham finally realizing his years-long project.

From Céüse we'll drive to Salzburg, Austria. Last year we were there for all of 5 hours, but this time around we're planning on staying a few days. Visiting the Mirabell Palace and Mirabell Garden are priorities (I named my Mirabella Socks after the fountains there), as is attending a performance of Mozart's Requiem at the Kollegienkirche.

After Austria, back to Nürnberg, Germany. For climbing again, in the Frankenjura. For visiting friends and family. For a wedding. For the rest of the summer.

See you in September! 

That's hello, in Turkish.

Mouseover images for captions!

We flew into Antalya from Nuremberg in the afternoon of January 17th, a bit of a chill in the air from recent rain. It was not to last, however, because the following day was sunny and warm. Because we were staying at the JoSiTo campground, we arranged for a pick-up at the airport, which was a good thing, as driving in Antalya was pretty crazy and without any established set of rules. To wit: on our way out of the city, to the right of us a bus filled to the brim with passengers gunned it when the traffic light turned green, and cut off three lanes of traffic to make a left turn. Yikes!

If I had to rate this trip among the ones we've taken over the years, it would be in the top ten. Climbing near Geyikbayiri was great. With the exception of three windy days, the weather was sunny, not too warm, perfect for climbing. Our accommodations at the campground were slightly better than basic but we didn't need anything more. The shower and kitchen facilities were steps away, we had a little heater and borrowed a few pots and plates, and the bar where we had some of our meals served Mediterranean cuisine. (Unfortunately, nothing truly Turkish.) The main crag was a laughable 30-second walk from our hut; we walked back for lunch almost every day. The other crags were within 10 minutes' walk, easy.

I woke up early on most mornings and strolled around, followed by the camp dogs, taking pictures. Beautiful golden light.

The Anatolia and Dragon walls are quite tall. You can see a pair of climbers on the right, on their second pitch (consider that a pitch is 65 - 98 feet long, or 6.5 to 10 stories tall). On the left, a pair of climbers are getting ready to do a route in the alcove.

The rock is limestone and ranges from brown to grey. I favor the brown limestone, because the texture is like stacked beads and relatively softer than the grey kind, which is sharp and spiky. Regardless, all types are gritty, and we suffered from gouges and numerous scratches all over our hands and arms from the rock. The climbing is mostly steep (overhanging) with tufas, pockets, and crimps, and everything is very well-bolted. The best part is that most routes are fairly new; the oldest routes were bolted in 2001 so nothing is polished! (On the downside, your fingertips will be aching after 3 days...)

Here's 8-time British champion Lucy posing for Tim on one of my projects. This is one of the most picturesque routes around, and when I tried it another climber was there taking my picture! The "crux" is at the bulge above Lucy's head; miss the clip and you fall 10-12 feet, which is what I did about 6 times! (Yes, how droll, Drop Zone is what it's called.) It's still a project, however; on my 6th try I almost made the clip, but fell, and I hit the rock and my quickdraws at the same time. Ouch! It knocked the wind out of me and I had to retreat. Two weeks later, I still have scabs and the shadow of a bruise as a reminder of that fall.

And German champion Marietta on her way to redpointing an 8a+ easily, on her second day. How strong is this woman? Fricking strong. She warmed up on a 7b+, a route that would have been my next project had I not fallen so hard. I so want her shoulders.

On rest days we either walked around looking at potential places to climb (such as Trebenna), or hitched a ride to the Sunday market. Sunday market was colorful and chaotic, with cars and pedestrians everywhere. Our second time, we were stopped right in the middle of buying strawberries by a man whose daughter had worked in Las Vegas!

Strawberries, oranges, crispy carrots, gigantic cabbages, peppers, onions, tomatoes, and "mountain tea" herbs were sold everywhere. We would indicate how much of something we wanted, and then hold out coins in our palm so that the vendor would take what he charged. We passed vendors selling fresh yogurt ladled into plastic bags, feta in skins, grains, and nuts. It made me think of Nigeria, this bustling market with its friendly vendors...

Lunch was gözleme and hot mint tea, served to us on a large metal tray. It was fun to eat the yummy spinach-filled dough with our hands, with peppers, tomato, and cucumber on the side. I bought some pul biber, which is ground pepper with a bit of salt; I've been looking for a spicy pepper since the German "hot" spices are, well, rather bland. It was unfortunate that Geyikbayiri and the campground are so isolated, being in the Taurus mountains. It would have been good, on a rest day, to go into town and chill at a café or walk around. We had to hitch rides both going down and up the mountain, the camp being 8 km from Çakirlar. We were picked up by a giggly family in a VW van, a cherry picker from the local power company, and a villager with a load of plastic bottles in the back of his truck. The challenge was not getting thrown out when we rounded a curve!

Days were spent lounging around after climbing, or watching other people climb. It's always a treat, always an inspiration, to watch someone who can just float up a 7a+ like a warmup, which for some people it is. Toward the end of our stay (we left on February 4) more people had started to arrive and at one point every wall behind the camp had a climber on it. Dinner at the bar was always good and full of conversation—mostly we heard German, or Dutch, because quite a bit of the clientele came from central Europe. There was one raucous evening when one of the camp hosts played magic tricks and we spent most of the night trying to figure a particular trick out.

I wish I could say that I onsighted or redpointed more, harder grades, but climbing doesn't work that way. Aside from the fact that we have lives outside of the sport, climbing involves a vast amount of patience and hard work. And mental fortitude. Sometimes BFF's day would be perfect and mine sucked, or vice versa. Sometimes the weather was awful, like when we had those windy days. Sometimes it was coping with our lingering colds, or the cough that would threaten to throw me off my climbs. These little things add up, and the crux is to stay positive. I'm happy to say, however, that I did do some significant climbs, and BFF really outdid himself on what the routesetter called one of his favorite climbs. Our Geyikbayiri trip was a success, and we're looking forward to returning sometime in the fall. Some of our most enjoyable moments, climbing and otherwise, came from there, and we're hungry for more of the same.

◊ View the Climbing in Turkey slideshow.