Not as good as the 1st time but still flippin' great! Return to Kalymnos.

It seemed a good idea to go to Kalymnos. According to the topo there should have been a strong northerly wind blowing (called the Meltemi) to keep the humidity down and make climbing in September reasonable.

In reality there was no wind and most of the time the crags were damp and suffering from the Gogarth/LPT soap. Temps were around 32 degrees C and the humidity was up around 80% which made it pretty unpleasant for climbing, lathered in sweat, red faced and panting like a dog each time we tied into the rope!

The outcome was far different from Easter last year. Unfortunately it wasn't possible to do many of the harder routes on my rather long hit list. Still it wasn't a waste of time either. During the 3 weeks we visited lots of different secteurs and climbed lots of amazing steep tufas. Which is what people go to Kalymnos for. We made lots of new friends and even met up with friends we'd not seen for many years.

Despite the heat, the humidity, lots of polished footholds and the crowds I still believe Kalymnos is one of the best places I have climbed at. Where else, for example, can you go and climb amazing 6c's on blobby tufas, like at Ghost Kitchen and Secret Garden? Or have an entire crag to yourselves covered in quality routes, like at Galatiani or Sikati Cave? Or eat fantastic Greek food for 8 Euros per person, like at Noufaro's?

What a pity though that we had to drive to Milan Bergamo again to catch the Ryanair flight and have to suffer the crazy Italian drivers on the autopista around Milan!

Arriving on Kalymnos

Our accomodation (shame about the Swedish witch above!)

Tools of the trade

There's beer!

And good food too!

Our wheels below Ghost Kitchen

Andy Chambers on the brilliant Frapogalo (6c) at Secret Garden

Elaine on the tricky Dafni (6c+) at Ghost Kitchen

Spot the climber on Morgan (7b+) in Sikati Cave

Surreal landscape in the bottom of Sikati Cave

French climber on the mega Calcite Star Plus (7b+) at Galatiani

The same French climber on Feuerdorn (7a honest!) at Galatiani

Look at those incredible tufas on Armata Sikati (7b) in Sikati Cave

Austrian climber sending one of the best 7c+'s anywhere: Marci Marc in a Force 7 (one of the few days there was actually some wind!). Elaine looks cold!

Yours truly at the knee bar rest above all the hard climbing on the mega Gegoune (7c) at Galatiani

Sunrise whilst leaving Kalymnos

The view from Ghost Kitchen

Telendos from our apartment